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The repatriation of the Chinese as a counter-insurgency policy during the Malayan Emergency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2014

Low Choo Chin
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Abstract

During the Malayan Emergency, British High Commissioner Henry Gurney pushed the policy of repatriating to China thousands of ‘alien’ Chinese detainees suspected of supporting the Malayan Communist Party's guerrilla war. This article traces the stages of this controversial policy, which, despite obstacles, remained a key counter-insurgency strategy until 1953. But the policy ignored the civil war in China and risked jeopardising Sino–British relations. When China closed its ports, the British administration put forth more desperate proposals to continue repatriation, often in the face of Foreign Office objections, ranging from negotiations with the PRC, to dumping deportees on the coast of China, and even approaching the Formosan government. Yet, while the Chinese were the target of both harsh early counter-insurgency techniques and communist violence, when the faltering repatriation policy was replaced by the mass resettlement of ‘squatters’ in Malaya itself, the Chinese were given a path to citizenship, changing their political future and that of the nation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , October 2014 , pp. 363 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2014 

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References

1 The important works on the origins of the Malayan Emergency include Hack, Karl, ‘The origins of the Asian Cold War: Malaya 1948’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 40, 3 (2009): 471–96Google Scholar; Deery, Philip, ‘Malaya, 1948: Britain's Asian Cold War’, Journal of Cold War Studies 9, 1 (2007): 29–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ramakrishna, Kumar, Emergency propaganda: The winning of Malayan hearts and minds 1948–1958 (Richmond: Curzon, 2002)Google Scholar; Stockwell, Anthony J., ‘A widespread and long-concocted plot to overthrow government in Malaya? The origins of the Malayan Emergency’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 21, 3 (1993): 66–88Google Scholar; Stubbs, Richard, Hearts and minds in guerrilla warfare: The Malayan Emergency 1948–1960 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1989)Google Scholar; Barber, Noel, The war of the running dogs: How Malaya defeated the Communist guerrillas 1948–60 (London: Collins, 1971)Google Scholar; dhu Renick, Rhoderick Jr, ‘The Emergency Regulation of Malaya: Causes and effect’, Journal of Southeast Asian History 6, 2 (1965): 1–39Google Scholar.

2 The Chinese population, especially the squatters, became an easy target for Min Yuen, as a source of money, food, intelligence and recruits for the insurgent army, the Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA). Stubbs, Hearts and minds in guerrilla warfare, pp. 87–90.

3 Ramakrishna, Emergency propaganda, p. 98.

4 Stubbs, Hearts and minds in guerrilla warfare, p. 74.

5 Henry Gurney, Memorandum on repatriation to China, 31 May 1950, the United Kingdom National Archives (TNA), Foreign Office (hereafter FO), FO 371/83542, FC 1822/22. All FO sources used in this article from the TNA were accessed online through Archives Direct: http://www.archivesdirect.amdigital.co.uk.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au (last accessed 30 July 2014).

6 Ibid.

7 Emergency Regulations (Federation of Malaya No. 10 of 1948), Regulation 17D FO371/75934, F462/1584/10.

8 Barber, The war of the running dogs, p. 65.

9 Minutes by N.C.C. Trench, 13 June 1950, FO 371/83542, FC 1822/21.

10 ‘Inward Telegram no. 1326 from Henry Gurney to Creech Jones on measures to deal with alien Chinese squatters, 25 Oct. 1948’, Colonial Office (henceforth CO) 717/167/52849/2/1948, in British documents on the end of empire, Series B, vol. 3. Malaya, Part II: The Communist Insurrection, 1948–1953, ed. Stockwell, A.J. (London: HMSO, 1995), p. 78Google Scholar.

11 Ibid.

12 Telegram from Colonial Office to the Foreign Secretary, 17 Jan. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75934, F 1011/1583/10. Emphasis added.

13 Telegram from Henry Gurney to Creech Jones, 31 Dec. 1948, FO 371/75934, F155/1853/10.

14 Telegram from Colonial Office to the Foreign Secretary, 17 Jan. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75934, F 1011/1583/10.

15 Ibid.

16 ‘Undesirables must go’, Straits Times, 20 Sept. 1948, http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19480920-1.2.41 (last accessed 15 Sept. 2013).

17 ‘The Chinese position’, Straits Times, 23 Nov. 1948, http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19481123-1.2.67.1 (last accessed 15 Sept. 2013).

18 Ibid.

19 Telegram from Henry Gurney to Colonial Office, 7 Jan. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75934, F 462/1583/10.

