I



Re-establishment of colonial rule

How did Southeast Asia Respond to the Colonial powers’ attempts to reassert their rule immediately after World War Two?

Evaluate the different responses of Southeast Asian states to the reassertion of colonial rule

|Vietnam |Malaya | |

|Diplomacy |Period of coming to terms with new order |Period of coming to terms with the new order |

| | | |

|It is interesting to note before revolution was |Viet Minh – Prestigious. They had stayed behind enemy lines, |There was less revolution and more attempts at negotiation and compromise |

|attempted, there was usually: |refused to cooperate with the Japanese and fought againt them. The|because: |

| |also worked to alleviate the famine of 1944 and 1945 by forcibly | |

|period of coming to terms with the new order (eg, |distributing hoarded rice. The spread political ideas and stepped |1. There was no revolution and power vacuum after World War Two |

|USA/ return of colonial powers) |up guerrilla activity against the Japanese. | |

| | |Attempted revolution could have come from two sources: |

|This was because many of the nationalist groups |a. The American Declaration of Independence | |

|which opposed the Japanese emerged from the war | |Radical Malay youths – Heiho units formed to replace the Kesatuan Melayu |

|more popular. They felt that negotiation could be |In Vietnam, coming to terms with the new order took the form of a |Muda. Led by Ibrahim Yaacob Caught up by revolution in Indonesia and dreams|

|used to either |declaration of independence. They used the words of the American |of creating a Greater Indonesia. But they did not enjoy widespread Malay |

| |Declaration of Independence (1776), ‘All men are created equal. |Support and many were unarmed. |

|buy time |They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, | |

|negotiate with the returning colonial forces |among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’. US |Malayan Communist Party / Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) - |

|suit the international climate – the emergence of |aircraft also tipped their wings as they flew over Hanoi at the |Fought against Japanese forces. After the war, MPAJA surrendered part of |

|communism as an ideological force to contend with |declaration of independence. |their weapons and buried the rest. They also formed the Ex-Comrades |

| | |Association. There was an air of legitimacy about them. Chin Peng, leader of|

| |b. Negotiations with the French |the MCP, received medals and attended ceremonies / parades at the Padang. |

| | |But many were Chinese and not trusted by the other races. MCP leader, Lai |

| |Even when the Viet Minh were calling for revolution in the south |Teck, was a double-agent and did not favor armed revolution. Waited for |

| |and when violence broke out between local Viet Minh Units and |British to return in force to Singapore & Malaya. |

| |returning French units (with British forces under British General | |

| |Gracey and Japanese POWs), Ho Chi Minh still chose to negotiate |The British were more willing to compromise with the Malay elites and vice |

| |with the French to secure his counry’s independence because he did |versa. |

| |not want Guomindang China to occupy N Vietnam for prolonged period.| |

| |Many were ill-disciplined and there were more than 200,000 Chinese |Eg. British introduced a new plan to centralize power and to govern Malaya –|

| |in N Vietnam. |Malayan Union. Power to be centralised in Kuala Lumpur and equal citizenship|

| | |for all. Separate treaties with malay Sultans als to be terminated and |

| |On 6 March 1946, Ho Chi Minh agreed to allow the return of 15,000 |Sultan’s authority limited to matters of religion. But when moderate Malays |

| |French troops in Hanoi and France was to retain close control of |led by Dato Onn Bin Jaafar, formed United Malays National Organization |

| |Cochin-China. France agreed to formally recognize the Democratic |(UMNO) to oppose the MU. The British were willing to compromise with them. |

| |Republic of Vietnam. However, the French would not give full | |

| |independence to Vietnam and wanted the DRV to be part of a French |The result was the Federation of Malaya Agreement (which restored powers to |

| |Union. (ie. Control of foreign affairs, defence and econoic |the Sultan, made it more difficult for non-Malays to get citizenship and |

| |policy). The French agreed to allow for a national referendum in |guaranteed that Malayaa was the homeland of the Malays. |

| |the south at a later date. | |

| | |The British were more willing to grant Malaya independence. |

| |Talks degenerated into war when French forces under French high | |

| |commissioner for Indochina based in Saigon, Admiral d’Argenlieu | |

| |escalated the war. | |

| | | |

| |As the Cold War worsened over Berlin, China & Korea, D’Argenlieu | |

| |increasingly took matters in his own hands and in Nov 1946, in a | |

| |dispute over arms shipments, the French bombarded Haiphong, killing| |

| |6000 Vietnamese and full-scale war began. | |

|Revolution |Vietnam |Malaya |

| | | |

|Revolution refers to the use of armed force to |China as a safe haven. |There was no safe haven for the communist guerillas |

|overthrow or to resist the return of colonial | | |

|forces. |In 1948, China had become communist. Mao Tse Tung had proclaimed a |Unlike Vietnam which had a safe haven and ready source of supplies from |

