The end of the Emergency - NZ and the Malayan Emergency

The end of the Emergency

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.

Conclusion

Fifteen New Zealand servicemen lost their lives in Malaya during the Emergency. Of these, three died as a result of enemy action. Among the casualties was the crew of a Bristol Freighter which flew into a mountain in 1956. For the New Zealand Army, with its experience of jungle warfare limited to the few small actions by 2NZEF's 3rd Division and its post-war preparations focused on the Middle East, the operations in Malaya marked a new departure. They were an important stage in the movement of the New Zealand military forces from a non-regular to a regular framework of organisation. They offered the opportunity to develop professional skills in a difficult but not too threatening operational environment, and laid the basis for effective service during Confrontation and in the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Christopher Pugsley

This essay is adapted from the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, Ian McGibbon (ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2000)