Reasons for Success of British and Commonwealth Forces - Case Study Example

Globalised Terrorism Name: Professor Course Date Table of Contents Introduction 2 The Cause of the Insurgency 3 Reasons for success of British and Commonwealth Forces 4 Controlling the population 4 Hearts and mind winning campaign 5 Well coordinated and dynamic leadership 6 Training indigenous Security forces 7 Superior Airpower 8 Conclusion 8 Introduction The end Second World War triggered Britain’s involvement in conflicts within its empire. In 1947, it lost grip of India and granted it independence due to internal arrest. There were rise of insurgencies and rebellions such as Malayan emergency and the Mau Mau Rebellion. The British developed well-planned strategies and tactics to counter these insurgencies1. The Malayan emergency, which was declared by the British colonialists led to confrontation between British-led forces against the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and its ally Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) from June 1948 to 31 July 1960. The counter insurgency mechanism by the British and its allies was so successful that they defeated the rebels who were mainly Chinese communists’ adherents. This war was unique in the sense that the communists were completely overpowered. The Americans later adopted the tactics used during the onset of the Vietnam War. The success of the British is mainly attributed to four fundamental techniques that were employed2. These techniques include controlling the population, secondly, gaining the hearts and minds using minimum force, political concessions, provision of social amenities. The third technique used was the well- coordinated and dynamic leadership. Lastly, training indigenous forces in counterinsurgency also worked best. The Cause of the Insurgency Malaya presently known as Malaysia had been a Japanese colony before the defeat of Japan in the Second World War. Malaya had no choice but to relinquish the colony to the Great Britain. It is imperative that the country had been rendered to a state of economic disruption and chaos, which arose from the war3. There was high rate of unemployment, low wages, and high levels of inflation. The food prices were high above normal, thus, this led to the outbreaks of strikes and protests by the workers. The British responded by using arrests and deportations in attempt to control the situation and salvage the struggling economy, which was dependent on tin and rubber industry. In response to this, the militant arm of the Malayan Communist Party declared war against the British in 1948 in accordance with soviet global strategy. The successful offensive of the Malayan forces and British led the MCP communists and its leader Chin Peng to retreat to the rural areas. In this regard, they formed a guerilla outfit known as Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), which targeted mines and rubber plantations. As a result, three European planters and a Chinese supervisor were killed. This prompted the high commissioner to declare a state of emergency in 1948. Reasons for success of British and Commonwealth Forces Controlling the population At the onset of the conflict, the guerrillas liberated some areas that had been under the control of the British. However, this was short lived owing to the government’s formulation of sound policies such as Briggs Plan. This strove to cut supply to the enemy and foster the control of population through resettlement of the Chinese community who supported the guerillas to new villagers. This would ease their close monitoring. As the Director of anti-Bandit operations, “DO” was an experienced retired army officer. Lieutenant General Sir Harold Briggs was an experienced administrative and commanding officer. He had participated actively in fighting the communists in Burma in late 1940’s. The plan led to resettlement of about 500,000 rural Chinese into new villages and re grouping up to 600,000 state workers4. The new villages were put under tight government administration. Civilian military committees were overhauled to form Federal War Executive Committee. This brought together various stakeholders to work as a unit such as police military personnel, civil administrators, and Special Branch reducing bureaucracy. A “striking unit” of the army was deployed to pursue the guerillas from State to State. As a result, the guerrillas were scattered into smaller vulnerable units, which could be overpowered easily. Once the terrorists had been cleared from an area an effective police administrative system was established to prevent the re-infiltration of the terrorists. This bore the desired motive as the denial of food supply made the guerillas to fight for supplies with the government forces and were easily neutralized and killed5. Hearts and mind winning campaign Malaya comprised of two major ethnic groups mainly Malaya and Chinese. There also existed minorities who comprised of Indians and Aborigines. The British emphasized the importance of understanding the people by giving viable policies that would win the minds, and the hearts of all the Malaya citizens. There existed suspicion between the Chinese and Malaya people with the later