Communist Insurgency War
Encyclopedia
The Communist Insurgency War, or Second Malaysian Emergency was an insurgency
and guerrilla war
, conducted by the Malayan Communist Party
(MCP) against Malaysian armed forces from 1968 to 1989.
throughout the 1960 to 1968 period the MCP took the opportunity to undergo a period of streamlining, retraining, and re-indoctrination. The Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA) had established a series of safe bases, or what it called liberated areas. Despite their defeat during the first emergency, the MCP was still very much a force to be reckoned with. The MCP had a nucleus of between five and six hundred well-trained guerrillas and a reserve of about one thousand young men were available for full time service if required. The MCP had reorganized its units and reconstituted itself by training a number of new guerrillas. They also developed new techniques of guerrilla warfare and learned much from the Vietnam War
on the techniques of fighting guerrilla warfare.
In July 1961, Chin Peng
met Deng Xiaoping
in China. Deng had proposed to the MCP that it conduct a second an armed struggle. Deng insisted that Malaya
should revolt and used the success of the Vietnam Communist Party in the Vietnam War as MCP propaganda to launch a second revolt in Malaya. Deng later promised Chin Peng that China would assist the MCP and promised to give the MCP US $100,000 for the second insurgency in Malaya.
On 1 June 1968, the Central Command of the MCP issued a directive entitled “Hold High the Great Red Banner of Armed Struggle and Valiantly March Forward.” The MCP was ready to start a new insurgency in Malaysia. On 17 June 1968, to mark the 20th anniversary of their armed struggle against the Malaysian Government, the MCP launched an ambush against security forces in the area of Kroh–Betong in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia
. They achieved a major success, killing 17 members of the security forces. This event marked the start of the second armed revolt of the MCP.
At the initial stage of their second insurgency, the MCP achieved a significant amount of success. Their actions at this stage were more bold and aggressive and caused considerable losses to the security forces. These successes were due to their preparation and the training that they received during the “lull periods” or the reconsolidation period after the end of the first insurgency. By this time, they also had significant numbers of new members, who were young and aggressive. They had learned from the past that they could no longer rely on sympathizers from the poor or village people for their food and logistics.
had caused severe conflicts among the MCP members. During this period, it was reported that the government agents and spies had succeeded in infiltrating the MCP organization. It was reported that the ‘spies’ were plotting a coup within the MCP Headquarters. The counterintelligence investigators appointed by the MCP Central Committee reported that they believed that 90 percent of the Thai Chinese
recruits who joined the party from 1960 onward were government spies.
Members in the militant wing started to accuse each other as government spies. Betrayal in guerrilla ranks was regarded as the most serious crime against the party and the punishment was normally death by execution. During the jungle trial held by the MCP leadership, a large number of guerrillas from Headquarters and Betong East Camp were found guilty of being enemy agents. However, the Sadao and the West Betong Group refused to conduct such trials. Instead, they refused to adhere to the MCP Central Committee orders. They in fact made an accusation that the MCP Central Committee was under the control of government agents.
By October 1974, the MCP leadership had split into two different factions, between the Maoist and the Marxist-Leninist. The MRLA in the northern part of Malaysia near the Thailand border were located in three places. The MCP Central Committee was with the East Betong Group, and the other two groups were located at West Betong
and Sadao. When the crisis was getting worse, the Sadao groups broke away from the main MCP groups and proclaimed themselves as the MCP Revolutionary Faction (RF). Subsequently the Betong West group, who also broke from the main MCP groups, identified their party as the MCP “Marxist-Lenin” (M-L) and later renamed their guerrilla arm as the Malayan People’s Liberation Army (MPLA) instead of the Malayan Races Liberation Army.
Some observers believed that a new revolutionary struggle was initiated with the influence of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. They believed that the Vietnam Communist Party, backed by the Soviet Union
, had agreed to provide logistical and propaganda support to the ‘new fraction’ groups, such as Betong West and Sadao Group. Later it was found out that the Betong West and the Sadao Group ceased to exist not long after they broke away from the main groups. These groups realized that their armed struggles could not achieve any success. The West Betong and the Sadao groups then decided to surrender themselves to the Thai Government in early 1987. After that time, the MCP arms struggles and militant activities became weak and disintegrated with no clear political or military objective.
, the Malaysian Government understood the importance of security and development and how it could be used against the MCP insurgency. The Malaysian Government, then, introduced a new strategy of fighting the MCP. It was known as Security and Development, or KESBAN, the local acronym, and focused on civil military affairs. KESBAN constituted the sum total of all measures undertaken by the Malaysian Armed Forces and other (government) agencies to strengthen and protect society from subversion, lawlessness, and insurgency which effectively broke the resistance. Undoubtedly as Malaysia experienced, security and development were the most prudent approach to combating insurgencies and terrorism.
