1948-1960 The Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency is the war between the British Army and the Malayan Communist Party between 1948 and 1960. Post World War II, the Malayan Communist Party held a large part of the popularity vote from the Malayans and the Chinese as well as influenced many of the trade unions. When the British offered Malaysia a federation with many provinces and some autonomy, the Malaysian people were willing to accept. However, the Chinese, who made up about 38% of the population, would receive fewer rights than the Malaysians so they were more inclined to reject the offer. In a rebuttal to the offer, the MCP publicized the grievances that the half a million Chinese had gone through. Any weapons still possessed by those who fought in WWII for the MPAJA were passed down to the Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA). Violence and general public unrest escalated until a state of emergency was declared on June 17, 1948. The British did not fully comprehend the strong political strategy that was being followed by the MPAJ, declaring it as just criminal activity. The MCP were following a Maoist strategy and deployed about 7000 men to fight.

"The Domino That Stood"

However hard the MPAJ fought and however many men they could send out, they were inexperienced compared to the British in terms of strategy, as well as in leadership. When the British were looking for an opening, the MPAJ made the extremely foolish idea of retreating into the jungle to reorganize. While most of the party was hiding in the jungle, the British were able to completely destroy the mass political support organization, the Min Yuen. They also were extremely unpopular and since Britain still held so much power, Britain was able to offer more independence than the MCP could ever dream of. Britain also created an elaborate was committee that included everyone ranging from the army and civil agencies to ethnic communities and parts of village committees. Through this, the British were also able to adopt a more efficient manner of fighting a Maoist-style rebellion. Bit by bit, the British was able to section off small areas of land and clear them of the Emergency Status until the state of emergency was ended on July 31, 1960. While the MCP continued small attacks until 1989 when they were forced to surrender, the MCP was never able to recover enough to really start another rebellion.