Using and Abusing the Past: The Malayan Emergency as Counterinsurgency Paradigm

Abstract

The Malayan Emergency officially lasted from June 1948 until 31 July 1960 (Chin and Hack 2004: 3–37). It pitted British-led forces against the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), its Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), and the MNLA’s civilian supporters in the Min Yuen or Masses organisation (Chin and Hack 2004: 29fn 2, 148–9). The British broke the back of the insurgency as a large-scale campaign somewhere between 1950 and 1954. Faced with this reversal, the communists unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate an end to hostilities at the ‘Baling Talks’ in December 1955 (Hack 1999a: 99–125; Hack 2011). Communist remnants then continued to operate from the Malaysian-Thai border until a negotiated peace in December 1989 (Hack 2008: 173–99).