The KESBAN programs succeeded in developing Malaysia into a more stable and secure society. Malaysia basically had institutionalized the concept of KESBAN, with the
setting up of coordinated bodies from the village, district, and state to the federal level. All the relevant agencies were represented and in this way, obstacles and problems were
discussed and overcame jointly. The government made huge efforts to develop rural areas with the implementation of massive development programs such as road constructions,
building new school, hospital, medical clinic and public utilities such as electric and water supply for the public.
The government also instituted other security measures in order to meet the MCP menace, including strict press censorship, increasing the size of the police force, resettling squatters and relocating villages in “insecure” rural areas. By mid 1975, when the MCP militant activities were at a peak, the government promulgated a set of Essential Regulations, without declaring a state of emergency. The Essential Regulations provided for the establishment of a scheme called a ‘Rukun Tetangga,’ ‘Rela
’ (People’s Volunteer Group). The concept of “Rukun Tetangga” (Neighborhood Watch) had made the Malays, Chinese, and Indians become closer together, and more tolerant of each other.
The Malaysian Government made the right decision by not declaring a state of emergency during the second insurgency. The reason was a desire to avoid the fears of the populace (leading to increase in ethnic antipathy) and to avoid scaring away needed foreign investment. The economic prosperity achieved in the 1970s enabled the administration of Tun Abdul Razak and later Tun Hussein Onn who took over on the death of Tun Razak in 1976, to make considerable progress towards the Malaysian economy. When Dr. Mahathir Mohammad took over as the Malaysian Prime Minister from Dato Hussein Onn in 1980, he succeeded in making Malaysia one of the fastest developing nations in Asia. The annual growth of the Malaysian economy rose up to 8 percent.
.
The Malaysian Government urged the leaders of China to exert influence on the MCP leadership to convince them to lay down their arms. During Dr. Mahathir Mohammad’s premiership, he initiated an effort to bring MCP to negotiation table to end the insurgency. Dr. Mahathir believed that the MCP was fighting a losing battle and urged them to lay down their arms and join the other Malaysians in developing the country.
In 1988, the MCP leadership in the northern part of Malaysia agreed with the Malaysian Government offer to attend a negotiation to a peace initiative. The MCP, which by
that time was in a desperate situation to continue their armed struggle agreed with the proposal. Furthermore, since early 1981, Deng Xiao Peng had encouraged them to seek an
avenue for a peace accord.
When the Communist bloc in Europe collapsed in the late 1980s, the MCP had accepted the fact that they did not have any chance to form a communist government in Malaya. Malaysia by that time was one of the newly developed nations in Asia. Malaysia’s economy was strong and the majority of Malaysia’s citizens refused to accept communist ideology. After a series of negotiations between the Malaysian Government and the MCP, with the Thai Government as the mediator, the MCP finally agreed to sign a Peace Accord in Haadyai, Thailand on the 2 December 1989.
The peace accord did not require the MCP to surrender; it only required that the MCP cease their militant activities. With the signing of the Haadyai Peace Accord, the MCP
agreed to disband their armed units and destroy all of their weapons. They also ‘pledged their loyalty’ to His Majesty the Yang di Pertuan Agong
of Malaysia. This date marked the end of the MCP insurgency in Malaysia.
At the end of the peace accord, it was estimated that there were about 1,188 MCP members still on the active list. Some of them chose to return to their states in Malaysia and
the rest selected to stay in a “Peace Village” at the Thai border. The Malaysian Government had paid them all some compensation money. First RM 3,000 was paid on their immediate return, and another RM 5,000 was paid three years after their return.
Insurgency
An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
and guerrilla war
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
, conducted by the Malayan Communist Party
Malayan Communist Party
The Malayan Communist Party , officially known as the Communist Party of Malaya , was founded in 1930 and laid down its arms in 1989. It is most famous for its role in the Malayan Emergency.-Formation:...
(MCP) against Malaysian armed forces from 1968 to 1989.
Origins
With the declared end of the EmergencyMalayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....
throughout the 1960 to 1968 period the MCP took the opportunity to undergo a period of streamlining, retraining, and re-indoctrination. The Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA) had established a series of safe bases, or what it called liberated areas. Despite their defeat during the first emergency, the MCP was still very much a force to be reckoned with. The MCP had a nucleus of between five and six hundred well-trained guerrillas and a reserve of about one thousand young men were available for full time service if required. The MCP had reorganized its units and reconstituted itself by training a number of new guerrillas. They also developed new techniques of guerrilla warfare and learned much from the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
on the techniques of fighting guerrilla warfare.
