Catalogue Number
NMLH.1995.1.7
Object Name
Banner
Title
'Hands Off Malaya'
Place
Malaya, Malaysia, Singapore, Bradford
People
Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), Bradford Communist Party (BCP), Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA)
Events
Malaysian Independence, Malayan Emergency, Anti-British National Liberation War
Date
1948 ?
Description
A hand painted white cotton banner with writing in black, red and green. The banner reads 'Hands off Malaya' with each word written in a different colour and style of font. The word 'hands' is written in black with red staining that may be intended to look like blood.
This banner was created by Alan Foster, a member of the Bradford Communist Party (BCP) and carried at a demonstration opposing the British army campaign in Malaya (now the countries of Malaysia and Singapore) during the 'Malayan Emergency' in the UK and 'the Anti-British National Liberation War' in Malaysia. In 1948, local attempts by communists to decolonise Malaya and establish a communist state free of British rule led to a guerrilla war after the British began executing left wing activists, fearing that British interests in Malaya, like rubber plantations, would be nationalised and no longer bring profits to Britain if Malaya gained independence and became Communist. British communists, particularly the Communist Party of Great Britain newspaper Daily Worker, exposed violent actions, including scalping, and decapitation of executed guerilla fighters by British soldiers that breached the Geneva Conventions governing military actions during wars. British tactics in the war included
trying to facilitate mass starvation by killing livestock, spraying 'Agent Orange' herbicide from helicopters to kill crops. They also forcibly relocated up to a million civilians into concentration camps called 'New Villages', and practiced collective punishment including deportation massacres of unarmed villagers, as well as head hunting and scalping, practices which breach the Geneva Conventions.
Malaya was a British 'dependency' - a type of colonial entity, in Asia. The UK colonial occupation began during the Industrial Revolution as a way to gain control of local natural resources including tin and rubber that were used to enrich the British empire and fuel industrialisation in the UK. Following a Japanese occupation during the Second World War, British rule returned, and Malayans, including the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) began to push for independence. Following years of guerilla war, Malaya finally won independence in 1957 and became two separate countries - Malaysia and Singapore. No charges were ever brought against British soldiers for criminal actions during the Emergency, and the majority of official British documents relating to actions undertaken during this time were intentionally destroyed as part of Operation Legacy, along with those from other colonies that fought independence struggles during this era, like Kenya.
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