2.5  The Era of Emergency


Presentation

The era is closely related to the development of communist ideology in the country. It lasted for 12 years. Through the activities of Malayan Communist Party (MCP) who were mainly Chinese, they tried to instill and spread the communist ideology among the people. After the World War II ended, some of the MCP guerrillas hid in jungles and formed Malaysian Races Liberation Army (MRLA) or better known as Three Stars (Bintang Tiga). Their aim was to establish the Communist Republic of Malaya.
The communist ideology was not accepted by the majority of the population. Do you know why the people did not accept the ideology? Below are the reasons:
  1. The ideology against the Islamic teachings because it denied the existence of God
  2. Many Chinese were more interested in economic activities and to focus on improving the economy. They did not want to involve in the guerrilla activities. To secure the interest of the Chinese in this country, they established Malayan Chinese Party (MCA).
The climax of the communist guerillas activities happened in 1948 after the Calcutta Resolution in which they launched attacks on rubber estates, tine mines, police station and general public especially the Europeans. Many people were dead. As a result, the British government came out with some steps to wipe out the guerilla activities.
The steps can be summarized as follow:

a) The British government declared state of emergency and enacted Emergency Law
16 June 1948 : Declaration of emergency in Perak & Johor
17 June 1948 : Declaration of emergency on the whole peninsula

2.5  The Era of Emergency


The enactment of Emergency Law 1948:
- outlawed the MCP
- gave powers to police and soldiers to arrest and detain communist suspects without court trial
Registration System was introduced in which citizens aged 12 years and above must register and own an
identity card

b) The Briggs Plan
Introduced by Sir Harold Briggs
To relocate the squatter areas near to forest to a new village in order to restrict the Chinese from supplying
food, medicine and information to the communist guerillas. About 400,000 Chinese were relocated to 400 new villages.
The plan succeeded in eradicating communist violence

c) Use of Military Force
Sir Gerald Templer used army force to fight the communists
He recruited 67,000 Malay special soldiers and formed home guards systems with 210,000 strength
He also sought assistance from the Commonwealths military
More aggressive attacks were launched against the communists

2.5  The Era of Emergency


d) Launch Psychological Warfare
Sir Gerald Templer took the following measures:
  1. Made easier for non-Malays to obtain citizenship.
  2. Award pardon to large number of MCP members who surrendered
  3. Reward people who supplied information about communists activities
  4. Distribute pamphlets calling communist guerillas to surrender
  5. Introduced "white and black areas". White areas indicated free communist areas while black areas were the opposite.
  6. Introduce curfews system in the areas where the guerillas were hunted
The warfare succeeded in ending the communist activities and bringing back people to work together

e) The Baling Negotiation 1955
The MCP lastly decided to negotiate with the British after series of steps taken by the British to contain their
activities
The negotiation failed as the MCP rejected the government's counter offer and refused to lay down their
arms


2.5  The Era of Emergency


For your information, the era of emergency left many negative impacts on the country. Among the impacts are:
  1. Made easier for non-Malays to obtain citizenship.
  2. Huge number of people killed
  3. The infrastructures, properties were destroyed
  4. The economy was cripple
  5. New villages (mainly Chinese) were equipped with facilities. This had created hatred among the Malays towards the Chinese. Thus, social gap widened.