The
Malayan Emergency (1948-1960)
(A
lecture given by Seumas Tan on 5th May 2018
at
the Military History Society of NSW)
The Malayan Emergency or “Darurat
Malaya” in Malaya was formally declared in 1948 by the British. However, in
actual fact the insurgency happened a lot earlier than that. In order to
understand the insurgency, we need to look at who were the early insurgents?
The Early
Insurgents
The early insurgents in Malaya were
mainly made up of ethnic Chinese who all had one thing in common - they were
all anti-Japanese. Strong anti-Japanese sentiment could be felt in Malaya as
early as 1930s when the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Manchuria. There were
many anti-Japanese activists during that period and amongst them was my
grandfather, Tan Jin Ko.
Tan Jin Ko
 | |
| Tan Jin Ko - my grandfather |
Tan Jin Ko was a Chinese community leader and the President of the Hainanese Association. He came to Malaya as a stowaway from the island of Hainan in China at a very young age. He didn’t have much education but he had a gift - he was a natural linguist who could picked up languages quite easily. He taught himself to speak the Malay language (the local language in Malaya / Malaysia) and was able to read and write “Jawi” (Arabic scripts). Due to the fact that he was able to communicate well with the local Malay community, he got a job in the “istana” (palace) working for the Sultan of Selangor (one of the state Rulers in Malaya / Malaysia). He became the Sultan of Selangor’s personal driver and mechanic. Due to his close relationship with the Sultan, he also became an unofficial interlocutor between the Palace and the Chinese community.
When the anti-Japanese sentiment began
to spread to Malaya, my grandfather who by then had become a Chinese community
leader was very active in raising funds to support the resistant fighters in
China. Unfortunately for him, when the Japanese occupied Malaya, he was
betrayed by a member of the community. He was detained and tortured by the
Kempetai. He had never fully recovered from the injuries and died after the
War. Tan Jin Ko wasn’t a Communist member but he had the same anti-Japanese
sentiment as the Communist members in Malaya at that time.
The early
insurgents were patriots
The early insurgents were trained by
the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) led by Colonel Freddy Spencer
Chapman (author of “Jungle is Neutral”) who was part of the “stay behind force”
in Malaya. The objective of the “stay behind force” was to train and assist the
resistant fighters after the fall of Malaya to the Japanese Imperial Army. The
majority of the resistant fighters were from the Communist Party of Malaya
(CPM). They were trained in sabotage and guerrilla warfare which proved to be
useful to the insurgents later on. They used these skills extensively against the
Malayan Government during the Emergency.
The resistant fighters formed the
“Malayan People Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA)” which later evolved and became the
“Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA)”. The MNLA was the military arm of the
CPM. The MPAJA was highly looked upon by the British army. One British General
described the MPAJA as “disciplined people who had great seriousness of
purpose”.
Besides the MPAJA, there was another
group of resistant in Malaya known as Force 136. Force 136 in Malaya was formed
by John Davis and Lim Bo Seng (a hero to many Singaporeans until today). Many
people see Force 136 as guerrilla fighters but in actual fact, they were not.
It is my personal opinion that the Force 136 acted more like an intelligence
unit that was set up to gather information, recruit informants, provide
logistics support and to encourage resistant against the Japanese Imperial
Army. Interestingly enough, the members of Force 136 were not referred to as
soldiers or fighters, they were simply referred to as agents. The MPAJA worked
closely with Force 136 throughout the Malayan Campaign.
End of Japanese
Occupation
When the Japanese surrendered on
15/08/1945, an “interregnum” followed in Malaya. An “interregnum” here would be
the period between the time the Japanese surrendered and when the British
Military Administration (BMA) took over. During this period of uncertainty, the
“law of the jungle” came into force. The MPAJA was busy seizing controls of
territory across Malaya and punishing “collaborators” of the Japanese regime.
Eyewitnesses mentioned that the MPAJA was even more ruthless than the Japanese.
Racial tension was also high because many local Malays who worked for the
Japanese were summarily executed by the MPAJA.
Return of British
Rule
The British formally took control of
Malaya on 12/09/1945. The British army knew about MPAJA’s actions but chose not
to take action against the MPAJA. Instead they restricted the MPAJA to certain
areas. There could be a number of reasons as to why the British chose not to
take action against the MPAJA. It is my personal opinion that the British at
that time still viewed the MPAJA as a “friendly force”, therefore, they didn’t
want to start another conflict so early as the Malayan Campaign had just ended.
