History of the Malayan Emergency
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan emergency was the conflict that occurred shortly after the end of the second world war in British Malaya from June 1948 till July 1960 between the British and her allies against Chinese Malay communists. this conflict is considered one of the most effective anti-communist campaigns, modern guerilla warfare campaigns but, most importantly the first contemporary use of the 'hearts and minds ' strategy. The origins of this war can be seen with British colonial actions prior to World War Two and the Japanese occupation. The tactics and type of warfare would set the 'tone ' for jungle warfare with Communists have there own organised plan followed up by a and phycological warfare in the asian region for the next half century and is also compared to Vietnam but, as a more successful attempt in counter-insurgency tacts. The Malayan Emergency would leave a lasting legacy in South East Asia.
The origins of the emergency has many different factors, firstly the withdrawal of the Japanese from WWII and the unrest that it left, the trained communist soldiers who had fought them, the divided ethnic groups of Malaya, creation of a post-war government and of course, the three murders of europeans that caused the state of emergency.
With the withdrawal of Japanese troops from the regions towards the end of the second World War. The Japanese occupation had left the Malayan economy disrupted. Problems included unemployment, low wages, and high levels of food inflation, well above the healthy rate of 2-3% to a rate of 9-10%. There was considerable labour unrest and a large number of strikes occurred between 1946 and 1948. During this time, the British administration was attempting to repair Malaya 's economy (which was mainly tin and rubber) which were also exceedingly important to post war recovery in Britain itself(which had suffered heavily form the Germans bombing raid and would not fully recover until well into the 1960s). With the high
The Malayan emergency was the conflict that occurred shortly after the end of the second world war in British Malaya from June 1948 till July 1960 between the British and her allies against Chinese Malay communists. this conflict is considered one of the most effective anti-communist campaigns, modern guerilla warfare campaigns but, most importantly the first contemporary use of the 'hearts and minds ' strategy. The origins of this war can be seen with British colonial actions prior to World War Two and the Japanese occupation. The tactics and type of warfare would set the 'tone ' for jungle warfare with Communists have there own organised plan followed up by a and phycological warfare in the asian region for the next half century and is also compared to Vietnam but, as a more successful attempt in counter-insurgency tacts. The Malayan Emergency would leave a lasting legacy in South East Asia.
The origins of the emergency has many different factors, firstly the withdrawal of the Japanese from WWII and the unrest that it left, the trained communist soldiers who had fought them, the divided ethnic groups of Malaya, creation of a post-war government and of course, the three murders of europeans that caused the state of emergency.
With the withdrawal of Japanese troops from the regions towards the end of the second World War. The Japanese occupation had left the Malayan economy disrupted. Problems included unemployment, low wages, and high levels of food inflation, well above the healthy rate of 2-3% to a rate of 9-10%. There was considerable labour unrest and a large number of strikes occurred between 1946 and 1948. During this time, the British administration was attempting to repair Malaya 's economy (which was mainly tin and rubber) which were also exceedingly important to post war recovery in Britain itself(which had suffered heavily form the Germans bombing raid and would not fully recover until well into the 1960s). With the high
Bibliography: federation of Malaya, Annual Report on the Federation of Malaya, 1951 (Kuala Lumpur: Government Printer, 1952),12-13. Morgan, p.161.Keesings Contemporary Archives 1943-46, 8246A; and "SAR 1946, pp. http://oro.open.ac.uk/18840/2/Hack_Malaya_27_02_09_JSS_v1_6.pdf Jackson, Robert (2008) http://www.defenceviewpoints.co.uk/articles-and-analysis/hearts-and-minds-malayan-campaign-re-evaluated Jackson, Robert (2008) Dugdale-Pointon, T. (26 August 2007), The Malayan Emergency (1947-1960), http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_malaya.html Ongkili, James P. (1985). Nation-building in Malaysia 1946–1974. Oxford University Press. p. 79 Taber, Robert (2002) Comber, Leon (February, 2006). "The Malayan Special Branch on the Malayan-Thai Frontier during the Malayan Emergency". Intelligence and National Security, 21:1. pp. 77–99. Chin, C.C. and Karl Hack (eds.), Dialogues with Chin Peng: New Light on the Malayan Communist Party (Singapore: Singapore University Press 2004). Clutterbuck, Richard (1967). The long long war: The emergency in Malaya, 1948–1960. Cassell. Cited at length in Vietnam War essay on Insurgency and Counterinsurgency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_Emergency#cite_note-28 ----------------------- [1] Keesings Contemporary Archives 1943-46, 8246A;1946, pp.11,12. [2] Dugdale-Pointon, T. (26 August 2007), The Malayan Emergency (1947-1960), http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_malaya.html [3] Clutterbuck, Richard (1967) [4] O. Tilman, Robert (1966). "The non-lessons of the Malayan emergency"(8): pg407-419. [5] Dugdale-Pointon, T. (26 August 2007), The Malayan Emergency (1947-1960), http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_malaya.htm [6] Dugdale-Pointon, T [7] Clutterbuck, Richard (1985). Conflict and violence in Singapore and Malaysia 1945-83. Singapore: Graham Brash. [10] http://www.psywar.org/malaya.php-Psychological Warfare of the Malayan Emergency, 1948-1960 By SGM Herbert A [11] Ongkili, James P. (1985). Nation-building in Malaysia 1946–1974. Oxford University Press. p. 79 [12] Memorandum from the Chief Minister and Minister for Internal and Security, No [13] Clutterbuck, Richard (1967). The long long war: The emergency in Malaya, 1948–1960. Cassell. Cited at length in Vietnam War essay on Insurgency and Counterinsurgency