Malayan Emergency (redirected from Malay Emergency)

Malayan Emergency

(1948–60) Period of unrest following the creation of the Federation of Malaya (precursor of Malaysia) in 1948. The Communist Party of Malaya, which was mostly Chinese, was alarmed at the special guarantees of rights for Malays (including the position of sultans) and began a guerrilla insurgency, which was supported by only a minority of the Chinese. British efforts to suppress the insurgency militarily were unpopular, especially their relocation of rural Chinese into tightly controlled “New Villages”; when the British addressed political and economic grievances, the rebels became increasingly isolated, and the emergency ended. See also Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Alhaj; Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army.