They allowed MPAJA to remain armed until negotiations were finalised for their
disarmament.
Disbandment of MPAJA
The MPAJA was formally dissolved on
01/12/1945. A gratuity sum of $350.00 (Malayan dollars), which was a lot of
money then, was paid to each disbanded member of the MPAJA. The disbanded
member was also given the option to join civilian employment or to join the
Police or the local Regiment. A total of 5,947 weapons were handed in by 6,800
guerrillas. However many of those who surrendered the weapons were not
Communists but people who had resentment towards the Japanese. The British
became suspicious when they examined the surrendered weapons and discovered
that the weapons were in actual fact, old weapons. This suspicion was confirmed
when one day the British army while in its routine patrol stumbled upon an
armed Chinese settlement. The Chinese insurgents immediately fired at the
British. One of the Chinese insurgents was killed in the incident. It is my
humble opinion that if it had been one of the British soldiers killed, the
Emergency would have been declared much earlier.
The mindset of the
insurgents - why were they creating havoc?
Many people would think that when the
War had ended, peace would be restored and there would not be any further
conflict or suffering. Unfortunately, when it came to Malaya, the Communist had
different ideas. Based on my research, I would submit the following as to why
the Communist wanted to create disturbance in Malaya:
1.
The
Communists were anti-Colonial. They did not like their country occupied by
another country. First it was the Japanese and now the British. The little
“freedom” that they enjoyed during the “interregnum” had come to an end when
the British returned to Malaya.
2.
The
Communists felt that they should be rewarded and given a bigger role in
governing the Country as they were the ones that helped the British to defeat
the Japanese.
3.
The
Communists believed they had the support from the locals in getting rid of the
British. The Communists thought the strong support that they received from the
locals during the Japanese occupation would also apply to the British
occupation of Malaya.
4.
The
Communists wanted to create an incident that would show the British that the
Communist was a force to be taken seriously, thus we have the first incident
that led to the declaration of Emergency.
The First Incident
- The Sungai Siput incident (Elphil Estate)
The first shots of the Malayan
Emergency were fired at 8.30am on 16/06/1948 at Elphil Estate. Three European
planters were killed. They were Arthur Walker (50 years, manager of the
Estate), John Allison (55 years) and Ian Christian (believed to be in his early
20s). They were executed by 3 young Chinese insurgents. Two days later
(18/06/1948), the British declared Emergency in Malaya and the Communist Party
of Malaya (CPM) was outlawed. The Police was given power to arrest and detain
the Communists.
On January 1949, the CPM formed the
Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and started guerrilla warfare which
they learned from the British SOE during WWII. The guerrilla warfare involved
guerrilla tactics, sabotaging installations, attacking rubber plantations and
destroying transportation and infrastructures. The CPM was led by the Secretary
General, Chin Peng.
Chin Peng
Also known as Ong Boon Hua was born in
Sitiawan, Malaya. He was awarded the Burma Star and the OBE but the awards were
revoked later on. From a hero during the Malayan Campaign, Chin Peng became
“Public Enemy No. 1” after the War. Chin Peng was described as a ruthless
person and the brain behind the CPM and the insurgents.
Interestingly enough, Chin Peng did
not start out as a Communist. He started as an anti-Japanese activist during
the Malayan Campaign. Contrary to what most believed, Chin Peng was not
educated in Chinese but was in fact, educated in English. It was reported that
he was given the opportunity to continue his further education in Chinese in
Singapore but he refused. Instead, he opted to stay on in Malaya to continue his
education in English.
Chin Peng was admitted as a member of
the CPM in January 1940. He received training in guerrilla warfare from the
British SOE and because he spoke English well, he became a liaison officer
between the MPAJA and the British Military in South East Asia.
I have never met Chin Peng in real
life but my former colleague did. He was Chin Peng’s lawyer when Chin Peng
filed an application in Court to challenge the Malaysian Government’s decision
to bar him from returning to Malaysia. When I asked my colleague, “what was
Chin Peng like as a person?” My colleague replied, “He is like an old Uncle. A
polite, friendly and soft-spoken man”. My colleague’s description of him was
very different from the person I read about in history books. In history books,
he was described as ruthless and merciless.
When the attack from the insurgents
became more rampant, more brutal and more aggressive, the British had to react
fast and that was when they brought in Lieutenant General Sir Harold Briggs.
