Thursday 23 January 2014

Bribery used to weaken the Communist Terrorists

During the Malayan Emergency Government Forces air-dropped propaganda leaflets into the jungle  to encourage the Communist Terrorists (CTs) to leave the jungle and give up their weapons and/or their comrades. This one was dropped in 1953 and the Chinese text reads:

"If any member of the Malayan Communist Party is able to leave the jungle and bring out a Bren gun, or able to lead the Peace Keeping Forces to unearth a hidden Bren gun that he or she knows about, he will be eligible for a $1,000 reward. Receive a $1,000 reward to start a new life!"

In an earlier post on this blog I covered Psychological Warfare of the Malayan Emergency.  It worked and played a significant part in weakening the CTs.  As the Emergency dragged on, every weapon lost to them was hard to replace as their was no way for the CTs to engage with sympathetic governments (such as the People's Republic of China) outside Malaya - a major difference to the situations in Vietnam and Korea at the time.  Government forces had a stranglehold on the CT supply lines and used  leaflets such as this to attack them from within.



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