Editing Malayan Emergency (section)

==Commonwealth contribution==
Commonwealth forces from Africa and the Pacific fought on the side of the British backed Federation of Malaya during the Malayan Emergency. These forces included troops from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Kenya, [[Nyasaland]], [[Northern Rhodesia|Northern]] and [[Southern Rhodesia]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Malayan Campaign 1948–60 |last=Scurr |first=John |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |year=2005 |orig-year=1981 |isbn=978-0-85045-476-5}}</ref>

===Australia and Pacific Commonwealth forces===
{{Main|Military history of Australia during the Malayan Emergency}}
Australian ground forces first joined the Malayan Emergency in 1955 with the deployment of the [[2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment]] (2 RAR).<ref name="awm.gov.au">{{cite web|title=Malayan Emergency, 1950–60|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/emergency.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503033039/http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/emergency.asp|archive-date=3 May 2008|access-date=23 October 2011|publisher=Australian War Memorial}}</ref> The 2 RAR was later replaced by [[3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment|3 RAR]], which in turn was replaced by [[1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment|1 RAR]]. The [[Royal Australian Air Force]] contributed [[No. 1 Squadron RAAF|No. 1 Squadron]] ([[Avro Lincoln]] bombers) and [[No. 38 Squadron RAAF|No. 38 Squadron]] ([[Douglas C-47 Skytrain|C-47]] transports). In 1955, the RAAF extended [[RAAF Base Butterworth|Butterworth air base]], from which [[English Electric Canberra|Canberra]] bombers of [[No. 2 Squadron RAAF|No. 2 Squadron]] (replacing No. 1 Squadron) and [[CAC Sabre]]s of [[No. 78 Wing RAAF|No. 78 Wing]] carried out ground attack missions against the guerrillas. The [[Royal Australian Navy]] destroyers {{HMAS|Warramunga|I44|2}} and {{HMAS|Arunta|I30|2}} joined the force in June 1955. Between 1956 and 1960, the aircraft carriers {{HMAS|Melbourne|R21|2}} and {{HMAS|Sydney|1944|2}} and destroyers {{HMAS|Anzac|D59|2}}, {{HMAS|Quadrant|G11|2}}, {{HMAS|Queenborough|G30|2}}, {{HMAS|Quiberon|G81|2}}, {{HMAS|Quickmatch|G92|2}}, {{HMAS|Tobruk|D37|2}}, {{HMAS|Vampire|D11|2}}, {{HMAS|Vendetta|D08|2}} and {{HMAS|Voyager|D04|2}} were attached to the [[Far East Strategic Reserve|Commonwealth Strategic Reserve]] forces for three to nine months at a time. Several of the destroyers fired on communist positions in [[Johor]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}{{Main|Military history of New Zealand in Malaysia}}
New Zealand's first contribution came in 1949, when [[Douglas C-47 Skytrain|Douglas C-47 Dakotas]] of [[No. 41 Squadron RNZAF|RNZAF No. 41 Squadron]] were attached to the [[Royal Air Force]]'s [[RAF Far East Air Force|Far East Air Force]]. New Zealand became more directly involved in the conflict in 1955; from May, RNZAF [[de Havilland Vampire]]s and [[de Havilland Venom|Venoms]] began to fly strike missions. In November 1955 133 soldiers of what was to become the [[Special Air Service of New Zealand]] arrived from Singapore, for training in-country with the British SAS, beginning operations by April 1956. The [[Royal New Zealand Air Force]] continued to carry out strike missions with Venoms of [[No. 14 Squadron RNZAF|No. 14 Squadron]]<ref>Ian McGibbon (Ed.), (2000). ''The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History.'' p.294.</ref> and later [[No. 75 Squadron RNZAF|No. 75 Squadron]] [[English Electric Canberra]]s bombers, as well as supply-dropping operations in support of anti-guerrilla forces, using the [[Bristol Freighter]]. A total of 1,300 New Zealanders were stationed in Malaya between 1948 and 1964, and fifteen lost their lives.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Approximately 1,600 Fijian troops were involved in the Malayan Emergency from 1952 to 1956.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.fijisun.com.fj/2014/01/30/documentary-to-explore-fijian-malaysian-links/|title=Documentary To Explore Fijian, Malaysian Links |access-date=13 September 2014 |work=Fiji Sun |date=30 January 2014|archive-date=3 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103183752/https://fijisun.com.fj/2014/01/30/documentary-to-explore-fijian-malaysian-links/|url-status=live }}</ref> The experience was captured in the documentary, ''Back to Batu Pahat''.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