Sir Harold Briggs /
Briggs Plan
Sir Harold Briggs was a British Senior
Military Officer who served in WWI and WWII. He was well liked by Field
Marshall William Slim who described him as a “good commander who made very few
mistakes”. Sir Harold Briggs retired in 1948 but was recalled to resume active
duty by Sir William Slim who was then the British Chief of the Imperial General
Staff. Sir Harold Briggs was appointed as the Director of the Operations in
Malaya to fight against the Communists. He created what was known as the Briggs
Plan.
The objective of the Briggs Plan was
to cut-off the insurgents’ resources that came mainly from civilian support (Communist’s
sympathisers). In order to do this, Briggs introduced the following:
1. Briggs created “New Villages” (it’s
known as “Sin Choon” in the Hokkien Chinese dialect). The objective was to
separate and isolate the Communist’s sympathisers from the insurgents. The
creation of “New Villages” was very effective as the Government managed to cut
the supply of food and intelligence given by the Communist’s sympathisers to
the insurgents. Many years later even Chin Peng admitted that the Communists
were starving when Briggs Plan was implemented. Any area that had Communist
activities or believed to have Communist supporters would be classified as a
“Black area”. The area would be reclassified as a “White area” when there were
no longer any Communist activities or supporters.
2.
Briggs introduced Identity Cards (IC)
for all Malayans. The purpose of the IC was to distinguish between bona fide
Malayans and the insurgents. The early IC had the particulars of the card
holder and his/her thumbprints. Today, Malaysians still carry their ICs
wherever they go. The IC today is much more sophisticated that has an embedded
chip that contains encrypted information and the IC can also be used as a debit
card.
Even though, the Briggs Plan was introduced
by Sir Harold Briggs but it was in fact implemented by Field Marshall
Sir Gerald Templer. The reason was because Sir Harold Briggs became sick and
had to return to UK. Sir Harold Briggs died in Cyprus in 1952.
Field Marshall Sir
Gerald Temple
Sir Gerald Templer had a distinguished
military career and subsequently became the Chief of the Imperial General Staff
(1955-58) after serving in Malaya as the British High Commissioner from 1952
till 1954. The role of the British High Commissioner in Malaya then was not the
same as the role of the British High Commissioner as we know today. The British High Commissioner
then was basically the defecto Head of State with wide executive powers.
The reason the British gave the name “High Commissioner” and not as “Head of
State” was because they didn’t want the title to be seen as usurping the status
of the Sultans in the Malay States.
Sir Gerald Templer was a brilliant
commander who looked at things from different angles. He was the one who
successfully implemented the Briggs Plan and added his own aggressive
strategies. He used psychological warfare where he was reported to say, “The
answer lies not in pouring more troops into the jungle, but in the hearts and
minds of the people”. It was reported that in “winning the hearts” of the
people, Templer himself learned the local language and culture to gain the
support of the people. Templer demanded that the newly built villages where the
ethnic Chinese settled away from the jungles (ie: away from the Communists)
should look more inviting rather like detention camps. To further gain the
“hearts and souls” of the non-Malays, Templer fought hard to grant Malayan
citizenship to over 2.6 million Malayan residents, of which 1.1 million were
Chinese. Templer wanted to seek “political and social equality for all
Malayans”, something which the CPM wanted to do.
In order to flush out the insurgents,
Templer introduced incentive schemes for rebels who surrendered. At the same
time, Templer also took drastic steps to fight insurgency by imposing strict
curfews and tight control of food supplies. Templer ordered that all crops
grown by the Communists to be sprayed with herbicide and destroyed. The methods
carried out by Templer were effective as the CPM relocated its headquarters to
Belong, South Thailand in 1953.
When Templer left Malaya in 1954, the
situation had stabilised. However, Templer did not allow complacency to occur
in his Army and the Government. Before Templer left Malaya, he declared, “I
will shoot the bastard who says the Emergency is over”. One of the main reasons
why Templer was brought into Malaya as the British High Commissioner was
because of a very dark event that took place earlier - the assassination of Sir
Henry Gurney.
