The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War(1948–1960), was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces of the Federation of Malaya, British Empire and Commonwealth. The communists fought to win independence for Malaya from the British Empire and to establish a socialist economy, while the Malayan Federation and Commonwealth forces fought to combat communism and protect British economic and colonial interests. The term "Emergency" was used by the British to characterise the conflict in order to avoid referring to it as a war, because London-based insurers would not pay out in instances of civil wars.
The Batang Kali massacre was the killing by the Scots Guards of 24 unarmed men in Batang Kali on 12 December 1948, during the Malayan Emergency. The Guards committed the massacre during counter-insurgency operations against Malay and Chinese communists of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) in Malaya, then a colony of the British Crown. British author Christopher Hale described the massacre as "Britain's My Lai" in his book titled Massacre in Malaya: Exposing Britain's My Lai. It is notable as seemingly the only massacre by British forces during the war, though British soldiers murdered some other individual civilians; even MNLA propaganda did not mention other massacres, while Batang Kali appeared heavily in propaganda.
Jungle warfare or woodland warfare is warfare in forests, jungles, or similar environments. The term encompasses military operations affected by the terrain, climate, vegetation, and wildlife of densely-wooded areas, as well as the strategies and tactics used by military forces in these situations and environments.
Chin Peng, born Ong Boon Hua, was a Malayan communist politician and anti-fascist activist, who was the long-time leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA).
The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore from 1930 to 1989. It was responsible for the creation of both the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army and the Malayan National Liberation Army.
General Sir Walter Colyear Walker, was a senior British Army officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe from 1969 until his retirement in 1972. He commanded the 4/8th Gurkhas Rifles against the Japanese Army in Burma during the Second World War. He commanded the 1/6 Gurkha Rifles from 1950 to 1953 and he commanded the 99th Gurkha Infantry Brigade Group from 1957 to 1959 during the Malayan Emergency. Walker was Director of Operations in Borneo from 1962 to 1965 during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation. In retirement, he attracted some controversy by publicising his views on the political situation in Britain during the mid-1970s.
Sir Edward James Gent was the first appointed Governor of the Malayan Union in 1946. He was most famous for heading early British attempts to crush a pro-independence uprising in Malaya led by the Malayan Communist Party during the Malayan Emergency, before dying during the first year of the war in an aviation accident.
This article lists important figures and events in Malayan public affairs during the year 1948, together with births and deaths of significant Malayans. Malaya left the British colonial Malayan Union; the Federation of Malaya took place on 1 February.
The Senoi Praaq is a unit of the Royal Malaysia Police made up almost entirely of the tribal people of Peninsular Malaysia known as the Orang Asli (aborigines). The name Senoi Praaq means war people or those who fight in the Semai language. Roy Davis Linville Jumper considered them one of the finest jungle fighting forces and was highly successful in diminishing the threat by communist forces during the Malayan Emergency.
The Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), often mistranslated as the Tentera Pembebasan Kebangsaan Malaya, was a communist guerrilla army that fought for Malayan independence from the British Empire during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) and later fought against the Malaysian government in the Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–1989). Their central committee was a trade union activist known as Chin Peng who had previously been awarded an OBE by the British for waging a guerrilla war against the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Many MNLA fighters were former members of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) which had been previously trained and funded by the British to fight against Japan during the Second World War.
Malacca was a British Crown colony from 1946 to 1957. It came under British sovereignty after the signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, and had been part of the Straits Settlements until 1946.
The British Military Administration (BMA) was the interim administrator of British Malaya from August 1945, the end of World War II, to the establishment of the Malayan Union in April 1946. The BMA was under the direct command of the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, Lord Louis Mountbatten. The administration had the dual function of maintaining basic subsistence during the period of reoccupation, and also of imposing the state structure upon which post-war imperial power would rest.
Malaysia's armed forces, which encompasses three major branches, originate from the formation of local military forces in the first half of the 20th century, during British colonial rule of Malaya and Singapore prior to Malaya's independence in 1957. The branches have undergone several restructuring, but fundamentally includes the army, navy and air force.
The Baling Talks were held in northern Malaya on 28 and 29 December 1955 in an attempt to resolve the Malayan Emergency situation.
The Special Operations Volunteer Force was a special program developed by the British and Malayan authorities during the Malayan Emergency. The unit existed from 1952 until the end of the Emergency in 1960.
Ferret Force was a counter-insurgency unit formed by the British and Malayan authorities as part of their response to the communist insurgency during the Malayan Emergency. The unit only existed for six months, but was to help establish doctrine for British operations in the jungle.
The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a communist guerrilla army that resisted the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945. Composed mainly of ethnic Chinese guerrilla fighters, the MPAJA was the largest anti-Japanese resistance group in Malaya. Founded during the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the MPAJA was conceived as a part of a combined effort by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the British colonial government, alongside various smaller groups to resist the Japanese occupation. Although the MPAJA and the MCP were officially different organisations, many saw the MPAJA as a de facto armed wing of the MCP due to its leadership being staffed by mostly ethnic Chinese communists. Many of the ex-guerrillas of the MPAJA would later form the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and resist a return to pre-war the normality of British rule of Malaya during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960).
Southern Rhodesia, then a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom, sent two military units to fight with the Commonwealth armed forces in the Malayan Emergency of 1948–60, which pitted the Commonwealth against the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party. For two years, starting in March 1951, white Southern Rhodesian volunteers made up "C" Squadron of the Special Air Service (SAS). The Rhodesian African Rifles, in which black rank-and-filers and warrant officers were led by white officers, then served in Malaya from 1956 to 1958.
Winning hearts and minds is a concept occasionally expressed in the resolution of war, insurgency, and other conflicts, in which one side seeks to prevail not by the use of superior force, but by making emotional or intellectual appeals to sway supporters of the other side.
The Templer Plan was a political directive which laid out High Commissioner General Gerald Templer’s plan for the political and economic development of Malaya in the 1950s. It was outlined in a fifty-minute speech delivered on 19 March 1952, by General Templer to the Federal Legislative Council of Malaya. The Plan contained eighteen points on various social, economic, and political issues facing Malaya in light of the Malayan Emergency and as the nation prepared itself for self-government and eventually independence from the British. Several of the points were already covered in The Draft Development Plan of the Federation of Malaya 1950–55 which failed to be implemented due to The Malayan Emergency. It would serve as General Templer’s blueprint for governing the country during his two-year tenure as High Commissioner and Director of Operations of Malaya from 1952 to 1954.
