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In 1948, the Communists and the British colonial government in Malaya entered a period of guerrilla fighting which has become known to history as the Malayan Emergency. The name derives from the state of emergency declared by the colonial administration in June 1948 to extend the powers of the police and military. The state of emergency was officially lifted in July 1960. In the broadest context, the events leading to the emergency include the following: * The establishment of British hegemony over Malaya in the 19th century. * The importation of large numbers of Chinese and Indians as labourers for colonial industry, primarily tin mining and rubber planting. * The formation of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) in the 1930s. * The rout by the Japanese of the British in the early part of World War II. For many Malayans this dispelled a myth of British omnipotence. * The rise of the MCP-led Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) as the main resistance against the Japanese during their period of occupation. This article focuses on the immediate antecedents to the Emergency, beginning shortly after the Japanese surrender and British reoccupation in August and September 1945. == Labour unions == In September to December 1945, General Labour Unions (GLU's) arose, sometimes with MCP guidance. They organised themselves as regional bodies rather than trade-specific bodies; this was consciously done in an effort to promote racial integration since particular racial groups tended to predominate in particular trades, e.g.; Chinese in mines, Malays in the civil service, often Indians on plantations. 〔Morgan, p. 165〕 A number of short strikes were held, not necessarily involving entire GLU's. They had little material result but demonstrated a capacity to act. There were considerable economic grounds for labour unrest. Real wages were below the pre-war level in 1948 compared to 1939 wages had risen about 3 times but the cost of living had gone up 4 times, so the real wage was about 3/4. Normal pre-war rice consumption had been per day. In April 1946 the rice ration in Singapore for an adult male was reduced from per week; in mid-August it was further reduced to per week, where it remained until an increase in December. 〔Morgan, p.161. He cites ''Keesings Contemporary Archives 1943-46'', 8246A; and "SAR 1946'', pp.11,12.〕 The ''Annual Report of the Colony of Singapore for 1946'' reported that the majority of infant deaths were due to rice shortage and lack of proper food. A survey of working-class families in the ''Report'' for 1947 found that only 22% of them had sufficient food energy in their diets and that 30 to 40% of the children suffered from malnutrition. 〔''Annual Report of the Colony of Singapore for 1946'', p.37, and ''Annual Report of the Colony of Singapore for 1947'', pp.74-76; cited in Morgan, pp.161,2.〕 In its internal reports in 1945 the British administration recognised the tendency of such conditions to produce unrest, and stated that the strikes were motivated by economic conditions rather than a political programme. Nevertheless, the British administration was not tolerant of the disturbances. In October 1945 the Chinese-language newspapers ''Shih Tai Jit Pao'' and ''Pai Ma Tao Pao'' were closed and their editors and staffs convicted and imprisoned for sedition because of their use of the term "economic exploitation".〔Morgan, p.172.〕 A large strike, peaking at 18,000 workers on 17 December, broke out in Singapore. At that point, some members of the administration began taking the position that the strikes are political, not economic. Historian Daud Latiff argues that the British were restrained from taking even harder measures against the strikes at this stage for two reasons: # The MPAJA had not yet been disbanded, still had its weapons, and could pose an enormous problem if provoked into rebellion.〔Latiff, pp.126-9.〕 # In the changed political climate at the end of World War II, actions which could be viewed as repressive or fascistic might cause large public relations problems, or damage Britain's international image at a time when she was in competition with the United States for global political allegiances.〔Latiff, pp.133,4. 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Circumstances prior to the Malayan Emergency」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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