Editing History of Malaysia (section)

==Colonial era==
{{Main|British Malaya|North Borneo|Crown Colony of North Borneo|Raj of Sarawak|Crown Colony of Sarawak}}

===British in Malaya===
{{Early Malaysian Rebellion}}
Initially, the British followed a policy of non-intervention in relations between the Malay states.<ref name="History" /> The commercial importance of [[tin]] mining in the Malay states to merchants in the Straits Settlements led to infighting between the aristocracy on the peninsula. The destabilisation of these states damaged the commerce in the area. The wealth of Perak's tin mines made political stability there a priority for British investors and Perak was thus the first Malay state to agree to the supervision of a British resident.<ref name="Marshall" /> The [[Royal Navy]] was employed to bring about a peaceful resolution to civil disturbances caused by Chinese and Malay gangs employed in a political fight between [[Ngah Ibrahim]] and Raja Muda Abdullah. The [[Pangkor Treaty of 1874]] paved the way for the expansion of British influence in Malaya. The British concluded treaties with some Malay states, installing [[Resident (title)|residents]] who advised the Sultans and soon became the de facto rulers of their states.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Malay States (British) |volume=17 |last1=Clifford |first1=Hugh Charles |author1-link=Hugh Charles Clifford|last2=Graham |first2=Walter Armstrong |pages=478–484}}</ref> These advisors held power in everything except to do with Malay religion and customs.<ref name="Marshall" />

Johor was the sole remaining state to maintain its independence, by modernising and giving British and Chinese investors legal protection. By the turn of the 20th century, the states of [[Pahang]], Selangor, [[Perak]], and [[Negeri Sembilan]], known together as the [[Federated Malay States]], had British advisors.<ref name="Marshall" /> In 1909 the Siamese kingdom was compelled to cede [[Kedah]], Kelantan, [[Perlis]] and [[Terengganu]], which already had British advisors, over to the British.<ref name="Marshall" /> [[Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor]] and [[Queen Victoria]] were personal acquaintances who recognised each other as equals. It was not until 1914 that Sultan Abu Bakar's successor, [[Sultan Ibrahim of Johor|Sultan Ibrahim]], accepted a British adviser.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/3c4985cc-517f-4e68-8edd-7a85c67897ea|title=Johor is brought under British control|publisher=National Library Board|date=12 May 1914|access-date=30 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630043001/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/3c4985cc-517f-4e68-8edd-7a85c67897ea|archive-date=30 June 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The four previously Siamese states and Johor were known as the [[Unfederated Malay States]]. The states under the most direct British control developed rapidly, becoming the largest suppliers in the world of first tin, then rubber.<ref name="Marshall" />

By 1910, the pattern of British rule in the Malay lands was established. The Straits Settlements were a [[Crown colony]], ruled by a governor under the supervision of the [[Colonial Office]] in London. Their population was roughly 50% Chinese-Malaysian, but all residents, regardless of race, were British subjects. The first four states to accept British residents, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang, were termed the Federated Malay States: while technically independent, they were placed under a Resident-General in 1895. The Unfederated Malay States had a slightly larger degree of independence. Johor, as Britain's closest ally in Malay affairs, had the privilege of a written constitution, which gave the Sultan the right to appoint his own Cabinet, but he was generally careful to consult the British first.<ref name="Policy in regard to Malaya and Borneo">''See'': {{cite web |url=http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/small/cab-129-1-cp-133.pdf |title=Policy in regard to Malaya and Borneo |access-date=12 July 2013 |archive-date=4 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104100930/http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/small/cab-129-1-cp-133.pdf |url-status=dead }} by the Government of the United Kingdom</ref>

===British in Borneo===
[[File:Ceremony of Hoisting the British Flag on the island of Labuan, N. W. Coast of Borneo.jpg|thumb|right|[[Union Jack|British flag]] hoisted for the first time on the [[Crown Colony of Labuan|island of Labuan]] on 24 December 1846]]

