REPORT ON MALAYA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 652, 4 January 1952, Page 7

REPORT ON MALAYA

OR over three years a guerrilla war has been going on in the juhgles of Malaya between the Malay _ authorities (assisted by British regular forces) and Communist rebels, and New Zealand has taken part by sending R.N.Z.A.F, Dakotas to drop supplies to the anti-Communist forces. This tongue of,land at the extremity of Asia is facing up to many problems in its struggle to become a nation, and under the title, Malaya: A Report to the People, an examination of the difficulties besetting the Malays today will have its first New Zealand broadcast from 3YC at 8.0 p.m. on Monday, * January 7, The programme was compiled for the BBC by Commander John Proud and Dr. Victor Purcell, both of whom share the narration with Edward Ward. Dr. Purcell, who served in the Malay Ad-

ministration for many years, was appointed University Lecturer in Far Eastern History at Cambridge in 1949. Among those taking part are General Sir Harold Briggs (Director of antiTerrorist Operations in Malaya), who _was reported to have said in a message from Singapore a week or so ago that the Communists were now fully committed to battle, "deploying all their resources in order to exist." Other speakers include Sir John MHay (an authority on rubber), Sir Patrick McKerron (formerly Colonial Secretary in Singapore), and representatives of two racial groups in Malaya. Four-fifths of Malaya is jungle. Most of. the remainder is a highly developed "areg with rubber plantations, rice fields and tin mines. A century ago the Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang and Malacca), flourished under Free Trade, but the Malay States of the mainland had reached a condition of political decadence near to anarchy.

State fought against State, and one or two of them were torn apart by civil war. On the mainland the population was fewer than 300,000. Roads, railways, schools, and courts of law were non-existent, and slavery Was an accepted feature of local society. Today there is a population of nearly 6,000,000, There are up-to-date roads, railways and air routes; hygiene has improved immensely, irrigation and hydro-electric schemes are operating, and educational and _ welfare institutions are run on

modern lines, To protect the Malay States against increasing disruption the British in-

terverred in 1874. The Sultans accepted treaties of protection, agreed to rule under British advice, and the country quickly became ready for development. But labour was insufficient to work the ---

estates and. mines, and had to be ‘ime ported. from South India and China, The rubber industry-an éntirely British creation, which was to become the principal source of Malaya’s prosperity, along with tin-attracted immigrants in large numbers. Malays and Chinese worked and lived together in peace under British rule. But the Japanese occupation (according to Dr. Purcell) brought a change, their ‘object being to set race against race. Communists took to the jungle to escape the invader, and formed guerrilla» bands; and after the liberation they. tried. to subvert British rule. Unsuccessful, they went underground, but in. June, 1948, they came out in open rebellion to ambush, kill, and sabotage the country’s economic recovery.. Malaya: A Report to the People, was recorded as a transcription from the BBC’s General Overseas Service in June last. It concentrates on three main causes of the country’s difficulties: its economic importance as a large producer of tin and rubber;: the internal racial, religious and -temperamental cleavage mainly between the Malays and Chinese, but also affecting the Indian population; and finally the emergence of Communism, with its attendant guerrilla warfare causing a complete disruption in the life of the people. The programing will occupy half an hour. —