Malayan Emergency

From 1948 to 1960

The Malayan emergency was a conflict between Guerrillas and the British Commonwealth. At the time the Guerrillas were seeking to overthrow the British colonial administration in Malaya. The word ‘Emergency’ is used in the title because on the 18th of June 1948, the British called a state emergency after three British plantation managers were assassinated by the Guerrillas in the nearby state of Perak. The Malayan Emergency was following the end of the second world war, along with political matters and uncertainty in Asia at the time. There had been a very long period of tension between Malaya and Britain, who was roughly in control of Malaya and the area after the war, but Britain failed to solve social and economic problems in Malaya. Australia’s involvement in this conflict first started in 1950 and continued to serve along with British forces from the United Kingdom and New Zealand, with the first arrival of RAAF aircraft. Then after 12 years of conflict, the Malayan Government officially declared the emergency over on the 31st of July 1960, and all the communists retreated from Malaya, leaving Britain, Australia, and NZ with victory.