page_title: Malaysian Chinese
section_title: Post-turbulent, further emergency and social integration (1946–1962)
hierarchical_section_title: Malaysian Chinese / History / Post-turbulent, further emergency and social integration (1946–1962)
caption_attribution_description: English: A joint demonstration from Chinese and Malay in Semenyih, Selangor which is partly sponsored by the local "Good Citizens' Committee", opposing the communist activities during the ensuing Malayan Emergency.
context_page_description: Malaysian Chinese people or Chinese Malaysians is a local ethnic group in Malaysia. The group is defined as Malaysian citizens of Chinese ethnicity. Today, they form the second largest ethnic group after the Malay majority. Most are descendants of Southern Chinese immigrants who arrived in Malaysia between the early 19th century and the mid-20th century.
  The sub-ethnic groups of Malaysian Chinese includes Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew, Hainan, Foochow and Kwongsai. Malaysian Chinese also form the second largest community of Overseas Chinese in the world, after Thai Chinese. Within Malaysia, they represent the third largest group, constituting 23% of the Malaysian population.
  Malaysian Chinese are traditionally dominant in the business sector of the Malaysian economy. Different towns and cities in Malaysia are placed by different Chinese dialects among Chinese speakers; for example Cantonese in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Sandakan, Hokkien in George Town, Klang and Kuching, Hakka in Kota Kinabalu, Teochew in Johor Bahru, Foochow in Sibu, Miri and Sitiawan, and Hainanese in Kuala Terengganu.
context_section_description: With the rebranding of MPAJA to Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), attacks by communist insurgents further ensued with their guerrilla tactics in the jungles by sabotaging transportation networks and attacking British plantation sources that resulted in the assassination of several European plantation owners in Malaya. The British intelligence estimate the support for the MNLA was mainly based on around 500,000 from the total of 3.12 million ethnic Chinese living in Malaya by the time and battling the insurgents proved difficult as most of them hid in inaccessible jungles. With the declaration of emergency on 18 June 1948 during the ensuing Malayan Emergency, the early government response was chaotic and disorganised as their primary target is only to guard important economic targets. The predominantly nature of the MNLA which consisted entirely from ethnic Chinese making most of the Malays who constituted nearly half of the population of five million in 1950 opposed the movement.
  A military plan called Briggs' Plan which devised by British General Harold Briggs are being undertaken shortly in 1950 to protect the population and isolate any connection of involved population from the insurgents which is also followed by the promise for independence, with the latter won majority support from the Malays although the Chinese population need more convincing as they feared on being treated as a "second-class citizens" in an independent Malaya. Among the steps being undertaken under the plan includes the establishment of rapid settlement of squatters under security surveillance, regrouping of labour, minimum level of troops throughout Malaya to support security forces on clearing priority areas and complete accord of operation between police and army with close integration of intelligence. Under the continual resettlement scheme, more than 700,000 rural ethnic Chinese community were corralled into 582 new settlements established by the government around Malaya. With the demise of British colonial administrator Henry Gurney after a sudden ambush by the insurgents in 1951, Gerald Templer are appointed as a new colonial administrator to Malaya by Winston Churchill in the following year with the latter then primarily choose the "hearts and minds campaign" apart from military and psychological measures to combat the insurgents. As part of his campaign, Templer instituted incentive schemes for surrendering rebels including to those who encouraged them to surrender and used strict curfews and tight control of food supplies from involved areas to flush out the insurgents. Crops grown by the insurgents were sprayed with herbicide and defoliants with any of the involved areas that already found to be free from the insurgents will be elevated to "white status" with any previous restrictions were lifted.
  Despite large applause are given for his campaign, the root causes of the campaign success are mainly attributed to the continuous Briggs' Plan as expressed by the leader of the communist side Chin Peng where the massive resettlement of ethnic Chinese villagers resulted in the isolation of the communist movement. Apart from that, the various early moves made by his predecessor Gurney for the introduction of a quasi-ministerial system with a bill to increase the number of non-Malays to be eligible for citizenship in the path towards independence also contributed to the victory. Even with the hearts and minds issued by Templer throughout the war, there were also a massacre named the Batang Kali massacre perpetrated by British security forces against unarmed ethnic Chinese civilians in late 1948. Following the fall of Kuomintang and the establishment of communist control in China in 1949, foreign missionaries in the country were forced by the new communist authorities to leave which then invited by Templer to provide spiritual healing to the residents of the new government-controlled villages in Malaya where they also provide medical education and welfare measures to one-third of the Chinese population. By September 1952, Templer realise
caption: A joint demonstration from ethnic Chinese and Malay in Semenyih, Selangor who opposing the communist activities during the ensuing Malayan Emergency, c. 1950s.
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