Chapter eleven - The Special Branch on the Malayan–Thai frontier (1948–60): a case study

Summary

This chapter provides a second case study of a threat posed by the Malayan communists during the Emergency and the response by the Special Branch. Cross-border terrorism is not new, despite the emphasis on this since the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the US on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. This chapter focuses on the early Malayan–Thai cross-border communist terrorist movements that formed an integral part of the Malayan Emergency in the period 1948–60. In particular, it analyses the efforts made by the Malayan Special Branch to obtain intelligence about the CPM/MNLA in southern Thailand and bring about a closer co-operation between the Malayan and Thai security forces and their Special Branches. The measures taken by the Malayan and Thai governments to mount joint counterinsurgency operations against the CPM/MNLA on the Malayan–Thai frontier and in southern Thailand will also be discussed. It is worth noting that today the same border region also poses a security problem as it has become the centre of a militant Islamic movement in southern Thailand.

This case study is also important as it represents the first time that the Malayan Special Branch operated outside the borders of Malaya and, similarly, the first time that it had established, as will be described, a joint regional Malayan–Thai Special Branch office in Songkhla, southern Thailand. It was essential for the successful prosecution of the war against the Malayan communists for the Malayan security forces to harass and attack them in the bases they were endeavouring to set up in southern Thailand just across the frontier from Malaya, where they intended to reorganise, consolidate their strength, and await a more favourable opportunity to resume operations in Malaya.