What triggered conflict in Malaya?

Statement of Inquiry

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“The success of counterinsurgency depends not just on the significance of its military strategy but also on winning cooperation with civil society”

Key Concept

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Significance

Related Concept

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Cooperation

Global Context

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Identities and Relationships

Unit Title

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How was Communism defeated in Malaya?

What was the Malayan ‘Emergency’?

• The Malayan Emergency was a guerilla war fought in the Federation of Malaya between 1948-1960. The Federation of Malaya was a British colony that had been occupied by the Japanese during WW2.

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• It was fought between the pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military wing of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the forces of the British Commonwealth, who were victorious.

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• The British called the conflict an ‘emergency’ for insurance purposes. It also meant that it didn't have to abide by the Geneva Conventions. The MCP called the conflict the ‘Anti-British National Liberation War’.

What was the Malayan ‘Emergency’?

• The conflict was one of many communist insurrections across Asia after WW2. China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Indochina, Burma and Korea were all facing insurgencies.

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• Western orthodox accounts of the emergency view it as part of the Cold War. It was an attempted Communist revolution inspired, ordered and aided by the Soviet Union and after 1949, by the People’s Republic of China.

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• On the other hand, for the MCP and many revisionist historians today, the conflict is seen as primarily a national liberation struggle, part of the bigger pattern of decolonisation in Asia against European Imperialism.

What was the Malayan ‘Emergency’?

• The conflict began in June 1948 with the assassination of three European plantation workers on rubber estates near Sungai Siput in Perak. An ‘emergency’ was declared by the colonial government and police given emergency powers of arrest and civil liberties were suspended.

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• The MCP, trade unions, and other left-wing groups were outlawed. The MCP was forced to flee into the jungles, where they formed the MNLA who fought an unsuccessful guerilla war. However the pressure of war forced the British to grant independence in 1957 to the Federation of Malaya.

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• In 1960, the emergency was declared over. British forces killed 6,710 MNLA guerillas and captured 1,287. British forces lost over 500 men, and Malayan Police 1,345. Around 2,450 civilians were killed.

Did political issues cause the Emergency?

• The key underlying cause of the Emergency was the fact of British colonialism. Britain had ruled the various states of British Malaya by decentralising power to the majority Malay ethnic group, keeping their Sultans in de jure control of the provinces. This left the British free to develop highly profitable tin mines and rubber plantations.

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• Yet despite this, Malay Nationalism had been growing from the 1920s as the Chinese and Indian communities grew in size. Malays feared the loss of their power to these groups. They had been encouraged to settle by the British as cheap labour, yet had little rights. The Malayan Communist Party founded in 1930 championed the rights of these groups.

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• It was the Chinese community, via the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) which did most of the fighting against the Japanese during the occupation. By 1948, the Chinese formed 49% of the population and were agitating for more rights.

Did political issues cause the Emergency?

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• In the atmosphere of post-war Malaya, economic problems exacerbated ethnic divisions. The MCP argued that only independence could ensure equality for all. The British then made things worse with a constitutional crisis of their own making.

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• To undercut calls for independence, in 1946 the British reformed Malaya into the Malayan Union. Led by a British governor, this took power away from the Malay Sultans, centralising the state and giving equal rights to Chinese and Indian settlers.

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• Many Malays opposed this, forming the United Malays National Organisation (UNMO). Their campaign forced the British to reform the state, creating in 1948 the Federation of Malaya which reversed many of the citizenship rights given to minorities. This alienated many Chinese Malays against the state.

Did economic issues cause the Emergency?

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• Social and political tensions saw many Indian and Chinese Malays to flock to the policies of more extreme parties like the MCP as a solution. This trend was catalysed by economic crisis.

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• British Malaya was an export-led economy. The British used cheap Chinese and Indian labour to produce rubber and tin which was sold globally. WW2 caused a drastic drop in global demand. Plantations and mines were deliberately sabotaged. This led to mass unemployment after the war when the British returned.

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• The lack of jobs meant that wages were low, ¾ of their 1939 levels. Food shortages led to rationing, high prices, and malnutrition. Rice consumption was at least 570g per day in 1939. This dropped to 760g per week in 1946! The failure of the British to improve the situation led to nationwide labour unrest, and a further rise in MCP support.

Did economic issues cause the Emergency?

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• The MCP seized upon growing labour unrest, organising General Labour Unions (GLU). These planned and orchestrated strikes. In January 1946, up to 200,000 workers went on strike in Singapore. In March, the docks in Penang were paralysed.
• Between April 1946 and March 1947, 713,000 worker days, or 2 per employee, were lost to over 300 strikes in Malaya, and in Singapore, 1,173,000 worker days, ten per employee, were lost.
• The British responded with repression. Trespassing laws were used to arrest strike organisers. Police opened fire on protesters, and trade unionists were attacked. In 1947, courts repealed protections that prevent workers from being sacked if they went on strike. Trade unions were forced to undergo rigorous government inspections.

Did military issues cause the Emergency?

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• With growing repression of left-wing activism, the MCP feared it was only a matter of time before the colonial government would ban their Party. In May 1948, preparations were made to prepare for an armed uprising.
• The MCP was helped by the fact that they had led the resistance to the Japanese during the war. After the war, the British-trained MPAJA was forced to disband. But at least 6,000 guerilla fighters hid their weapons in jungle hideouts. This formed the nucleus of a guerilla army in waiting.
• In response to the increasingly successful MCP dominated labour unrest, the colonial government banned trade unions entirely on 12th June 1948. The MCP believed that had no choice but armed struggle.

Did military issues cause the Emergency?

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• With tensions reaching boiling point, conflict was finally triggered by the killing of three European plantation workers on 16th June 1948. The Sungai Siput Incident saw Arthur Walker, John Allison, Ian Christian murdered by an MCP hit-squad.
• The government responded on 18th June by declaring a state of emergency. Emergency powers imposed the death penalty on anyone found with weapons. The police had special powers to arrest anyone, impose curfews, seize buildings and question anyone. Malaya was now a police state.
• On 23rd June, the MCP was outlawed. Its leadership led by Chin Peng, fled to the jungles, where it formed the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) which conducted attacks on the government. The Malayan Emergency had begun.

Did foreign relations contribute?

• With the outbreak of the Emergency, the British government and others viewed the conflict as an attempted communist insurgency. The growing Cold War had seen a surge in communist movements across Asia, and the British feared that the MCP was being supported from abroad.
• Although there is no direct proof, some historians claim that the February 1948 Southeast Asian Youth Conference in India saw communist party members from across Asia unite to plan revolutions. From 1949, the PRC supported MCP cadres with training, healthcare, and political education via its Marxism-Leninism Academy in Beijing.
• Maoist literature and books like ‘Red Star over China’ were often found in MCP hideouts, and the PRC broadcast Radio Peking into Malaya. This level of ideological and moral support may have strengthened the willingness of the MCP for armed rebellion against the British.

What triggered conflict in Malaya?

Statement of Inquiry

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“The success of counterinsurgency depends not just on the significance of its military strategy but also on winning cooperation with civil society”

Key Concept

​

Significance

Related Concept

​

Cooperation

Global Context

​

Identities and Relationships

Unit Title

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How was Communism defeated in Malaya?