Bogen handler om det kommunistiske oprør i Malaya i perioden 1948-60. Emnet er behandlet ud fra en streng historisk synsvinkel, dvs. set med en professionel historikers øjne. Forfatteren undlader dermed at følge den tendens, der er i samtidige forfatterskaber, til at forsøge at overføre erfaringerne fra udviklingen i Malaya til bekæmpelsen af den kommunistiske infiltration andre steder i Sydøstasien.
MALAYA 16th. June 1948. Early in the morning, 3 murders of Rubber Planters took place. All within the area of Taiping Perak North Malaya. The names of the Planters were: - Mr. Arthur Walker. Manager of the Elphin Rubber Estate. and Mr J.M. Allison, along with Mr. I.D. Christian of the Phin Soon Rubber Estate. The two gangs of Murderers all Chinese, were Members of the Malaya Communist Party, under the then Party Chairman Chin Peng. Chin Peng had been trained and fought alongside the British Special Operations Executive Force 136. During the Japanese Occupation of Malaya from 1942 until 1945. Chin Peng’s objective was, to create a Communist Dictatorship in Malaya, after the cessation of hostilities. Then take over from the British Government in Malaya, The Malaya Communist Party, began to cause unrest creating strikes and acts of murder amongst the law-abiding Malayan people, whose population was mainly of Chinese origin. In February 1947. Under a Treaty arranged by the British Government. The Federated and Unfederated States of Malaya became one. Much against the Malayan Communist Party’s wishes. Retaliating, they creating more havoc and unrest amongst the civilians, until finally decided to. ‘Take up Arms’ against the British Government. The murders of the three Planters, had the British High Commissioner Sir. Edward Gent forced to take action. Initiated a State of Emergency in Perak, quickly followed throughout other States. Chin Peng ‘Declared War’ against the British. Subsequently, the atrocities spread throughout Malaya. The Civil Police were unable to control the speeding violence and mayhem. Necessitating, the existing British and Gurkha Troops to take control. Nevertheless, the Communist had taken their fight into the jungles of Malaya. Where for the next 12 years, a Bloody War took place. It was called ‘THE EMERGENCY’ by the British Government, due to the possible Insurance claims from both the Rubber Plantation and Tin Mines Owners. It cost the lives of 1,818. Commonwealth Forces. & 1,026 Federation of Malaya Police. Over the following 12 years, it is estimated that in excess of 22,000, lost their lives consisting of, Commonwealth Forces of the three Service’s, Federation of Malaya Police. Civilians, including the Chinese Communist Terrorist. Chin Peng survived, escaped with the remains of his beaten Army, numbering less than 400 across the Malay border into Thailand to remain an exile.
Only three short years after the end of the Japanese occupation, war came again to Malaya. The Chinese-backed guerrillas called it the War of the Running Dogs - their contemptuous term for those in Malaya who remained loyal to the British. The British Government referred to this bloody and costly struggle as the 'Malayan Emergency'. Yet it was a war that lasted twelve years and cost thousands of lives. By the time it was over Malaya had obtained its independence - but on British, not on Chinese or Communist terms. Here is the war as it was. Here are the planters and their wives on their remote rubber estates, the policemen, the generals and the soldiers, the Malays, Chinese and Indians of a polyglot country, all fighting an astute, ruthless, and well organized enemy.
This study provides an account of the origins, course, and outcome of the Malayan Emergency, which pitted the Malayan Government against the Malayan Communist Party, its rural-based guerilla army, and their supporters. Drawing on the widest set of sources used to date, the study goes well beyond traditional analyses of the Emergency and examines not just the military but also the administrative, economic, political, and social aspects of the guerrilla war. Taking a cue from the hearts and minds approach to the counter-guerrilla warfare, the study examines the hypothesis that the battleground of any guerrilla war is the general population whose actions are crucial in deciding how the war unfolds. The author sets out in detail the evolution of the policies of the Malayan Government and the Malayan Communist Party and plots the fortune of each side as the sympathies, allegiances, and actions of the people of Malaya were influenced by the constantly changing circumstances in which they found themselves. The study concludes by assessing the extent to which the lessons from the use of the hearts and minds approach in the Emergency maybe applied in the conduct of other counter-insurgency campaigns and by examining the impact of the guerrilla warfare on the political and economic development of Malaya and Malaysia.
Based on previously classified materials, this study traces the political policies and operational practices that enabled the British to defeat the communist insurgency in Malaya between 1948 and 1960. The author points to the key roles played by the Briggs Plan and General Sir Gerald Templer.
