|
|||||||
|
The Malayan Emergency was declared by the British colonial government of Malaya in 1948 just after the war. Malaysia was left with its economy disrupted and in taters. The Emergency was not lifted until 1960 and only after fighting and a struggle to form a viable government. Problems included mass unemployment, and those who could work low wages, this topped with scarce and expensive food lead to considerable unrest, and caused a large number of strikes to occur in 1946, they carried on through to 1948. As well as this, an insurrection and guerrilla war was fought between government forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army in the same period. The Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) was the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) which had been the principal resistance in Malaya against the Japanese occupation. It now turned against its former allies. A state of emergency was declared this entailed scrapping many civil rights, the granting of emergency powers to the police, and other measures aimed at the repression of left wing political movements, like the MCP The guerrilla war was part of the ongoing conflict between the MCP other leftists and the British establishment, starting shortly after the Japanese withdrew in 1945. |
At the time, the British administration was attempting to
repair Malaya's post war-damaged economy and to restore Malaya's tin and rubber industries, as income from
these was important to Britain's
own post-war recovery. As a result, strikers were dealt with harshly, by
measures including arrests and in the case of the Chinese, deportations.
As the strikers became more militant and the demonstrations more violent, incidents occurred. On June 16th 1948 three European plantation managers were killed at Sungai Siput, Perak The British brought in emergency measures, first in Perak and in July, they became country-wide. Under these measures, the MCP and other leftist parties were outlawed, and the police were given the power to imprison, without trial, communists and those suspected of assisting communists. Formation of the Guerrilla campaign The MCP, led by Chin Peng retreated to rural areas, and formed the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), also known as the Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA), or the Malayan People's Liberation Army (MPLA) |
||||||
|
|
||||||