===African Commonwealth forces===
{{Main|Southern Rhodesian military involvement in the Malayan Emergency}}
[[File:C Squadron (Rhodesian) SAS, 1953.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Rhodesian Special Air Service|"C" Squadron]], the all-Southern Rhodesian unit of the Special Air Service (SAS), in Malaya in 1953|alt=A formative black-and-white photograph of military personnel. The men wear khaki shirts and shorts with long, dark-coloured socks. They all wear dark berets.]]
[[Southern Rhodesia]] and its successor, the [[Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland]], contributed two units to Malaya. Between 1951 and 1953, white Southern Rhodesian volunteers formed [[Rhodesian Special Air Service|"C" Squadron]] of the [[Special Air Service]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Binda |first=Alexandre |title=Masodja: The History of the Rhodesian African Rifles and its forerunner the Rhodesian Native Regiment |date=November 2007 |publisher=30° South Publishers |isbn=978-1920143039 |editor-last=Heppenstall |editor-first=David |location=Johannesburg |page=127}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shortt |first1=James |url=https://archive.org/details/specialairservic00libg |title=The Special Air Service |publisher=Osprey Publishing |others=illustrated by Angus McBride |year=1981 |isbn=0-85045-396-8 |series=Men-at-arms 116 |location=Oxford |pages=[https://archive.org/details/specialairservic00libg/page/n19 19]–20 |author-link1= |url-access=limited}}</ref> The [[Rhodesian African Rifles]], comprising black soldiers and [[warrant officer]]s led by white officers, were stationed in Johor between 1956 and 1958.<ref>{{cite book |last=Binda |first=Alexandre |title=Masodja: The History of the Rhodesian African Rifles and its forerunner the Rhodesian Native Regiment |date=November 2007 |publisher=30° South Publishers |isbn=978-1920143039 |editor-last=Heppenstall |editor-first=David |location=Johannesburg |pages=127–128}}</ref> The [[King's African Rifles]] from [[Nyasaland]], [[Northern Rhodesia]] and [[Kenya]] were also deployed to Malaya.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

=== Iban mercenaries ===
The British Empire hired thousands of mercenaries hailing from the [[Iban people]] (a subgroup of the [[Dayak people]]) of Borneo to fight against the [[Malayan National Liberation Army]]. During their service they were widely praised for their jungle and [[bushcraft]] skills, though their military effectiveness and behaviour during the war has been brought into question.

Their deployment received a large amount of both positive and negative attention in British media. They were also responsible for a number of atrocities, most notably the decapitation and scalping of suspected pro-independence guerrillas. Photographs of this practice were leaked in 1952, sparking the [[British Malayan headhunting scandal]]. In 1953 most Ibans in Malaya joined the reformed [[Sarawak Rangers]], transitioning them from mercenaries into regular soldiers.

According to a former member of the Sarawak Rangers, Ibans served with at least 42 separate battalions in the Malayan Emergency belonging to either British or Commonwealth militaries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abdullah |first=Robert Rizal |title=The Iban Trackers and the Sarawak Rangers 1948–1963 |publisher=UNIMAS |year=2019 |location=Kota Samarahan |pages=37, 39}}</ref>

Iban mercenaries were first deployed to [[British Malaya]] by the British Empire to fight in the Malayan Emergency on the 8 August where they served [[Ferret Force]]. Many were motivated to fight with the hope that they could collect the heads and scalps of their enemies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Poole |first=Dan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1HcEAAAQBAJ&q=%22The%20British%20military%E2%80%99s%20deployment%20of%20Ibans%20during%20the%20Malayan%20Emergency%20began%20on%20August%208%2C%201948%22 |title=Head Hunters in the Malayan Emergency: The Atrocity and Cover-Up |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |year=2023 |isbn=978-1399057417 |pages=xx-xxi}}</ref>