The assassination
of Sir Henry Gurney
Sir Henry Gurney was more of a civil
servant rather than a soldier. He was a Colonial British administrator. Sir
Henry Gurney was appointed as the British High Commissioner in Malaya on
01/10/1948 which was barely a few months after the Emergency was declared. He
was assassinated on 06/07/1951 while on the way to Fraser’s Hill. Fraser’s Hill
is a beautiful hill resort which is about 2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. Sir
Henry Gurney was travelling in his official car (a Rolls Royce Silver Wreath)
with his wife, private secretary Dennis Staple and a local Malay driver. His
car was escorted by a Land Rover with 6 Malayan policemen sitting at the back,
a police radio van and an armoured scout car. There was a total of 13 policemen
led by a senior British police officer by the name of PM Brodie. They were
equipped with one Bren, .303 rifles and revolvers. While on the journey to
Fraser’s Hill, the police radio van broke down. Henry Gurney insisted that they
would proceed without the police radio van. The Rolls Royce and the Land Rover
went ahead leaving behind the armoured vehicle and the police radio van. By the
time, the armoured vehicle caught up (PM Brodie estimated it was 2 to 3 minutes
later), the ambush had already occurred. Five of the six Malayan policemen were
wounded and the driver was killed.
Henry Gurney saved his wife by pushing
her down from the seat. He opened the door and walked towards where the
guerrillas were firing. In other words, he sacrificed himself for the safety of
his wife and those in the car. Henry Gurney thought the Communists were aiming
for him but in truth, the Communists didn’t even know that Henry Gurney would
be travelling to Fraser’s Hill on that day. Their initial objective was to
ambush supply trucks, looking for food and supply but when they saw the Rolls
Royce approaching with its Union Jack flag waving, the Communists knew they hit
the “jackpot”.
The assassination of Henry Gurney had
shocked everyone, especially the British. This led them to bring in Field
Marshall Sir Gerald Templer as the new British High Commissioner in Malaya. Due
to the effectiveness of Gerald Templer’s methods, the CPM wanted to seek a
peace negotiation which led to the “Baling Talks”.
The Baling Talks
1955
Apart from the effectiveness of
Templer’s methods, the CPM realised that the local Malayan politicians had
achieved more for the independence movement since 1948 than CPM. There was also
a reduction in support from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the then
Soviet Union who viewed the armed struggle in Malaya as untenable. This led to
Chin Peng writing to Tunku Abdul Rahman who had at that time just been elected
as the Chief Minister of Malaya. The Tunku (as he was fondly known)
subsequently became the first Prime Minister of Malaysia and is known as the
“Father of Independence”.
Two preliminary meetings (similar to
the preparation of the inter-Korea summit recently held on 27/04/2018) were
held to prepare for the actual Peace Talks. The following were agreed by both
the Government and the CPM:
1.
That
the Peace Talks would commence on 28/12/1955 at a local school in a place
called Baling.
2.
The
security procedures to be applied- the Government would secure an area called
Gunung Paku for Chin Peng and his delegation to reside for the entire duration
of the negotiation. Gunung Paku is near to the venue where the Peace Talks
would be held. The Government was also responsible to bring Chin Peng and his
delegation safely to Baling and then to return them to Gunung Paku upon the
termination of the Talks.
3.
The
Government had agreed to give CPM an amnesty for the duration of the talk and
for a 10 day period following cessation of the talks should they fail. A
guarantee was given that the Communists would not be pursued until the period
had elapsed.
4.
The
Government had agreed to supply Chin Peng and his delegation with daily rations
such as rice, sugar and the usual army rations for the period of the talks and
10 days after that.
John Davis (formerly from Force 136)
whom Chin Peng trusted and knew from the Malayan Campaign would be used as an
“insurance” to ensure Chin Peng’s safety. John Davis had escorted Chin Peng out
from the jungle to attend the Peace Talks. He stayed overnight with Chin Peng
and even accompanied Chin Peng some distance into the jungle when the talk
failed. This gave Chin Peng some comfort
that the British was not going to shoot him when the Peace talk failed.
There was a strong trust and bond between both of them. This trust and bond did
not only exist between Chin Peng and John Davis but also with Colonel Spencer
Chapman. Jolly Cho who secretly supplied Spencer Chapman with food during the
War once told my father that when he visited Spencer Chapman in the UK after
the War, he asked Chapman if he would come back to Malaya and fight against the
Communists. Spencer Chapman’s reply was that “I cannot fight against the people
that I fought with during the War”. There was certainly greatly loyalty amongst
comrades, whichever side they may be in.