| |communist republic and Vietnam now had a safe haven for Chinese |China, the communists in Malaya did not find it easy to get weapons, radio |

|Armed revolution was usually used when: |weapons and safe sanctuaries |and even food. By 1955, MCP opened negotiations to surrender themselves at |

| | |the Baling Talks. In 1960, insurgents were starved and fighting on the |

|They were near to countries which could supply |b. Local French commanders escalated the war |Malaysian-Thai borders to stay alive. They fought on as guerillas till |

|them with weapons, training & safe sanctuaries | |1989. |

| |French forces under French high commissioner for Indochina based in| |

|The colonial powers were bent on restoring power |Saigon, Admiral d’Argenlieu escalated the war. |There was a weakness in MCP leadership |

|and to return to the status quo (before WW2) like | | |

|the French & Dutch. |At first, they collaborated with British forces and recently |In 1948, after Lai Teck was discovered to be a double-agent and the MCP |

| |released French citizens to wage war against the local Vietnamese |embarked on a communist insurrection (called the Emergency), the communist |

|c. Nationalists were able to portray foreigners as|forces. |guerilla plan was to disrupt the economy by attacking trains, rubber |

|a foreign power bent on occupying their | |plantations, police posts. However, it was not a coordinated and pre-planned|

|territories. |Then, as the Cold War worsened over Berlin, China & Korea, |campaign. The MCP suffered further losses in leadership when Lau Yew, the |

| |D’Argenlieu increasingly took matters in his own hands and in Nov |leader of the MRLA (Malayan Racles Liberation Army) was killed in late 1949 |

| |1946, in a dispute over arms shipments, the French bombarded |in an ambush. |

| |Haiphong, killing 6000 Vietnamese and full-scale war began. | |

| | |British determination to isolate and fight the communists to the end at the |

| |c. Local nationalists always able to portray French and later |political, military and social level. |

| |Americans as foreign aggressor. Occupation of their homeland. | |

| |Support for local puppets |At the political level, the British were willing to give Malaya |

| | |self-independence (later full independence in 1957). Even when High |

| |Eg. Getting South Vietnam to join Southeast Asian Treaty |Commissioner, Henry Gurney, was ambushed and killed, local eletions carried |

| |Organisation (SEATO) |out to prepare Malaya for independence. |

| | | |

| |Eg. Supporting South Vietnamese leaders who supported the French |At the military level, helicopters and hunter killer platoons were used. |

| |and later US cause. There were 8 governments between 1963 and 1965.|Briggs Plan was also introduced. The goal was to starve the communists by |

| | |relocating 500,000 Chinese villagers and squatters into 400 new villages |

| |Eg. Ngo Dinh Diem – Anti-Buddhist, authoritarian & family |which had modern facilities like running water, sewage, electricity and |

| |relatives. (1955-1963) |medical facilities. They were also barbed wire fences and guarded by |

| |Eg. Duong Van Minh – President for 4 times |soldiers and special constables. This starved the communists of food |

| | |supplies and recruits. |

| |Creating a National Movement | |

| | |At the social level, Gerald Templer, the Director of Military Operations and|

| |Dec 1960 – formation of the National Liberation Front (NLF) to |High Commisioner, introduced psychological warfare. He made personal visits |

| |include both communist and non-communists who were opposed to the |to peoples in areas affected by guerrila activites and urged races to put |

| |Diem Government. |their differences aside. He also dropped leaflets offering amnesty to |

| | |communists who surrendered and surrendered their arms. He also gave rewards |

| |Eg. NLF – Umbrella organization. Viet Cong. Land redistribution, |for new informatio nand for deserters. A Questionairre method was |

| |ran own schools, newspapers and broadcasting services. |intorduced. Put info into a sealed box to be opened by templer. |

|Negotiations |Vietnam |Malaya |

|International negotiations |Geneva Peace Conference |In Malaya, International negotations were not necessary to force the |

| | |different sides to come to the negotiating table. By 1955, the communists |

|International negotiations usually took place when|At the Geneva Peace Conference 1954, Cambodia, Laos, Korea, China, |were losing the fight. |

|pressure was put on the various sides to reach |USSR, Vietnam, France, Britain and USA negotiated. Vietnam was | |

|compromises. Usually, it depended on: |split along the 17th Parallel – DRV in N Vietnam. Non-Communist |Malaya was on the path to self-government with Federal elections planned for|

| |state under Emperor Bao Dai. There would be a referendum set for |1955. |

|Importance of territory on Cold War politics |1956. | |

| | |a. There was no longer meaning for the MCP to continue their fight since the|

|Stalemate on the battlefield |USA concerns – the US were worried about the ‘falling-domino’ |British were willing to give Malaya full self-government and later |

| |effect. They did not want Vietnam to become a communist state. They|independence through elections |

