The Malaya Campaign

Our Sovereign Grand Commander was recently honoured by the presentation of the Pingat Jasa Malasia Medal

by Col. Alwi, the Military Attache of the Malasian High Commission.

The Campaign (by our Sovereign Grand Commander)

On June 16th 1948, MRLA guerrillas killed three British rubber planters and Britain declared a state of emergency in Malaya. It was to remain as an emergency until July 31st 1960, though in fact, it was the longest campaign that the British forces had fought since the peninsula war.

The MRLA (Malay Races Liberation Army) was the brainchild of the Malayan Communist Part (MCP), which in turn was tied to the Chinese Communist Party. The MCP seeing no way that they would gain power by the ballot box decided under their leader Chin Peng to try to gain power via terrorism. What developed was a full scale war between the MRLA and the British Commonwealth and Malay armed forces.

The MRLA tortured, gang raped, humiliated and killed dozens of British and Malay civilians, including many children. Its support came mainly from the ethnic Chinese of which there were about 3 million in total. They had little support from the Malay and indigenous Sakai tribes.

British troops were rushed to Malaya, many of them young and inexperienced in jungle warfare. After the briefest of training they were sent to do road and jungle patrols often with equipment which was ill suited for the jungle conditions. They learnt to lie in ambush for days at a time coping with the heat and wet conditions and being attacked by flies, mosquitoes and leeches. Patrols might last for anything from a week to a month and the deep penetration patrols could last for even longer. On one’s return one’s uniform was only fit to be burnt and you needed and helping hand to remove the leeches. This was done by applying the lighted tip of a cigarette to the leech which then fell off, to be crushed under foot in a bloody pulp. Severe sores under the armpits and groin were commonplace as was malaria and pink eye.

I arrived there in 1958 together with 30 men two NCOs and another 2/Lt. We were not supposed to be in Malaya, but through a series of mistakes and miscommunications, there we were. I was assigned on a temporary basis to the 7th Ghurkas. That year saw the beginning of the end for the MRLA when most of their remaining members surrendered at Telok Anson. The remaining hard core communists slunk over the border into Thailand and Chin Peng fled to China. Malaya had become independent on 31st August 1957, so the excuse that these ‘Charlie Tangos’ (short for Communist Terrorists) had been fighting for the independence of the Malay people was shown up for the sham that it was. In fact they had been communist cadres with political officers and were there to indoctrinate anyone that they could force into it with Marxist-Leninist propaganda.

Nonetheless road and jungle patrols were continued until July 31st 1960, when the Malayan government declared the emergency at an end, but I and my group were long since gone to join the 1st Battalion the Middlesex Regt. fighting the EOKA terrorists in Cyprus.

During the conflict the British and other security forces killed 6710 MRLA guerrillas, 3202 surrendered either during or at the end of the conflict. There were 1865 Malayan and British troops killed, a further 2478 civilians and 810 troops missing presumed dead. But the war and importantly the peace had been won.

In 2007 the kingdom of Malaysia issued the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal to veterans of the campaign to say ‘Terima kasih’ (‘Thank you’ in Malay) for helping them to ‘Merdeka’ (Independence).

On 27th May, at approximately 1000 hrs. the Northern Malaya and Borneo Veterans Assoc. will be holding a ceremony of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas.

Gurkha troops who took part in the Malayan Campaign:

GHQ 26th. Gurkha Infantry Brigade

1st Bn. 2nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles)
2nd Bn. 2nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles

1st Bn. 6th Queen Elizabeth’s Own Gurkha Rifles
2nd Bn. 6th Queen Elizabeth’s Own Gurkha Rifles

1st Bn. 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles
2nd Bn. 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles

1st Bn. 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles
2nd Bn. 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles

17th Gurkha Division Provost Company
Gurkha Signals
Gurkha ASC and Gurkha Engineers
Part of 17 Gurkha Division and assigned to 63 and 99 Gurkha Brigades

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