20 Ibid.

21 Ibid.

22 Section 2 of ER 17 (D) spelt out the categories of persons liable to detention:

‘In any case where the High Commissioner is satisfied that residents or any portion thereof in any village, area or district:

  1. (a)

    (a) have sided and abetted or have consorted with or harboured any person whom they knew or had reasonable grounds for believing to be a person who had recently acted or was acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order; or

  2. (b)

    (b) have suppressed or combined to suppress evidence of the commission of any offence against the Regulations 4 and 5 of these regulations; or

  3. (c)

    (c) have persistently failed to give information to a Police Officer of the presence in such village, area or district of any person whom they knew or had reasonable grounds for believing to be a person who had recently acted or was acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order; or

  4. (d)

    (d) have persistently failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the escape of any person whom they knew or had reasonable grounds for believing to be a person who had recently acted or was acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order;

he may, by order under his hand, direct that the residents of such village, area or district shall be detained in custody.’ The Emergency Regulation Ordinance of 1948 (FOM No. 10 of 1948), TNA, FO 371/75934, F 462/1583/10.

23 Ibid.

24 Telegram from Malcolm MacDonald, Commissioner-General in South East Asia to Foreign Office, 10 Jan. 1949 FO 371/75934, F887/1583/10.

25 Telegram from Creech Jones to the Foreign Secretary, 17 Jan. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75934, F 1011/1583/10.

26 Bonner, David, Executive measures, terrorism and national security (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), p. 150Google Scholar.

27 Telegram from Henry Gurney to Malcolm MacDonald, 31 Dec. 1948, TNA, FO 371/75934, F 155/1583/10.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 Minutes by P.D. Coates, 20 Jan. 1949 , TNA, FO 371/75934, F 1011/1583/10.

31 Ibid.

32 Telegram from Creech Jones to Henry Gurney, 3 Feb. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75934, F 2138/1583/10.

33 Telegram from Malcolm MacDonald to Nanking, 14 Mar. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75934, F 4095/1583/10.

34 Telegram from Henry Gurney to Creech Jones, 2 Apr. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 5105/1583/10.

35 A small numbers of repatriates were also sent to Amoy and Hoihow.

36 Telegram from Henry Gurney to Colonial Office, 10 Apr. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 5269/1583/10.

37 Telegram from A. Grantham, Hong Kong, to Colonial Office, 1 Apr. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 4876/1583/10.

38 Telegram from Sir R. Stevenson, Nanking, to Foreign Office, 7 Apr. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 5161/1583/10.

39 Report on visit to Hong Kong by Mr. E.B. David from 6th to 8th April 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 7219/1583/10.

40 Report by Mr. J.K. Blackwell of Visit to Swatow from 3rd April to 5th April, FO 371/75935, F7219/1583/10.

41 Telegram from Henry Gurney to Colonial Office, 10 Apr. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 5269/1583/10.

42 Report on Visit to Hong Kong by Mr. E.B. David from 6th to 8th April 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F7219/1583/10.

43 Telegram from Henry Gurney to Colonial Office, 10 Apr. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 5269/1583/10.

44 Telegram from Mr. G.F. Tyrrell, Canton, to Mr. Scott, Foreign Office, 3 May 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 7219/1583/10.

45 Telegram from Sir H. Gurney to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 15 Aug. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75948, F 12221/1896/10.

46 Letter from Sir A. Grantham, Hong Kong, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 29 Aug. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75948, F 13065/1896/10.

47 Telegram from J.D. Higham to R.H. Scott, Foreign Office, 7 Feb. 1950, TNA, FO371/83541, FC 1822/6.

48 Ibid.

49 Telegram from R.H. Scott to J.D. Higham, Colonial Office, 22 Feb. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/6.

50 Ibid.

51 Telegram from J.D. Higham, Colonial Office, to R.H. Scott, Foreign Office, 28 Feb. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/7.

52 J.S.H. Shattock, Foreign Office, to J.D. Higham, Colonial Office, 3 Apr. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/7.

53 Minutes by N.C.C. Trench, 25 May 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/15.

54 Telegram from James Griffiths to Henry Gurney, 6 May 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/16.

55 Telegram from Malcolm MacDonald to Foreign Office, 10 Apr. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83550, FC 1903/51.

56 Telegram from James Griffiths to Henry Gurney, 6 May 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/16.

57 Telegram from A. Grantham, Hong Kong, to Creech Jones, 19 Sept. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 14239/1583/10.

58 Telegram from Malcolm MacDonald to the Governor of Hong Kong, 19 May 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/15.

59 Telegram from A. Grantham, Hong Kong to James Griffiths, 28 May 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/17.

60 Memorandum on repatriation to China. Note by Henry Gurney, 31 May 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/22.