During the late 19th century the British also gained control of the north coast of [[Borneo]]. Development on the peninsula and Borneo were generally separate until the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia : Knowledge in depth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhLjAAAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|isbn=978-0-85229-961-6}}</ref> The eastern part of this region (now [[Sabah]]) was under the nominal control of the Sultan of [[Sultanate of Sulu|Sulu]], who later became a vassal of the [[Spanish East Indies]]. The rest was the territory of the Sultanate of [[Brunei]]. In 1840, British adventurer [[James Brooke]] helped suppress a revolt, and in return received the title of raja and the right to govern the Sarawak River District in 1841. In 1843, his title was recognised as hereditary, and the "[[White Rajahs]]" began ruling Sarawak as a de facto independent state in 1846. The Brookes expanded Sarawak at the expense of Brunei.<ref name="Marshall" />

In 1881, the [[British North Borneo Company]] was granted control of the territory of [[British North Borneo]], appointing a governor and legislature. Its status was similar to that of a British Protectorate, and like Sarawak it expanded at the expense of Brunei.<ref name="Marshall" /> In 1947 Britain transferred control of the [[Turtle Islands, Tawi-Tawi|Turtle Islands]] and [[Mangsee Islands]] to the [[History of the Philippines (1946–1965)|Philippine government]], which had up until then been administered by the British North Borneo Company.<ref>{{cite news|author=Peter C. Richards|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19471206&id=Sf5UAAAAIBAJ&pg=4610,725646&hl=en|title=New Flag Over Pacific Paradise|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=6 December 1947|access-date=22 October 2015|archive-date=14 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814121126/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19471206&id=Sf5UAAAAIBAJ&pg=4610,725646&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="treaties.fco.gov.uk">{{Cite web |title=Exchanges of Notes Between the Government of the United Kingdom and The Government of The Republic of The Philippines Regarding the Transfer of the Administration of the Turtle and Mangsee Islands to the Philippine Republic |url=https://treaties.fco.gov.uk/awweb/awarchive?item=65307 |via=treaties.fco.gov.uk |access-date=27 August 2024 |archive-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117232448/https://treaties.fco.gov.uk/awweb/awarchive?item=65307 |url-status=live }}</ref> Since the administration of President [[Diosdado Macapagal]] the Philippines have laid claim to eastern Sabah on the basis that the territory was part of the defunct Sultanate of Sulu's territory. In 1888, what was left of Brunei was made a British protectorate, and in 1891 another Anglo-Dutch treaty formalised the border between British and Dutch Borneo.

[[File:Malaysia tree diagram.svg|thumb|center|600px|Evolution of Malaysia]]

=== Race relations during colonial era ===
In the pre-colonial period and the first few decades after formal colonial rule began in British Malaya, "Malay" was neither a racial category nor a fixed identity in the modern sense.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kahn|first=Joel S.|date=2005|title=The Making and Unmaking(?) of a Malay Race|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23178878|journal=Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice|volume=49|issue=2|pages=164–172|doi=10.3167/015597705780886239|jstor=23178878|issn=0155-977X|archive-date=27 October 2021|access-date=26 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027005350/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23178878|url-status=live}}</ref> The British imposed the concept of race on their colonial subjects.

