Australia's role in the Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency was a conflict that took place in Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1960.

It was fought between the British Commonwealth and the Malayan National Liberation Army, which was made up of communist insurgents.

The conflict is often forgotten, but it was a brutal war that claimed thousands of lives. 

Before the Malayan Emergency began, there was a period of unrest in British Malaya.

This was caused by a number of factors including the rise of communism and racial tensions. The harsh economic and social circumstances that followed World War II also played a role in the growth of anti-government sentiment.

In addition, following the end of World War II, the Federation of Malaya was formed through the unification of a number of former British territories, including Sabah and Sarawak. 

The negotiation process and outcome incensed the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), which was dedicated to establishing an independent, communist Malaya.

 The MCP had been formed in 1930 with the goal of overthrowing the British colonial government.

The party's leaders were mostly ethnic Chinese who had been educated in China and were influenced by communist ideology.

The party's military arm was known as the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and began to carry out guerilla style attacks against the British colonial government in 1948.

In response, the British implemented a series of policies designed to quell the insurgency. However, these policies only served to aggravate the situation.

On the morning of 16 June 1948, three British planters were killed by communist insurgents in the state of Perak.

That night, the British declared a state of emergency in several townships of Perak and Johore, which was expanded the next day to all of the two territories.

On June 18th, a state of emergency was declared for all of Malaya, officially beginning the Malayan Emergency.

The British response was swift and brutal. The declaration of a state of emergency gave them sweeping powers to detain and interrogate suspects without trial.

The MCP and its associated organisations were then deemed to be unlawful.

The Battle of Bukit Kepong was a turning point in the war. It was a battle between the MNLA and British forces that took place on 23 February 1950.

This battle saw a group of MCP guerrillas attack a police station in Bukit Kepong. The police force was heavily outnumbered and outgunned, but they fought fiercely.

In the end, the British forces prevailed, but at a heavy cost. They lost 32 men, while the communists lost over 40.

The Malayan government was initially slower to react to the MCP, but it acted against the insurgency in March 1950.

Then, in October 1951, the British High Commissioner in Malaysia was assassinated.

This led to a military response against the communists in an effort to wipe out their base of support in local communities and drive them into the jungle, where it would be tough for them to get help from supporters.

Australia's involvement started in 1950, with the arrival of RAAF planes and personnel in Singapore. These troops and aircraft were part of Operation Termite.

Operation Termite was a military operation that was launched by the British Commonwealth in July 1954.

It was a combined air ground operation against Communist bases hidden in the jungles of northern Malaya. 

These operations were designed to root out the MCP's guerrillas from their jungle strongholds.

This operation was successful, and it helped to turn the tide of the war against the communists.

By October 1955, the Emergency's outcome was beyond dispute, although a lengthy cleaning operation ensued.

It took around 20 months to finish largely thanks to Australian forces.

The final phase of operations against the communists began in late 1959, with many communists having fled Malaya's northern border into Thailand.

The Malayan Emergency was officially declared over by the Malayan government on the 31st of July 1960.

By this time, most of the MCP's leadership had been killed or captured, and its military capability had been destroyed.

However, small pockets of resistance continued until 1963 when an amnesty was offered to former insurgents.

The end of the emergency led to the withdrawal of most British and Commonwealth troops from Malaya.

However, the Commonwealth governments did create an organisation known as the 'Far East Strategic Reserve', which was a group of military units that were stationed in Southeast Asia to respond to any communist aggression.