Malay / Borneo wars history website

[fat tony]

http://www.nmbvaa.org.au/essay.php

A very interesting reminiscence of life in 1940's - 1950's Malaya:

Essay About The History of Malaya In The 40s and 50s

MEMORIES OF YESTER YEARS

Author Unknown
(See footnote at the end of the essay)

For those who were born after 1948 they have been spared the terrifying experience and hardship faced by the citizens of Malaya during the years of communist insurgency war, arising from the attempt by the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) under the leadership of Chin Peng who originated from Sitiawan, Perak to wrest political power from then the British Colonial Government which was administering the country. Through the militant arm of CPM Chin Peng waged the guerilla campaign of so-called war of liberation from 1948 until 1989. During the 41 years of insurgency war many innocent citizens of the country were killed and maimed, along with the soldiers of the Malayan Armed Forces and the British Commonwealth Forces who fought a hide-and seek war against the communist terrorists (CTs).

When Malaya got its independence from Britain the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Jiwa met Chin Peng in Baling in 1957 to persuade him and the members of CPM to give up their so-called struggle and rejoin society. However, Chin Peng turned down the offer and returned to the jungle to continue the guerilla war until 1989 when he finally agreed for CPM to lay down their arms in a peace accord with the Malaysian Government signed at Haadyai, South Thailand. Some of his men were allowed to come back to rejoin society, but for Chin Peng he was barred from returning to his home town, Sitiawan for fear of retribution against him by those people who have lost their parents, siblings and relatives who were killed during the emergency.

This is a good summary of the history of the insurgency war of Malaya (later Malaysia) from 1948 onwards until the late fifties.

A piece of Nostalgia for us oldies who may still have vague memory of those years gone by. One thing that confuses me is that my memory tells me that Tungku declared Independence at the Mederka Stadium but now we are told that happened at Independence Square in front of Selangor Club. From the picture below, it was clearly at Mederka Stadium. I am afraid Malaysia has a tendency to alter events.

^The source of the above article is apparently not known.

There is a lot more content to this website as well. One to book mark for the long winter nights.

 

[Mike Webb]

Good read. Most in the west have never heard of the "Malayan Emergency" as it was called by the British. I have read it was called an "emergency" because Llyods of London would not pay out insurance claims to business owners if a war broke out in Malaya. The majority of the communist insurgents were in fact ethnic Chinese who were a minority and somewhat deprived of the same rights that ethnic Malayans had. One of the few instances where a western power(or powers) succeeded in defeating an insurgent force in the field though it was a long and expensive process and flared up again under the same leader after Malaya became independent.

 

[fat tony]

Yes, it is interesting. One of the more interesting things about these post WWII situations is that the countries who owned these overseas colonies thought that everything would go back to business as usual with the defeat of the Axis powers as though nothing had happened. One could not think up a more perfect storm if you get me.

I have not watched this in its entirety, but it seems pretty good. Not the usual jingoistic propaganda. The one problem I see so far is that they refer to the communist terrorists as: "Chinese". The same as calling the Boston Bombers "ethnic Chechens" because it is so much more sensational than calling them immigrants from Dagestan. You want an easily identified bogeyman. Anything that muddies the waters is to be avoided.

Part II, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgUMXHsIfe8

 

[Mike Webb]

Kinda ironic that the British spent WW2 arming and training Malaysian nationalists to fight the Japanese and then expected them to submit to British authority once the Japanese were defeated.

 

[fat tony]

The withdrawal of the Communist Terrorists from Malaya in 1960 was not the end of it either, as you have already said. Chin Peng spent 7 years reorganizing & amassing strength abroad, then carried on with the Communist Insurgency War from 1968 to 1989. This coincided with the collapse of the Soviet system.