being cautious of communism while the former in favor of communism. The successor of General Briggs, General tower brought forward a brilliant proposal for the Malays that Malaya would be granted independence and one of their own Sultans would be honored as the Head of the State and their rights enshrined in the constitution. Further, the selection and airlifting of young Malaya leaders to England for tertiary education widened the magnitude of the trust. It is imperative that the strive to gain trust from the Chinese population was a tricky, however, General Briggs introduced some policies to address it. He granted the landless Chinese the ownership of the lands6. Those who had taken part in relocation program were rewarded with three parcels of land for a home, cultivation, and fruit farming. Chinese were also employed in the Police Special Branch to show that the government had placed confidence on the Chinese as the Malays. The ethnic Chinese in New Chinese Villages were more willing to give intelligence information to fellow Chinese police officers rather than the Malays. General Briggs allowed the Chinese the right to vote which initially had been restricted to the Malays. The Aborigines who were adamant to resettlement were attracted to the British side. The British lured them by building forts, which provided medical treatment. This attracted them to associate with the government and give out information about the movements of the communists. This acts won the hearts of the of the all-Malayan citizens to fully support the British forces to eliminate the guerillas7. Well coordinated and dynamic leadership From the beginning of the conflict, the leaders appointed to take of the conflict were competent, knowledgeable, dynamic, and decisive. General Briggs formulated the policy of controlling the population and cutting supplies to the guerillas and formation of civil military with the incorporation of all responsible for eliminating the insurgency menace. His predecessor had the same ideas and continued with the legacy and making it better by increasing the participation of the Chinese ethnic group by being employed in special branch of the police and expanding and well equipping the Malayan army. Training indigenous Security forces Templer and Young understood the importance of training the police and the military forces. In this regard, the provision of competent leadership would be a vital requirement in the new administration. Young was responsible for the training as well as the welfare of the police. Therefore, he insisted on the withdrawal of police in action against the communists and recalling of untrained police constables who were facilitated for a two-month training course8. The highly trained police officers became valuable assets. They were able to perform sophisticated tasks such as vehicle maintenance, communications operations, and ordinary duties such helping citizens to hospitals. This boosted the perception of the police force and trust by the public. Templer was responsible for the creation and training of new Malaya Federation Regiment from all the ethnic groups including Chinese who had been neglected. The recruitment of the Chinese as home guards was crucial as it brought the Chinese to the government side thus making them part of the solution of the insurgency. The results of the training programs were manifested in defeating the insurgency. This was achieved because of the improved efficiency of intelligence in the field where they were able to target and demolish specific rebel bands with greater efficiency than before. Superior Airpower The utilization of airpower in the conflict was significant in offensive air support, transport reconnaissance, and crop spraying. The aim of air offensive was to flash out the enemy so that the ground forces could help to deter the enemy ambushes. The flexibility of helicopters were utilized in transport of casualties and Malayan people especially the aborigines who were given medical assistance to boost their trust on the government forces9. Aerial photographs were used to gather intelligence, planning, and briefing forces for ground and air operations. This enabled the movements of the terrorists to be monitored and locations identified. Conclusion The success of British and common wealth forces against the MCP and MNLA is largely attributed to the control of population to cut out the supply and movements of the guerillas. This is enhanced by winning the hearts and minds of all the citizens by reducing historical injustices and promoting basic human rights such right to own land and vote10. The training and transformation of military and police force was crucial. The competent and dynamic leaders provided sound policies to eliminate the insurgencies. These factors contributed enormously to the success of government forces. Bibliography Arreguin-Toft, Ivan. How the weak win wars: A theory of asymmetric conflict. No. 99. Cambridge University Press, 2005. Bravo, Ana Bela Santos, and Carlos Manuel Mendes Dias. "An empirical analysis of terrorism: Deprivation, Islamism and geopolitical factors." Defence and Peace Economics 17, no. 4 (2006): 329-341. 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