Unlike some colonial powers, the British viewed their empire as an economic venture, expecting their colonies to generate profits for shareholders in London.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Alatas|first=Syed Hussein|title=The Myth of the Lazy Native|publisher=Frank Cass|year=1977|isbn=0-7146-3050-0|location=London}}</ref> Initially, British colonisers were drawn to the Malay Archipelago's [[tin]] and [[gold]] mines. Soon, however, British planters experimented with tropical plantation crops—[[tapioca]], [[uncaria|gambier]], pepper, and [[coffee]]—and in 1877, introduced the rubber plant from Brazil. Rubber quickly became Malaya's primary export, driven by surging demand from European industry, and was later complemented by [[palm oil]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Malaysia and Its Neighbours, The World studies series|author=Gullick, J. M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ykM9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA148|year=1967|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-7100-4141-8|pages=148–149}}</ref> These industries demanded a large [[Labor force|labour force]], prompting the British to bring workers from [[British Raj|the longer-established British colony in India]], mostly [[Tamil language|Tamil]]-speakers from [[South India]], to serve as indentured labourers on plantations.<ref>{{cite web |last=Goh|first=Daniel P. S.|title=Arrested Multiculturalisms:: Race, Capitalism, and State Formation in Malaysia and Singapore: Arrested Multiculturalisms|date=2019|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvr7fcvv.13|work=Multiculturalism in the British Commonwealth|pages=191–211|editor-last=Ashcroft|editor-first=Richard T.|series=Comparative Perspectives on Theory and Practice|edition=1|publisher=University of California Press|jstor=j.ctvr7fcvv.13|isbn=978-0-520-29932-0|access-date=2021-05-26|editor2-last=Bevir|editor2-first=Mark|archive-date=26 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526175812/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvr7fcvv.13|url-status=live}}</ref> Meanwhile, the mines, mills, and docks attracted numerous immigrant workers from southern China. As a result, towns like Singapore, Penang, and [[Ipoh]], along with [[Kuala Lumpur]]—founded as a tin-mining centre in 1857—became majority Chinese. By 1891, when Malaya's first census was conducted, the main tin-mining states of Perak and Selangor had Chinese majorities.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hays |first=Jeffrey |title=BRITISH IN MALAYSIA |website=Facts and Details |url=https://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4a/entry-3619.html#chapter-5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027003848/https://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4a/entry-3619.html#chapter-5 |archive-date=27 October 2021 |access-date=11 April 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Workers often faced violent treatment from contractors and frequent sickness. Many Chinese labourers saw their debts grow due to [[Addiction|addictions]] to [[opium]] and [[gambling]]—vices that generated significant revenue for the British colonial government—while Indian labourers' debts increased through [[Alcohol dependence|alcohol dependency]]. These debts tied workers to their labour contracts for extended periods.<ref name=":1" />

Some Chinese immigrant workers were linked to networks of [[Benefit society|mutual aid societies]] (run by "Hui-Guan" 會館, or non-profit organisations). In the 1890s, [[Yap Ah Loy]], the Kapitan China of Kuala Lumpur, emerged as Malaya's wealthiest individual, owning a chain of mines, plantations, and shops. From the outset, the Chinese dominated Malaya's banking and insurance sectors, and their businesses, often partnered with London firms, soon controlled the Malayan economy.<ref name=":0" /> Chinese bankers also lent money to Malay sultans, gaining both political and economic influence. Initially, most Chinese immigrants were men who married Malay women, creating a Sino-Malayan or [[Peranakan|baba]] community, but they later imported Chinese brides, establishing permanent settlements with schools and temples.<ref name=":0" />

During the early 20th century, an Indian commercial and [[professional class]] emerged, though most Indians remained poor and uneducated, living in [[rural ghetto]]s in rubber-growing regions.<ref name=":0" />

Traditional Malay society suffered greatly from the loss of political sovereignty to British colonisers. The sultans, perceived as collaborators with both the British and the Chinese, lost some traditional prestige, yet most rural Malays continued to revere them.<ref name=":0" /> In the early 20th century, a small group of Malay nationalist intellectuals emerged, alongside a revival of Islam prompted by the perceived threat of imported religions, especially Christianity. Though few Malays [[Christianization|converted to Christianity]], many Chinese did. Northern regions, less exposed to Western ideas, became bastions of Islamic conservatism.<ref name=":0" />

The British appointed elite Malays to positions in the police and local [[military unit]]s, while also opening most administrative positions to non-Europeans. By contrast, the Chinese largely funded their own schools and colleges, importing teachers from China, while the British sought to educate young Malay elites to reinforce colonial notions of race and class hierarchies.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Koh|first=Adeline|date=2014|title=Educating Malayan Gentlemen: Establishing an Anglicised Elite in Colonial Malaya|journal=Chapters on Asia: A Selection of Papers from the Lee Kong Chian Research Fellowship|volume=1|pages=7–16}}</ref> To this end, the colonial government established [[Malay College Kuala Kangsar|Malay College]] in 1905, dubbed "Bab ud-Darajat" (Gateway to High Rank), and launched the Malay Administrative Service in 1910.<ref name=":0" /> Later, they founded [[Sultan Idris Education University|Sultan Idris Training College]] in 1922 and the Malay Women's Training College in 1935, both established to educate Malays. These efforts highlighted the colonial policy that Malaya belonged primarily to the Malays, treating other races as temporary residents—a view increasingly at odds with reality, fuelling resistance against British rule.<ref name=":0" />