The Peace Talk took place on
28/12/1955 at a Government English School in Baling. The talk lasted more than
8 hours which was spread over 2 days. The CPM was represented by Chin Peng,
Rashid Maidin (the Malay representative of CPM) and Chen Tien (head of CPM’s Central
Propaganda Department). The Government was represented by Tunku Abdul Rahman
(Chief Minister of Malaya), Tan Cheng Lock (President of the Malayan Chinese
Association) and David Marshall (Chief Minister of Singapore). Based on my
experience in dispute resolution, allow me to give my analysis on the Baling
Talks:
1. Common ground: In dispute
resolution, we always seek common ground where both parties can agree either on
an idea, belief, issue or subject. In the Baling Talks, Tunku Abdul Rahman
started well by saying “colonialism must end and that this Country must be
given freedom”. The Communist shared the same belief as the Tunku. The Tunku
then went on to say that he is not a “spokesman for the British Government or a
running dog”. He called himself as the “servant of the people”. This further
endeared him to the Communist.
2. Know your opponent: One of the
important things in dispute resolution is always know who are your opponents.
Things started to go downhill, when the Tunku started talking about democracy and praised his political
party for fighting for independence without resorting to physical conflict. The
Tunku had urged the CPM to accept the amnesty so that everyone would be
pardoned. It is my personal opinion that whenever someone starts preaching
democracy to a hardcore Communist, the person should know that he/she would be
in trouble. Whatever rapport the person had built earlier would have gone down
the drain.
Chin Peng explained he had not come to
argue questions of ideology but to seek peace. Chin Peng explained the CPM
rejected the amnesty because it did not permit the Communists to “enjoy equal
status” where the Communists would be able to fight for independence by
Constitutional means. The Tunku replied that the amnesty was to help the
Communists to “regain their normal position in Society” and nothing more.
There was one important question asked
by Chin Peng that I felt was to test the Tunku’s allegiance to the British. The
question posed to the Tunku was “whether any decisions made at the meeting need
to be approved by the British Government?”. If the Tunku replied, “yes”, then
it would be clear that Tunku was still subservient to the British Government
but if Tunku said, “no”, then this would prove that the Tunku’s Government
could indeed act independently. The Tunku’s actual reply was “If I decide and
Mr. Marshall (Chief Minister of Singapore) agrees with me, that will be all”.
The sticky point in the Baling Talks
was the recognition of CPM which the Communist wanted but rejected by the
Government. Ultimately, the talk failed. Chin Peng and his delegation had to
return to the jungle accompanied by John Davis. Dennis Wombell (a former
Platoon Commander 2, Police Field Force) in his diary noted that he saw Chin
Peng walking towards the border of South Thailand. He made a note to himself
that this is where he is going to hunt Chin Peng after the amnesty period had
ended.
Subsequently, the CPM had requested
for more negotiations but this was rejected by the Government. When Malaya
achieved its independence on 31/08/157, the support for the CPM had already
dwindled.
The Bukit Kepong
incident (“The Malayan Alamo”)
The Bukit Kepong incident also known
as “the Malayan Alamo” took place on 23/02/1950 between the Malayan Police and
the CPM. Bukit Kepong was a small remote village located in the state of Johor.
It comes under the district of Pagoh which consists of a collection of towns
and villages. At that time, Bukit Kepong had a small wooden police station with
a strength of 25 policemen including auxiliary policemen (part-time policemen).
The police team was headed by one Sergeant Jamil Mohd Shah (No. 3493).
The battle began at 4.15am where the
Police were attacked by 180 insurgents led by Muhammad Indera. The Police were
outnumbered and outgunned by the Communists (automatic weapons vs rifles and
shotguns). The insurgents had repeatedly asked Sergeant Jamil to raise a white
flag and surrender but he refused. As a result, 25 people from the Police
Station were killed against 40 insurgents who perished in that massacre. The 25
people comprised of 14 policemen, 2 civilians, 5 auxiliary policemen, 2 ladies
who were wives of the policemen (the wives were executed in cold blood) and 2
children. The Police Station was burned down by the insurgents. Some of the
people from the other villages tried to help but to no avail.
