Emergency

 

Terrorism broke out in Malaya in 1948. This outbreak of terrorist acts conducted by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was called the Malayan Emergency. At this time Communism was spreading from Russia to China and Eastern Europe. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before most countries would become Communist. This encouraged the MCP to embark on terrorism with the view of taking over Malaya. The MCP was the successor of the Nanyang Communist Party which had been formed in 1925. Most of its members were Chinese. Despite the fact that it was an illegal organization, it managed to exist until the outbreak of World War II. When Japan attacked Malaya the British accepted the help offered by the MCP and trained some of its members to fight behind the Japanese lines. But when Malaya fell to the Japanese, they became the armed wing of the MCP and called themselves the "Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA).and carried out terrorist acts. When the war ended in 1945, the MPAJA guerrillas emerged from the jungles and made an attempt to take over the country. The Japanese, Malays and the British prevented this from happening. After the British Military Administration took over from the Japanese, the MCP started to infiltrate into the trade unions. But when the Malays succeeded in getting the British to replace the Malayan Union with the Federation of Malaya the MCP decided to resort to terrorism. On 16 June 1948 the Communist Terrorist (CTs) brutally murdered three rubber planters in Sungei Siput, Perak. This was the beginning of the Malayan Emergency. The armed component of the MCP renamed itself as the Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA) and had between 4,000 to 7,000 members. They were organized into Regiments and aggressively led by their Secretary General, Chin Peng. The CTs activities of murder, ambushes, arson and destruction continued to increase since they were of a "hit and run" nature and police and military actions alone were not effective. Soon it was realized that to defeat terrorism a very comprehensive and coordinated effort was required. General Briggs formulated a plan which included political, economic, cultural and social policies. The main feature of the plan was to methodically cut the MRLA off from its sources of supply. This involved the resettlement of Chinese squatters in "New Villages" and providing them with land titles. State and District "War Executive Committees" were set up in order to coordinate the civil, police and military activities. It was a bad omen for the CTs when they ambushed and murdered the High Commissioner Sir Henry Gurney. His replacement was General Sir Gerald Templer who was a no nonsense man. He ensured the Briggs Plan was implemented effectively and speedily. Furthermore the stage was being set for the independence of Malaya. This resulted in Malacca followed by Perlis, Negri Sembilan, parts of Kedah and Trengganu being cleared of CTs and declared "White Areas". By the mid fifties the MCP realized that their terrorist activities were doomed to failure. In order to continue with their aim of taking over Malaya by other means, Chin Peng asked for peace talks. The Baling meeting in 1955 with Tungku Abdul Rahman failed because Chin Peng wanted the MCP to be in the mainstream politics. The post independent era provided a legal political alternative to the Chinese in the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) which was a component party of the ruling Alliance Party. This further weakened the MCP and in 1960 when the Emergency was officially ended there were only about 600 CTs left in the Thai / Malaya border areas. Operations against them continued with the cooperation of the Thai authorities. Malaysia is one of the few countries in the world which succeeded in defeating terrorism. It has continued to maintain vigilance against any form of subversion or terrorism. The authorities have effectively taken action against such activities that keeps cropping up in one form or another. The latest example being the action taken against the Kumpulan Militan Malaysia (KMM). So any talk by foreign powers about wanting to curb terrorism in Malaysia and pre-emptive strikes is merely a ploy to gain political and economic control.

 
 

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