The colleges fostered [[Early Malay nationalism|Malay nationalist]] sentiments through its lectures and writings, earning recognition as the birthplace of Malay nationalism.<ref name="KBSM F2">{{cite book|pages=208–209|title=Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Menengah Sejarah Tingkatan 2.|author=Zainal Abidin bin Abdul Wahid |author2=[[Khoo Kay Kim|Khoo, Kay Kim]] |author3=Muhd Yusof bin Ibrahim |author4=Singh, D.S. Ranjit |year=1994|publisher=[[Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka]]|isbn=983-62-1009-1}}</ref> In 1938, [[Ibrahim Yaacob]], an alumnus of Sultan Idris College, founded the [[Kesatuan Melayu Muda]] (Young Malays Union or KMM) in Kuala Lumpur, marking it as British Malaya's first nationalist political organisation. The KMM championed ''Panji Melayu Raya'', an ideal advocating the unification of British Malaya and the [[Dutch East Indies]].<ref name="KBSM F2" />

Before [[World War II]], the colonial government grappled with balancing a centralised state and the sultans' authority.<ref name="History" /> In 1935, they abolished the Resident-General position of the Federated States, decentralising powers to individual states, The colonial government [[Yellow Peril|regarded the Chinese as clever but dangerous]], and in the 1920s and 1930s, the [[Kuomintang]] and [[Chinese Communist Party]] established rival clandestine organisations in Malaya, sparking frequent disturbances in Chinese towns.<ref name=":17">{{cite journal |last=Wang |first=Gungwu |date=2009-02-17 |year=2009 |title=Chinese Politics in Malaya |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/chinese-politics-in-malaya/A587046E4F31F736632508D8DFF3ABAC |journal=The China Quarterly |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=43 |pages=1–30 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000044726 |access-date=2025-04-30}}</ref>

Though part of the British Empire during [[World War I]], Malaya experienced little combat, except for the sinking of the [[Russian cruiser Zhemchug|Russian cruiser ''Zhemchug'']] by the German cruiser [[SMS Emden]] on 28 October 1914 in the [[Battle of Penang]].

===World War II and the state of emergency===
[[File:Tugu Negara.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Tugu Negara]]'', the Malaysian national monument, is dedicated to those who fell during World War II and the Malayan Emergency.]]

[[File:Lot-2651-2 (34230021050).jpg|thumb|right|Japanese troops landed on Malaya in 1941.]]
The British in Malaya were unprepared for the outbreak of the [[Pacific War]] in December 1941. During the 1930s, anticipating the rising threat of Japanese naval power, they had constructed a major naval base at Singapore but had not foreseen an invasion of Malaya from the north. The [[Royal Air Force]] had virtually no air capacity in the [[Far East]]. Consequently, the Japanese attacked from their bases in [[French Indo-China]] with impunity and—despite resistance from British, Australian, and Indian forces—the Japanese army [[Japanese invasion of Malaya|overran Malaya]] in two months. Singapore, lacking landward defences, air cover, and a [[water supply]], surrendered in February 1942. The Japanese also [[Japanese occupation of British Borneo|occupied British Borneo]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ooi |first=Keat Gin |title=The Japanese Occupation of Borneo, 1941–1945 |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |isbn=978-0415456630 |pages=30–35}}</ref><ref name="History" />

The Japanese colonial administration viewed the Malays from a [[Pan-Asianism|pan-Asian]] perspective and encouraged a limited form of Malay nationalism. The Malay nationalist group [[Kesatuan Melayu Muda]], advocates of ''[[Melayu Raya]]'', collaborated with the Japanese, believing Japan would unite the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, and Borneo and grant them independence.<ref name="Graham">{{cite web |last=Graham |first=Brown |title=The Formation and Management of Political Identities: Indonesia and Malaysia Compared |publisher=Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, CRISE, University of Oxford |date=February 2005 |url=http://www.crise.ox.ac.uk/pubs/workingpaper10.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210163849/http://www.crise.ox.ac.uk/pubs/workingpaper10.pdf |archive-date=10 February 2012}}</ref> However, the Japanese treated the Chinese as [[enemy alien]]s with harshness: during the [[Sook Ching]], they killed up to 80,000 Chinese in Malaya and Singapore. The Chinese, led by the [[Malayan Communist Party]] (MCP), formed the backbone of the [[Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army]] (MPAJA), which, with British assistance, became the most effective resistance force in occupied Asia.<ref name="History" />