61 Ibid.

62 As reported in ‘Big scale deportation urged’, Straits Times, 1 Feb. 1949, http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19490201-1.2.105 (last accessed 15 Sept. 2013).

63 Memorandum on repatriation to China. Note by Henry Gurney, 31 May 1950, TNA, FO 371/83541, FC 1822/22.

64 Telegram from Colonial Office to K.G. Younger, 13 June 1950, TNA, FO 371/83542, FC 1822/21. Emphasis added.

65 Minutes by N.C.C. Trench, 13 June 1950, TNA, FO 371/83542, FC 1822/21.

66 Telegram from James Griffiths to Hong Kong, 15 Sept. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83542, FC 1822/39.

67 Telegram from Hong Kong to James Griffiths, 19 Sept. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83542, FC 1822/40.

68 Ibid.

69 Hack, Karl, ‘Everyone lived in fear: Malaya and the British way of counter-insurgency’, Small Wars & Insurgencies 23, 4–5 (2012): 676Google Scholar.

70 Ibid.

71 Ibid., pp. 683–84.

72 ‘The Briggs Plan: Report by COS for Cabinet Malaya Committee, 24 May 1950’, CAB 21/1681, MAL C(50) 23, in Stockwell, British documents on the end of empire, p. 217.

73 Ibid., p. 221.

74 Ibid., p. 220.

75 Report of the Commissioner-General by J.C. Sterndale Bennett, 1 June 1950, TNA, FO 371/ 83542, F 1822/24.

76 Report on the disposal of Chinese detainees and banishees at present in Singapore or the Federation, 1 June 1950, TNA, FO 371/83542, F 1822/24, para. 2.

77 Ibid., para. 18.

78 Ibid.

79 Ibid., para. 10.

80 Ibid., para. 19.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid., para. 20–23.

83 Ibid., para. 24.

84 Telegram from James Griffiths to Sir R. Hone, North Borneo, 28 Nov. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83544, FC 1822/63.

85 Telegram from Malcolm MacDonald to James Griffiths, 12 Dec. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83544, FC 1822/74.

86 Telegram from U.K. High Commissioner in Australia to Commonwealth Relations Office, 13 Feb. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92371, FC 1821/31.

87 Ibid.

88 Telegram from James Griffiths to B. Freeston, Western Pacific, 4 Mar. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92372, FC 1821/47.

89 General Briggs' proposals for action to relieve the situation in Malaya, prepared by J.D. Murray, 23 Nov. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83543, FC 1822/62.

90 All ports in mainland China were closed until Nov. 1950. Ibid.

91 Telegram from G.H.Q. Far East Land Forces to Ministry of Defence, London, 2 Feb. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92371, FC 1821/28.

92 Ibid.

93 Minutes of Ministry of Defence, 12 Feb. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92371, FC 1821/25.

94 ‘Cabinet Office summary of a meeting at 10 Downing Street on 26 Feb. 1951 called by Clement Attlee to consider the plan's slow progress’, PREM 8/1406/2, GEN 345/5, in Stockwell, British documents on the end of empire, pp. 277–8.

95 Ibid., p. 278.

96 ‘Cabinet Office summary of a further meeting at 10 Downing Street on 8 March 1951 called by Clement Attlee to consider the plan's slow progress’, PREM 8/1406/1, GEN 345/7, in Stockwell, British documents on the end of empire, pp. 279–80.

97 Ibid., p. 281.

98 Ibid.

99 Ibid., p. 282.

100 Smith, Simon, ‘General Templer and counter-insurgency in Malaya: Hearts and minds, intelligence, and propaganda’, Intelligence and National Security 16, 3 (2001): 60Google Scholar.

101 ‘The situation in Malaya: Cabinet memorandum by Mr. Lyttelton 20 Nov 1951’, CAB 129/48, C(51)26, in Stockwell, British documents on the end of empire, p. 310.

102 Ibid., pp. 311–12.

103 Ibid., p. 310.

104 Report on visit to Hong Kong by Mr. E.B. David, from 6th to 8th Apr. 1949, TNA, FO 371/75935, F 7219/1583/10.

105 Ibid.

106 Hsin Hwa News Agency of 30 Sept. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83543, FC 1822/57.

107 Telegram from Peking to Foreign Office, 16 Oct. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83543, FC 1822/46.

108 Telegram from Mr. Hutchison, Peking to Foreign Office, 6 Dec. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83544, FC 1822/64.

109 Ibid.

110 Statement by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘Alleged persecution of overseas Chinese by British colonial authorities’, 8 Jan. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92371, FC 1821/3.