In July 1961, Chin Peng
Chin Peng
Chin Peng, former OBE , was born Ong Boon Hua in Sitiawan, and was a long-time leader of the Malayan Communist Party...
met Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
in China. Deng had proposed to the MCP that it conduct a second an armed struggle. Deng insisted that Malaya
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
should revolt and used the success of the Vietnam Communist Party in the Vietnam War as MCP propaganda to launch a second revolt in Malaya. Deng later promised Chin Peng that China would assist the MCP and promised to give the MCP US $100,000 for the second insurgency in Malaya.
On 1 June 1968, the Central Command of the MCP issued a directive entitled “Hold High the Great Red Banner of Armed Struggle and Valiantly March Forward.” The MCP was ready to start a new insurgency in Malaysia. On 17 June 1968, to mark the 20th anniversary of their armed struggle against the Malaysian Government, the MCP launched an ambush against security forces in the area of Kroh–Betong in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...
. They achieved a major success, killing 17 members of the security forces. This event marked the start of the second armed revolt of the MCP.
At the initial stage of their second insurgency, the MCP achieved a significant amount of success. Their actions at this stage were more bold and aggressive and caused considerable losses to the security forces. These successes were due to their preparation and the training that they received during the “lull periods” or the reconsolidation period after the end of the first insurgency. By this time, they also had significant numbers of new members, who were young and aggressive. They had learned from the past that they could no longer rely on sympathizers from the poor or village people for their food and logistics.
MCP internal conflicts
In early 1970, the MCP experienced a major crisis within the party. Internal disputes due to the counterintelligence problems posed by the Special BranchMalaysian Special Branch
The Special Branch or SB is an intelligence agency attached to the Royal Malaysian Police. The SB is empowered to acquire and develop intelligence on internal and external threats to the nation, subversive activities, extremist activities and activities of sabotage and spying...
had caused severe conflicts among the MCP members. During this period, it was reported that the government agents and spies had succeeded in infiltrating the MCP organization. It was reported that the ‘spies’ were plotting a coup within the MCP Headquarters. The counterintelligence investigators appointed by the MCP Central Committee reported that they believed that 90 percent of the Thai Chinese
Thai Chinese
The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people...
recruits who joined the party from 1960 onward were government spies.
Members in the militant wing started to accuse each other as government spies. Betrayal in guerrilla ranks was regarded as the most serious crime against the party and the punishment was normally death by execution. During the jungle trial held by the MCP leadership, a large number of guerrillas from Headquarters and Betong East Camp were found guilty of being enemy agents. However, the Sadao and the West Betong Group refused to conduct such trials. Instead, they refused to adhere to the MCP Central Committee orders. They in fact made an accusation that the MCP Central Committee was under the control of government agents.
By October 1974, the MCP leadership had split into two different factions, between the Maoist and the Marxist-Leninist. The MRLA in the northern part of Malaysia near the Thailand border were located in three places. The MCP Central Committee was with the East Betong Group, and the other two groups were located at West Betong
Betong, Thailand
Betong is a town in southern Thailand, near the boundary to Malaysia. It is the capital of Betong district, the southernmost district of Yala Province. As of 2005, the town has a population of 24,688....
and Sadao. When the crisis was getting worse, the Sadao groups broke away from the main MCP groups and proclaimed themselves as the MCP Revolutionary Faction (RF). Subsequently the Betong West group, who also broke from the main MCP groups, identified their party as the MCP “Marxist-Lenin” (M-L) and later renamed their guerrilla arm as the Malayan People’s Liberation Army (MPLA) instead of the Malayan Races Liberation Army.
Some observers believed that a new revolutionary struggle was initiated with the influence of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. They believed that the Vietnam Communist Party, backed by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, had agreed to provide logistical and propaganda support to the ‘new fraction’ groups, such as Betong West and Sadao Group. Later it was found out that the Betong West and the Sadao Group ceased to exist not long after they broke away from the main groups. These groups realized that their armed struggles could not achieve any success. The West Betong and the Sadao groups then decided to surrender themselves to the Thai Government in early 1987. After that time, the MCP arms struggles and militant activities became weak and disintegrated with no clear political or military objective.
The Security and Development Program (KESBAN)
From the Briggs PlanBriggs Plan
Briggs' Plan was a military plan devised by British General Sir Harold Briggs shortly after his appointment in 1950 as Director of Operations in the anti-communist war in Malaya. The plan aimed to defeat the Malayan communists, who were operating out of rural areas as a guerrilla army, primarily by...
, the Malaysian Government understood the importance of security and development and how it could be used against the MCP insurgency. The Malaysian Government, then, introduced a new strategy of fighting the MCP. It was known as Security and Development, or KESBAN, the local acronym, and focused on civil military affairs. KESBAN constituted the sum total of all measures undertaken by the Malaysian Armed Forces and other (government) agencies to strengthen and protect society from subversion, lawlessness, and insurgency which effectively broke the resistance. Undoubtedly as Malaysia experienced, security and development were the most prudent approach to combating insurgencies and terrorism.
