The Malayan Emergency arose out of an attempt by the Malayan Communist Party to overthrow the British colonial administration of Malaya. Over the twelve years that the conflict took place, New Zealand soldiers, sailors and airmen made a significant contribution to the Commonwealth effort to defeat the communist insurgency.
Confrontation was a conflict which developed in 1963 between Indonesia and the new state of Malaysia backed by Commonwealth allies. Its origins lay in Great Britain's plans to divest itself of formal empire in South-east Asia. This would be achieved by federating the then Crown colonies in Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak), the protected state of Brunei, and the self-governing colony of Singapore with Malaya, which had been independent since 1957, and where the 12-year-long Emergency had formally ended in 1960. Formal agreement providing for a federation of greater Malaysia was reached between London and Kuala Lumpur in November 1961. Both parties agreed to establish the new state by 31 August 1963. Despite relinquishing sovereignty, the British were guaranteed the continued use of their bases at Singapore by the Malayan Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Declared on 18 June 1948, the Emergency was the immediate response to the murder of three British planters in northern Malaya but had its roots deep in the post-war economic and political dislocation of Malaya and a sense of alienation among the Chinese community in particular. The guerrilla campaign mounted by the military arm of the MCP, which in 1949 became the 'Malayan Races Liberation Army' (MRLA), soon confronted the British authorities with a serious security problem. This was partly because of the MRLA's military effectiveness. Its origins lay in the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army, which had been formed during the Second World War.
New Zealand's alignment and participation in the Cold War was determined by the decision of the 1940s Labour government to back the United States and Great Britain (that concord was crucial) in their disagreements with the Soviet Union. The decision was questioned, though not overturned, by the Left, with communists and others claiming that Labour had rejected both peace and socialism.
New Zealand's first involvement in Emergency operations occurred in 1949 following the deployment to Singapore of a flight of 41 Squadron's Dakotas in response to the threatening situation in Hong Kong. Attached to the British Far East Air Force, these aircraft were used, as a secondary task to their flights to Hong Kong, to drop supplies to forces engaging the MRLA. One aircraft was stationed in Kuala Lumpur to carry out this role. By the time the flight was withdrawn in December 1951, it had carried out 211 sorties, dropping 284,000 kilograms of supplies.
From March 1958 1st Battalion, New Zealand Regiment, which had replaced the SAS Squadron in the Strategic Reserve, took part in operations designed to clear Perak of insurgents. Operating from Ipoh and later Grik, it mounted a series of deep jungle patrols. Its achievements in eliminating guerrillas were second to none among 28th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade's battalions. By the time that it was replaced by 2nd Battalion NZR in late 1959, most of the guerrillas had retreated across the border into southern Thailand. The greatly improved security situation was reflected in the official termination of the Emergency on 31 July 1960. For the next four years New Zealand infantrymen would periodically deploy in the Border Security Area as part of counter-insurgency measures. During Confrontation they helped hunt Indonesian infiltrators in Johore in 1964, and saw action on the Borneo frontier in 1965. The insurgents did not finally give up until the 1980s.
This group photograph shows the New Zealand Army Special Air Service Headquarters Troop with a goat called Angus, which was the squadron's mascot.
The photograph was taken at Waiouru on 14 September 1955 during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960).
Can you provide any more information about the mascots below? We will be adding more, including some from the Vietnam War, in the coming weeks.
New Zealand Special Air Service troops with a Bristol Sycamore helicopter of the Royal Air Force. Photograph taken by a New Zealand Army photographer in Malaya, circa 1955-1960, during the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960).