Although the Japanese claimed to support [[Early Malay nationalism|Malay nationalism]], they alienated Malay nationalists by allowing their ally [[Thailand]] to [[Si Rat Malai|re-annex the four northern states—Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu]]—that had been ceded to British Malaya in 1909.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kratoska |first=Paul H. |title=The Japanese Occupation of Malaya: A Social and Economic History |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0824818890 |pages=85–90}}</ref> The collapse of Malaya's export markets caused widespread [[unemployment]], affecting all ethnic groups and increasing Japanese unpopularity.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Soh |first=Byungkuk |date=June 1998 |title=Malay Society under Japanese Occupation, 1942–45 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/223386599800100205 |journal=International Area Review |language=en |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=81–111 |doi=10.1177/223386599800100205 |s2cid=145411097 |issn=1226-7031 |archive-date=20 June 2022 |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620122521/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/223386599800100205 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Japanese troops mopping up in Kuala Lumpur.jpg|thumb|Japanese troops moving through Kuala Lumpur during their advance through Malaya]]During the [[Japanese occupation of Malaya|occupation]], ethnic tensions intensified, and nationalism grew.<ref>{{cite book |last=Koh |first=David Wee Hock |title=Legacies of World War II in South and East Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awLp4TeUkzoC |year=2007 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |isbn=978-981-230-468-1}}</ref> Japan's surrender in August 1945 allowed British forces to reoccupy Malaya by September, beginning with Penang and Singapore.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kratoska |first=Paul H. |title=The Japanese Occupation of Malaya: A Social and Economic History |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0824818890 |pages=320–325}}</ref> Many Malayans welcomed the British return in 1945, but the pre-war status quo was untenable, and the desire for independence strengthened.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=[[Mahathir Mohamad|Mohamad]] |first=Mahathir |url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990531/mahathir1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010212095545/http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990531/mahathir1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 February 2001 |title=Our Region, Ourselves |magazine=Time |date=31 May 1999 |access-date=26 October 2010}}</ref> Britain, financially strained and led by [[Attlee ministry|a Labour government]] eager to withdraw forces from the East, faced new realities. However, most Malays focused on defending themselves against the MCP rather than demanding immediate independence from the British.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=T.N. |title=The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0521004657 |pages=94–102}}</ref><!-- Found here: http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll&BU=http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/qryPhotoImg.php&TN=Uncat&SN=AUTO9448&SE=565&RN=0&MR=25&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=1&XP=&RF=phoResults&EF=&DF=phoDetails&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=1&ID=&MF=WPENGMSG.INI&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=162462&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&BG=0&FG=0&QS= -->

In 1944, the British drew up plans for a [[Malayan Union]], which aimed to unite the Federated and Unfederated Malay States, along with Penang and Malacca, into a single Crown colony that would progress towards independence. The Bornean territories and Singapore were excluded, as their inclusion was thought to complicate the union's formation.<ref name="History" /> However, the [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malays]] strongly opposed the plan, objecting to the diminished power of the Malay rulers and the granting of citizenship to [[Malaysian Chinese|ethnic Chinese]] and other minorities.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816440,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106021025/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816440,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 November 2007 |title=MALAYA: Token Citizenship |magazine=Time |date=19 May 1952 |access-date=26 October 2010}}</ref> The British had opted for legalised racial equality, perceiving the Chinese and Indians as more loyal during the war than the Malays.<ref name="History" /> Initially, the sultans supported the plan, but they later withdrew their backing and led the resistance.

In 1946, Malay nationalists, led by [[Onn Jaafar|Dato Onn bin Jaafar]], the Chief Minister of Johor, founded the [[United Malays National Organisation]] (UMNO).<ref name="History" /> UMNO supported independence for Malaya, but only if the Malays exclusively governed the new state. Facing Malay opposition, the British abandoned the equal citizenship proposal. Consequently, the Malayan Union was established in 1946, and replaced by the [[Federation of Malaya]] in 1948, which restored the [[autonomy]] of the Malay states' rulers under British protection.