Their deployment was supported by the British politician [[Arthur Creech Jones]], then serving as the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] who agreed to deploy Ibans to the Malayan Emergency for three months. Amid rumours that the Iban mercenaries they deployed were practiced headhunters, all Ibans serving with the British were removed from British Malaya and quietly redeployed in 1949 and served for the entirety of the war until its end in 1960.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Poole |first=Dan |title=Head Hunters in the Malayan Emergency: The Atrocity and Cover-Up |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |year=2023 |isbn=978-1399057417 |pages=xxi}}</ref>

Some historians have argued that the British military's use of Ibans stemmed from stereotypes that "primitive" people enjoyed a closer relationship with nature than Europeans.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Sioh |first=Maureen Kim Lian |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0089657 |title=Fractured reflections : rainforests, plantations and the Malaysian nation-state |publisher=University of British Columbia |year=2000 |pages=113 |doi=10.14288/1.0089657}}</ref> Others have argued that the British army's deployment and treatment of the Ibans during the Malayan Emergency reflected the British military's history regarding what they perceived as 'martial races'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hack |first=Karl |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139942515 |title=The Malayan Emergency: Revolution and Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2021 |isbn=9781139942515 |pages=318–319 |doi=10.1017/9781139942515}}</ref>

The deployment of Iban mercenaries recruited to fight in the Malayan Emergency was a widely publicised topic in the British press. Many newspapers articles contained titles referring to the Iban cultural practice of headhunting and contained articles portraying Ibans as violent and primitive while being friendly towards white Europeans. While many newspaper articles incorrectly argued that Ibans deployed to Malaya were no longer headhunters, others put forward arguments that Ibans in Malaya should be allowed to openly decapitate and scalp members of the MNLA.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Poole |first=Dan |title=Head Hunters in the Malayan Emergency: The Atrocity and Cover-Up |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |year=2023 |pages=xxiv-xxvi}}</ref>

The Iban mercenaries deployed to Malaya were widely praised for their jungle bushcraft skills, although some British and Commonwealth officers found that Ibans were outperformed in this role by recruits from Africa and certain parts of the Commonwealth. The behaviour of Iban mercenaries serving in Malaya was also the subject of criticism, as some Iban recruits were found to have looted corpses and others had threatened their commanding officers with weapons. Due to fears of racial tensions with ethnic Malays the Iban mercenaries that Britain deployed to Malaya were denied access to automatic weapons.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Poole |first=Dan |title=Head Hunters in the Malayan Emergency: The Atrocity and Cover-Up |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |year=2023 |isbn=978-1399057417 |pages=xxiii - xxiv}}</ref>

There were also communication difficulties as virtually all the Iban recruits in Malaya were illiterate and most British troops serving alongside them had no prior experience with Asian languages. Some Iban mercenaries refused to go on patrol after receiving bad omens in their dreams. Iban society had no social classes making it difficult for them to adhere to military ranks. Some Royal Marines complained that their Iban allies were inaccurate with firearm, and Ibans were both the victims and perpetrators of an unusual amount of friendly fire incidents. The first Iban casualty of the war was a man called Jaweng ak Jugah who was shot dead after being mistaken for a "communist terrorist".<ref name=":12" />

At the beginning of the Malayan Emergency, the Ibans serving the British were classified as civilians and were thus awarded British and Commonwealth medals reserved for civilians. In one example, the Iban mercenary [[Awang anak Raweng]], was awarded the [[George Cross]] in 1951 after he allegedly repelled an attack of 50 MNLA guerrillas.<ref name=":03"/> Another example is Menggong anak Panggit who was awarded the [[George Medal]] in 1953.

In 1953 Ibans in Malaya were given their own regiment, the [[Sarawak Rangers]]. Many would go onto fight during the [[Second Malayan Emergency]].