18th June 1948With violence spreading throughout the peninsula, a state of emergency was declared after the murder of three European plantation managers by the Malayan Races’ Liberation Army (MRLA), a guerrilla army pursuing an independent Malaya
Facts
- The insurgency was described as an 'emergency' because insurers would not have compensated plantation and mine owners if it had been labelled a 'war'.
- The British dropped 545,000 tons of bombs in 4,500 air strikes in the first five years
- British troops were trained at Jungle Warfare Schools to be taught how to live and fight in the tropical forests
- 519 British personnel were killed, 1,300 Malayan police, and more than 3,000 civilians
- Once tactic was continuous bombing of a section of swamp/jungle to flush out guerillas.
- In the end, the guerrillas were defeated largely by their isolation
- The Communist guerrillas had only recently been fighting alongside the British against the Japanese
- The British employed the services of Dyak head-hunters from Borneo to bring in the heads of guerrillas
- Over 10,000 Gurkhas were active on operations over the period 1948 to 1960
- Between 1950 and 1958 the SAS had five squadrons deployed, the largest number since 1945
- The beheading or mutilation of guerrillas was common to aid identification when it was not feasible to remove their bodies from the jungle
- Leaflets were sent across the country with rewards to help identify insurgents
- Sometimes it was difficult to determine if a person was an insurgent or civilian
- Many bodies of British soliders were lost in the jungle never to be retreived
- The public were told it was a police operation and unaware of the true nature of this war
- By the end of 1951, 385,000 squatters in 480 camps, 80 percent of which were in western Malaya were resettled
War Crime Incident
On 11th Dec 1948, a Scots Guards officer, Captain George Ramsay, took his platoon to a small settlement of Chinese rubber tappers near the village of Batang Kali, slaughtering 24 Chinese inhabitants, and setting the village on fire.
Friendly Fire Incident
On 27 January 1951, British troops spotted on what they believed were enemy forces in the forest 40 miles north of Pahang. However, the "enemy forces" were actually Malayan forces of 2nd Battalion, Royal Malay Regiment, who were patrolling the area for communist insurgents, though the distance made it impossible to clearly identify. One British Sergeant called for close air support.
Three Royal Air Force Avro Lincoln bombers of C Flight 92 Squadron were dispatched. However, the British Sergeant mistakenly grid the "enemy" position five miles from where they were. As a result, RAF bombers dropped their 500 lb bombs directly on the Scots Guards and the 4th Battalion, Royal Malay Regiment, killing 25 British troops and 70 Malayan soldiers. At least 106 British troops and 98 Malayan soldiers were injured.