Meanwhile, the communists shifted towards open insurrection. The MPAJA had disbanded in December 1945, and the MCP had reorganised as a legal political party, though it had stored the MPAJA's arms for future use. The MCP advocated immediate independence with full equality for all races. Its strength laid in Chinese-dominated trade unions, especially in Singapore, and in Chinese schools. In March 1947, as the [[Cold War]] intensified and the international communist movement shifted left, the MCP purged its leader [[Lai Teck]] and replaced him with [[Chin Peng]], a veteran MPAJA guerrilla, who steered the party towards [[direct action]]. Under MCP leadership, these rebels launched guerrilla operations to expel the British from Malaya. In June 1948, after a series of plantation manager assassinations, the colonial government retaliated by declaring a [[state of emergency]], banning the MCP, and arresting hundreds of its militants. The MCP retreated to the jungle and formed the [[Malayan Peoples' Liberation Army]], comprising about 13,000 mostly ethnic Chinese fighters.

The [[Malayan Emergency]] arose from Britain's new constitution, which classified about 90 percent of ethnic Chinese as non-citizens, and from the eviction of poor peasants to clear land for plantations. Although British authorities long depicted the conflict as a Cold War struggle against communism, the MNLA received scant support from Soviet or Chinese communists. Instead, British governments primarily sought to safeguard their commercial interests in the colony.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Malaya—Britain's forgotten war for rubber {{!}} Economic History Malaya |url=https://www.ehm.my/publications/articles/malaya%E2%80%94britains-forgotten-war-for-rubber |access-date= |website=www.ehm.my |archive-date=26 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126181213/https://www.ehm.my/publications/articles/malaya%E2%80%94britains-forgotten-war-for-rubber |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Malayan Emergency spanned 1948 to 1960 and involved a prolonged anti-insurgency campaign by [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] troops in Malaya. The British employed a successful strategy, formalised in 1950 as the [[Briggs Plan]] under General Sir [[Harold Rawdon Briggs|Harold Briggs]], to isolate the [[Malayan Communist Party|MCP]] from its support base through economic and [[concession (politics)|political concessions]] to the Chinese and by forcibly resettling more than 400,000 rural inhabitants, mostly Chinese squatters, into guarded "[[new village]]s"—effectively [[concentration camps]]—in "white areas" free of MCP influence.<ref name=":5" /><ref name="ME">{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Robert |title=The Malayan Emergency |publisher=Pen and Sword |year=2008 |isbn=978-1844157754 |pages=45–50}}</ref> From 1949, British measures, including arrests and early relocations, began to disrupt the MCP's campaign, with significant weakening and recruitment declines following the Briggs Plan's implementation in 1950.<ref name="ME" /> Although the [[Assassination of Sir Henry Gurney|MCP assassinated the British High Commissioner, Sir Henry Gurney]], in October 1951, this shift to terrorist tactics distanced many moderate Chinese from the party. 

The appointment of General Sir [[Gerald Templer]] as [[High commissioner (Commonwealth)|High Commissioner]] in 1952 intensified the weakening the Malayan Communist Party and contributing to the eventual decline of the Emergency.<ref name=":5" /> Templer developed and implemented modern [[counter-insurgency]] techniques against the MCP guerrillas in Malaya. The war saw abuses committed by both sides. The most notorious atrocity occurred in December 1948 at Batang Kali, a village north of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where [[Batang Kali massacre|British troops massacred 24 Chinese villagers]] before burning the village to the ground.<ref name=":5" /> Heavy bombers were deployed, dropping thousands of bombs on insurgent positions, with Britain conducting 4,500 air strikes in the conflict's first five years.<ref name=":5" /> Although the insurgency was defeated, [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] troops remained amid [[Cold War]] tensions with the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071106015521/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,826360,00.html "Malaya: Siege's End"], ''Time'', New York, 2 May 1960.</ref> Against this backdrop, [[Malayan Declaration of Independence|independence]] for the [[Federation of Malaya|Federation]] within the Commonwealth was granted on 31 August 1957,<ref name="TIME New Nation">[https://web.archive.org/web/20071106015538/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,893616,00.html "A New Nation"], ''Time'', New York, 9 September 1957</ref> with [[Tunku Abdul Rahman]] as the first prime minister.<ref name="state.gov" />