The OCPD (Officer in Charge of the
Police District) of Pagoh at that time was JJ Raj Jr, who later became a Commissioner of Police and
was bestowed the title “Tan Sri” (an equivalent of a Lordship in the UK) by the
Yang DiPertuan Agong (the Monarch and Head of State of Malaysia). Some people
have questioned whether the OCPD of Pagoh could have done more to protect Bukit
Kepong. My reply to those people is that I have known Commissioner of Police
(Rtd) JJ Raj Jr for many years and I had the privilege of serving with him in
the Council of the National Shooting Association of Malaysia for 20 years. I am
proud to have him as a colleague and a friend because he is an honourable man
full of integrity and great leadership. We
must also keep in mind, that JJ Raj Jr was made an OCPD in 1950 when such
senior position in the Police Force was rarely given to an Asian. His
capabilities must have impressed the British Officers who put their trust in
his leadership and decision making. I have no doubt whatsoever that if he had
to give his life to defend Bukit Kepong, he would. I visited Commissioner of
Police (Rtd) JJ Raj Jr in his home recently (Dec 2017). He is now 96 years old
and I took the opportunity to ask him about the Bukit Kepong incident. He
agreed to share with me his recollection of the incident.
10. Recollection
from Commissioner of Police (Rtd) JJ Raj Jr
 |
| Commissioner of Police (Rtd) Tan Sri JJ Raj Jr and me |
Commissioner of Police (Rtd) JJ Raj Jr
related the following to me:
At that time, I was the OCPD of Pagoh
district. The police received intelligence that the Communist wanted to take
over a police station to boost the morale of its people. At that time, the
Communist took a heavy beating, therefore, they wanted to create an impact to
show that they were still a force to be taken seriously. At the meeting with
the Johor State Police Chief, we looked at a number of possible police stations
that might be attack by the Communist. Bukit Kepong wasn’t one of them because
it was too isolated and remote. We felt it wasn’t important enough to the
Communist. However after the meeting, while in my car back to the office, I
felt uneasy and needed to visit Bukit Kepong. I went the next day with a squad
of 1 Corporal and 9 Constables.
We travelled in a truck along the
winding road of Lenga (a small town) and then proceeded in a police marine boat
to Bukit Kepong. It took us about 3 1/2 hours from the Pagoh Police
Headquarters to Bukit Kepong. I later learned (after the Bukit Kepong incident)
that the Communist insurgents saw me and my squad in the boat but for some
reason, they didn’t fire at us. It would have been easier if they would have
fired at us and leave Bukit Kepong alone. Upon arriving at Bukit Kepong, I
inspected the security in the area and was satisfied with the overall arrangement.
I asked JJ Raj Jr what he thought of Sergeant
Jamil who was featured as a hero in many local history books. He replied, “He
was just an ordinary policeman. When I met him, there wasn’t anything special
or significant that stood out that made me take notice of him. A very
unassuming fellow. However something that struck me rather strange on
that day was that as I was leaving, they (the Bukit Kepong Police team) came to
the jetty to see me off. I told Sergeant Jamil, “Berjaga-jaga” when means “be careful”
in Malay. Sergeant Jamil replied in Malay “Biar putih tulang jangan putih
mata”. It is a Malay idiom which means “Death before dishonour”. He gave me a
smart salute for a very long time which I found rather strange. That was the
last I have seen Sergeant Jamil. The attack of Bukit Kepong happened later that
night. The last survivor of the actual Bukit Kepong attack died 2 years ago. I
am now the only one left who had ties to the incident”.
Even though, the Malayan Emergency was
declared as over in 1960 but the fight against the Communist insurgents did not
end there. It only ended in 1989.
Peace Agreement of
Hat Yai (1989)
The Peace Accord was signed on
02/12/1989 signifying the end of the Communist Insurgency in Malaya. The Peace
Agreement was signed by the CPM because the CPM’s position by then had weakened
(no more issues to pursue) plus they suffered heavy losses, therefore, they
were forced to negotiate.
The deal was brokered by the Thai
authorities as most of the CPM members were living in Southern Thailand. The
Peace Agreement requires the CPM to cease military authority, destroy the
weapon and pledge loyalty to the Yang DiPertuan Agong (Malaysian King). Only
330 former CPM members were allowed to return to Malaysia even though the Accord
provides the Government’s guarantee of safe return to Malaysia for those who
lay down their arms peacefully. After 40 years, 5 months and 26 days, the CPM
insurgency finally had come to an end.
Reference
and further reading:
R.
Thambipillay, The Last Post - Story of the Emergency & Commemorative
Events (1948-1960), published by R. Thambipillay (2011)
Margaret
Shennan, Our Man in Malaya - John Davis CBE DSO, SOE
Force 136 and Postwar Counter-Insurgency, published by Monsoon Books Singapore (2014)
Chin Peng, My Side of History, published by Media
Master Singapore (2013)
J.J. Raj Jr, The War Years and After, published by
Pelanduk Publications, Malaysia (1995)
