Malaya

Malaya was the collective name for those states contained in the 1,100 km. (700 mi.)-long Malay peninsula, and Singapore. They comprised the Federated Malay States (Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang); the Unfederated Malay States (the northern states of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Trengganu which had at one time belonged to Thailand); and the Straits Settlements (Penang Island and the territory opposite it, the mainland enclave of Malacca, and Singapore). The Straits Settlements, whose government also administered the Christmas and Cocos-Keeling islands, and the island of Labuan (part of British Borneo), formed a British colony while the other two were, in varying degrees, under British protection.

Malaya in 1939 has been described as tranquil, complacent, and politically backward. The population during the war years was about 5.5 million of whom only 2.3 million were indigenous Malays, the rest being Chinese (2.4 million), Indians (750,000), and 100,000 of other nationalities including the British. Most of the Chinese lived in towns in the Federated States and Straits Settlements, while the majority of the Malays were engaged in agriculture in the Unfederated States.

Apart from the local British businessmen in Singapore and Penang, who had the right to elect representatives to the Straits Settlements Legislative Council, native members of the various legislatures were nominated by the British administration or by the sultans through whom the British ruled. There was a fixed majority of government officials on each legislature, but co-operation and consultation were the general rule and formal voting was rare. There were no political parties as such, though the Union of Young Malaya (Kesatuan Melayu Muda or KMM), founded in 1938, had some influence, as did the illegal Malayan Communist Party (MCP).

Malaya was a valuable asset to the British for it produced 38% of the world's rubber and 58% of the world's tin (see raw and synthetic materials); so valuable that it was decided not to introduce conscription for fear that it would adversely affect production. As a consequence, when the Japanese invaded on 8 December 1941, the only indigenous forces available of any consequence were the Malayan Regiment, a regular unit, and eight Volunteer infantry battalions.

After the Malayan campaign and the fall of Singapore the KMM attempted to achieve their national aspirations for independence through the Japanese, but in June 1942 they were banned and from then on the only political organization allowed was the Indian Independence League. However, initially, the KMM were allowed to raise a local military force, but hedged their bets by keeping in contact with the nucleus of a guerrilla force which had been trained by the British to operate in the jungle. This force, mostly Chinese members of the MCP who had been trained by SOE in Singapore before its capture, formed the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) which harassed the occupying forces.

In 1943 SOE and Special Operations Australia, established contact with the MPAJA and provided it with leaders such as F. Spencer Chapman as well as arms and supplies. The MPAJA claimed after the war that it undertook 340 operations against the Japanese whose records show that they lost some 600 men and 2,000 local police while inflicting 2,900 casualties on the MPAJA. By the end of the war the MPAJA numbered about 7,000.

Singapore became the centre of the Japanese regional military administration (which also included Sumatra) and British civilians were interned in the notorious Changi prison there. Singapore was regarded as a Japanese colony and was ruled by a mayor, while the states were placed under a Japanese military governor. All western influence was ruthlessly extinguished and replaced by Japanese culture and language, and in October 1943 Thailand was allowed to annex the four northern Unfederated States. For a time the sultans were stripped of their power and the diminution of this traditional influence led to a flowering of genuine Malayan nationalism which the Japanese began to encourage from mid- 1943. From this process a new Malay élite emerged and in July 1945 the Japanese formally agreed to promote a Malay nationalist movement. Malay Indians were encouraged to join the Indian National Army, which was initially based, as was Subhas Chandra Bose's Provisional government of Free India, in Singapore. However, 60,000 were sent to work on the Burma–Thailand railway, of whom only 20,000 returned. But it was the Malay Chinese, who had been financially supporting Chiang Kai-shek, who received especially brutal treatment from the Japanese, and those known to have contributed to the China Relief Fund were executed. Thousands more were massacred in Singapore when the Japanese overran it and the survivors were pressured to become followers of Wang Ching-wei's puppet government in Nanking (see China, 3(b)).

There was an acute shortage of food in Malaya during the war years, with rice production falling by a third. Up to 1941 the population had been increasing by 100,000 a year, but by 1945 there was an annual decline of 10,000. Much of the tin production was destroyed in the fighting, but rubber production continued. However, both were soon brought to a standstill because Japanese industry could not absorb what was being produced.

On 9 September 1945 the British resumed control by undertaking amphibious landings (ZIPPER), with two divisions and one brigade landing south of Port Swettenham and north of Port Dickson. As the Japanese had already surrendered, they were unopposed, but the MCP then clashed with the reinstated colonial government. From 1948 it conducted an armed struggle for independence which was eventually achieved in 1957.

Bibliography

Chapman, F. S. , The Jungle is Neutral (London, 1949).
Kheng, C. B. , Red Star Over Malaya (Singapore, 1983).