Malaya 1946-1957










World War II : Malay Principalities


The Malay peninsula had a very peculiar political structure, consisting of the Straits Settlements - Penang, Malacca, Singapore, British colonies, the Federated Malay States - Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Pahang - and the Unfederated Malay States - Kedah, Johore, Kelantan, Trengganu, Perlis, all of which were, politically and economically, more or less tied with Britain. Together they were one of the world's leading producers of both tin and natural rubber.
The country was dominated by the ethnic Malayans, but was home to a large Chinese minority, for the most part brought in by the British to work the plantations and mines.
In December 1941 / January 1942 the Japanese easily occupied the peninsula, to stay until the end of the war. The Japanese were interested in securing the peninsula's natural resources. The northern principalities of Perlis, Kedah, Upper Perak, Kelantan and Trengganu were annexed by Thailand. Japanese occupation resulted in food shortage, rationing, inflation, factors which in turn caused a partially voluntary, partially enforced migration of urban, mainly Chinese, into the countryside, greatly increasing the number of squatters. Blaming the Malayan Chinese for having supported China during the Sino-Japanese War (since 1937), Japanese authorities in February 1942 launched a pogrom against the Chinese (Sook Ching Massacre), in the course of which several 10,000 persons were killed. Resistance emerged, developing along ethnic lines, the most significant organization being the MPAJA (Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army; Chinese-dominated). At the end of the war, the northern principalities' independence was restored; the MPAJA moved to punish collaborators; as the latter were mainly Malays, the relation between Chinese and Malays became tense.

The cession of the northern 4 Malay states to Thailand and the placement of the remainder - disregarding the previous status (Federated Malay States, Unfederated Malay States, Straits Settlements) under a common administration had created a Japanese-occupied Malaya with an ethnic Chinese population majority.
The Japanese pursued a policy of ethnic discrimination, the ethnic Chinese being treated the worst, the Malay, comparatively, the most lenient, the ethnic Indians somewhere in-between. The Malay peninsula was rich in rubber and tin, which, for Japan were of little interest as both resources were not in short supply. Malaya was of strategic value, for it provided access to the vital oil fields of Sumatra, and because of Singapore's naval base.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles History of Malaysia : War and Emergency, Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army, Communist Party of Malaya, Sook Ching Massacre, Parit Sulong Massacre, Japanese Invasion of Malaya, Japanese Occupation of Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak, Battle of Malaya, from Wikipedia
Category : Malaysian People of World War II, from Wikipedia
The Economics of the Second World War in Southeast Asia, by Greg Huff
Lim Choo Hoon, The Battle of Pasir Panjang Revisited, from Pointer, Journal of the Singapore Armed Forces Jan. 2002
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Story, 1999, 680 pp., memoirs of Singaporean PM until 1965, has chapter on Japanese occupation
The Conquest of Malaya, in : Jasper H. Stembridge, The Oxford War Atlas Volume II, 1 September 1941 to 1 January 1943, Oxford : UP 1943 [G]
Kumar Ramakrishna, Emergency Propaganda. The Winning of Malayan Hearts and Minds 1948-1958, Padstow : Curzon 2002
Article : Federated Malay States, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.188-191 [G]
Article : Malay States not included in the Federation, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.191-194 [G]
Article : Straits Settlements, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.182-188 [G]
Article : Federated Malay States, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1944 p.281, 1945, pp.282-283, 1946, p.308 [G]
Article : Straits Settlements, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1944 p.664, 1945 pp.663-664, 1946 p.702 [G]
Article : Unfederated Malay States, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1944 p.706, 1945 p.706, 1946 pp.744-745 [G]
Article : Malaya, British, in : Americana Annual 1943 pp.448-450, 1944 pp.423-424 [G]
Article : British Malaya, in : Americana Annual 1945 pp.115-117, 1946 pp.124-126 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on May 16th 2002, last revised on June 17th 2008

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