111 Telegram from Malcolm MacDonald to Foreign Office, 23 Dec. 1950, TNA, FO 371/83544, FC 1822/78.

112 Minutes from Foreign Office (prepared by J.O. Lloyd), 20 Dec. 1950, Deportation of Chinese detainees from Malaya, TNA, FO 371/83544, FC 1822/85.

113 Telegram from Hutchison, Peking to Foreign Office, 1 Jan. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92371, FC 1821/2.

114 Telegram from J.D. Murray, Foreign Office, to J.D. Higham, Colonial Office, 11 Jan. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92371, FC 1821/2.

115 Telegram from Foreign Office to Peking, 17 Mar. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92372, FC 1821/51.

116 Telegram from Malcolm MacDonald to James Griffiths, 24 Mar. 1951, FO 371/92372, FC 1821/62.

117 Telegram from G.V. Kitson, Office of the Commissioner-General, Singapore to R.H. Scott, Foreign Office, 14 Dec. 1951, TNA, FO 371/92374, FO 1821/139.

118 The committee was composed of M.V. del Tufo (Malayan Chief Secretary), J.M. Addis (Foreign Office) and G.V. Kitson (Counsellor for Chinese Affairs, Office of the Commissioner-General).

119 FO 371/92374, FO 1821/139 Telegram from G.V. Kitson, Office of the Commissioner– General, Singapore to R.H. Scott, Foreign Office, 14 Dec. 1951.

120 Ibid.

121 Letter from G.W. Aldington, Colonial Secretariat, Hong Kong to J.M. Addis, Foreign Office, Hong Kong, 7 Jan. 1953, TNA, FO 371/105340 , FC 1822/7.

122 Letter from E.H. Jacobs-Larkcom, British Consulate, Formosa, to J.M. Addis, Foreign Office, 8 Jan. 1953, TNA, FO 371/105340, FC 1822/6.

123 Letter from J.M. Addis, Foreign Office to J.F. Brewis, Singapore, 17 Mar. 1953, TNA, FO 371/105340, FC 1822/12.

124 Letter from D.C. Watherston, Chief Secretary, to Deputy Commissioner-General for Colonial Affairs, Singapore, 22 May 1953, TNA, FO 371/105340, F 1822/24.

125 Letter from R.W. Jakeman, Deputy Commissioner General for Colonial Affairs to the Chief Secretary, Kuala Lumpur, 31 Aug. 1953, TNA, FO 371/105340, FC 1822/30.

126 ‘The situation in Malaya: Cabinet memorandum by Mr. Lyttelton 20 Nov. 1951’, CAB 129/48, C(51)26, in Stockwell, British documents on the end of empire, p. 312.

127 Kheng, Cheah Boon, ‘The communist insurgency in Malaysia, 1948–90: Contesting the nation–state and social changes’, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 11, 1 (2009): 139–40Google Scholar.

128 Ucko, David H., ‘The Malayan Emergency: The legacy and relevance of a counter– insurgency success story’, Defence Studies 10, 1 (2010): 19Google Scholar.

129 Hara, Fujio, Malayan Chinese and China: Conversion in identity consciousness, 1945–1957 (Tokyo: Institute of Developing Economies, 1997), p. 66Google Scholar.

130 Stubbs, Hearts and minds in guerrilla warfare, p. 76.

131 House of Lords Debates on the Federation of Malaya, speech by Earl of Listowel, 27 Feb. 1952, p. 349, TNA, CO1022/266.

132 Ramakrishna, Emergency propaganda, p. 207.

133 Sandhu, Kernial Singh, ‘The saga of the “squatter” in Malaya: A preliminary survey of the causes, characteristics and consequences of the resettlement of rural dwellers during the Emergency between 1948 and 1960’, Journal of Southeast Asian History 5, 1 (1964): 156Google Scholar.

134 Renick, ‘The Emergency Regulations’, pp. 15–16.

135 ‘Tan appeals for Chinese unity: Way to own salvation and New Malaya’, Straits Times, 11 Apr. 1949, http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19490411-1.2.53 (last accessed 15 Sept. 2013).

136 House of Lords Debates on the Federation of Malaya, speech by Earl of Listowel, 27 Feb. 1952, pp. 348–9, TNA, CO 1022/174.

137 Stubbs, Hearts and minds in guerrilla warfare, p. 141.

138 Ibid.

139 Ucko, ‘The Malayan Emergency’, p. 17.

140 Stubbs, Hearts and minds in guerrilla warfare, p. 168.

141 Ibid., p. 185.

142 Sandhu, ‘The saga of the “squatter” in Malaya’, p. 172.

143 Hack, ‘Everyone lived in fear’, p. 687.

144 Ibid., p. 680.

145 Ramakrishna, Emergency propaganda, p. 207.