The KESBAN programs succeeded in developing Malaysia into a more stable and secure society. Malaysia basically had institutionalized the concept of KESBAN, with the
setting up of coordinated bodies from the village, district, and state to the federal level. All the relevant agencies were represented and in this way, obstacles and problems were
discussed and overcame jointly. The government made huge efforts to develop rural areas with the implementation of massive development programs such as road constructions,
building new school, hospital, medical clinic and public utilities such as electric and water supply for the public.
The government also instituted other security measures in order to meet the MCP menace, including strict press censorship, increasing the size of the police force, resettling squatters and relocating villages in “insecure” rural areas. By mid 1975, when the MCP militant activities were at a peak, the government promulgated a set of Essential Regulations, without declaring a state of emergency. The Essential Regulations provided for the establishment of a scheme called a ‘Rukun Tetangga,’ ‘Rela
RELA Corps
"RELA Corps" is a paramilitary civil volunteer corps formed by the Malaysian government...
’ (People’s Volunteer Group). The concept of “Rukun Tetangga” (Neighborhood Watch) had made the Malays, Chinese, and Indians become closer together, and more tolerant of each other.
The Malaysian Government made the right decision by not declaring a state of emergency during the second insurgency. The reason was a desire to avoid the fears of the populace (leading to increase in ethnic antipathy) and to avoid scaring away needed foreign investment. The economic prosperity achieved in the 1970s enabled the administration of Tun Abdul Razak and later Tun Hussein Onn who took over on the death of Tun Razak in 1976, to make considerable progress towards the Malaysian economy. When Dr. Mahathir Mohammad took over as the Malaysian Prime Minister from Dato Hussein Onn in 1980, he succeeded in making Malaysia one of the fastest developing nations in Asia. The annual growth of the Malaysian economy rose up to 8 percent.
Road to peace accord
Since 1972 Malaysia had established a bilateral relationship with ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
The Malaysian Government urged the leaders of China to exert influence on the MCP leadership to convince them to lay down their arms. During Dr. Mahathir Mohammad’s premiership, he initiated an effort to bring MCP to negotiation table to end the insurgency. Dr. Mahathir believed that the MCP was fighting a losing battle and urged them to lay down their arms and join the other Malaysians in developing the country.
In 1988, the MCP leadership in the northern part of Malaysia agreed with the Malaysian Government offer to attend a negotiation to a peace initiative. The MCP, which by
that time was in a desperate situation to continue their armed struggle agreed with the proposal. Furthermore, since early 1981, Deng Xiao Peng had encouraged them to seek an
avenue for a peace accord.
When the Communist bloc in Europe collapsed in the late 1980s, the MCP had accepted the fact that they did not have any chance to form a communist government in Malaya. Malaysia by that time was one of the newly developed nations in Asia. Malaysia’s economy was strong and the majority of Malaysia’s citizens refused to accept communist ideology. After a series of negotiations between the Malaysian Government and the MCP, with the Thai Government as the mediator, the MCP finally agreed to sign a Peace Accord in Haadyai, Thailand on the 2 December 1989.
The peace accord did not require the MCP to surrender; it only required that the MCP cease their militant activities. With the signing of the Haadyai Peace Accord, the MCP
agreed to disband their armed units and destroy all of their weapons. They also ‘pledged their loyalty’ to His Majesty the Yang di Pertuan Agong
Yang di-Pertuan Agong
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the head of state of Malaysia. The office was established in 1957 when the Federation of Malaya gained independence....
of Malaysia. This date marked the end of the MCP insurgency in Malaysia.
At the end of the peace accord, it was estimated that there were about 1,188 MCP members still on the active list. Some of them chose to return to their states in Malaysia and
the rest selected to stay in a “Peace Village” at the Thai border. The Malaysian Government had paid them all some compensation money. First RM 3,000 was paid on their immediate return, and another RM 5,000 was paid three years after their return.
See also
- Malayan EmergencyMalayan EmergencyThe Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....
(1948–1960) - Malayan Communist PartyMalayan Communist PartyThe Malayan Communist Party , officially known as the Communist Party of Malaya , was founded in 1930 and laid down its arms in 1989. It is most famous for its role in the Malayan Emergency.-Formation:...
- Malaysian Special BranchMalaysian Special BranchThe Special Branch or SB is an intelligence agency attached to the Royal Malaysian Police. The SB is empowered to acquire and develop intelligence on internal and external threats to the nation, subversive activities, extremist activities and activities of sabotage and spying...
- Kanang anak LangkauKanang anak LangkauPW 1 Temenggong Datuk Kanang anak Langkau, SP,PGB,P.G.B.K. is a famous Malaysian hero and soldier from the Iban Dayak community in Sarawak. He was in the Royal Ranger Regiment and Regimental Sergeant Major of 8 Renjer of the Malaysian Army...