| |also did not want a ‘hot war’ like the one they had fought in the | |

| |Korean War. They were already paying 80% of the French costs of the|b. The military situation was also not going well for the MCP. Briggs Plan |

| |overall wall. $3 billion over the course of the 9 year war. |and the appointment of Gerald Templar / Psychological Warfare had resulted |

| | |in the death and capture of many MCP leaders. Eg. Death of MRLA leader Lau |

| |China concerns – China was not internationally recognized and did |Yew in 1949. The MCP were reduced to growing their own food and eating |

| |not have a place in the UN (until 1974). They were worried that if |roots and shrubs. |

| |a peaceful settlement could not be worked out, US military | |

| |intervention would follow. China wanted to boost their |c. The political situation was also not going well for the MCP. |

| |international prestige. Zhou Enlai | |

| | |Eg. In 1951, there were local elections. UMNO-MCA (Malayan Chinese C |

| |Soviet concerns – Death of Stalin in 1953 led to a struggle for |Association) formed an alliance and cooperated as the Alliance Party B to |

| |power in the USSR. The USSR was more concerned about events in |win elections. This showed that the races could get along. |

| |Europe & the effects of the Korean War. They did not want Vietnam | |

| |to become a major issue between the great powers. |Eg. In 1951, there was the member system. It worked like a mini-cabinet. |

| | |Britain’s aim as to train locals on state administration to prepare them for|

| |French concerns – French public opinion was against the war. There |independence later. |

| |were heavy casualties and lack of progress. Even worse as the | |

| |defeat of French forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. PM Laniel |Eg. There were national elections (federal elections) planned for 1955. |

| |was ousted from power | |

| | | |

| |DRV concerns – Despite victory, Viet Minh position weak | |

| |economically. Big cities like Hanoi, Saigon, Hue and Danag still in| |

| |enemy hands. Vietnam still concerned about US involvement. Ho Chi | |

| |Minh believed that national unity and independence could only take | |

| |place in stages on the world’s stage and heeded Chinese advice. | |

|Negotiations |Vietnam |Malaya |

|Negotiations between belligerents |Paris Peace Accords |Negotiations between Malaya and Britain were more cordial. They were about |

| | |the terms of agreement or about constitutional matters. The British however |

|Negotiations also took place when defeats on the |The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973 by the |remained sincere and steadfast in their determination to give Malaya full |

|battlefield resulted in an attempt to withdraw |governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North |self-government and later independence. |

|from the conflict ‘gracefully’ or an attempt to |Vietnam), the Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam), and the | |

|create a status quo. |United States, as well as the Provisional Revolutionary Government |Member System 1951 |

| |(PRG) that represented local South Vietnamese revolutionaries.. | |

|By this stage, most of the time, the negotiations|The accords ended direct U.S. military involvement and temporarily |The first step was to give the leaders in Malaya experience in handling |

|took the form of bi-lateral negotiations between |ended the fighting between north and south. The negotiations that |large organizations and government departments. This was called the Member |

|those involved in the conflict |led to the accord had begun in 1968 and had been subject to various|system Member system 1951 |

| |lengthy delays. The main negotiators of the agreement were United | |

|Eg. Paris Peace Accords |States National Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger and Vietnamese|Six local members in the Federal Legislative Council were to be trained and |

| |politburo member Le Duc Tho; the two men were awarded the 1973 |groomed and eventually to take charge of government departments. |

| |Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts, although Tho refused to accept| |

| |it. |Local Elections 1952 (for Town Councils and Local Government) |

| | | |

| |USA concerns – US public opinion was against the war. There were |The 2nd approach was to gradually give elections to the people in Malaya. |

| |heavy casualties and lack of progress. ‘Fighting with one armed |This would help the British win the war against the Communists. The |

| |tied behind your backs’ because could not cross 16th Parallel (only|communists were demanding for immediate independence for Malaya and the |

| |bombings) and could not get at NVA supply routes (Ho Chi Minh |removal of the British. By giving Malaya elections and preparing Malaya for |

| |Trail) which ran through Cambodia. Almost 3 million Americans |independence, this would remove support for the communists. Local elections |

| |served in Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1973, the United States spent |were therefore held in 3 municipalities and 19 towns.(municipal means part |

| |$120 billion on the war .This resulted in a large federal budget |of a town or city). Any town with more than 10,000 people would be given |

| |deficit. USA had been gradually withdrawing US combat forces since |elections. The most important municipality was the Kuala Lumpur municipal. |

| |1969 so that it could improve relations with USSR and normalize | |

| |relations with China. |C. Federal Elections 1955 for the Legislative Assembly |

| | | |

| |DRV concerns – 1.5 million killed. 3 million wounded. Wanted USA |Previously, all members of Legislative Council (parliament) were nominated |

| |to cease military activity to position Communist forces for renewal|by High Commissioner. |

| |of hostilities later. Communist forces had suffered heavy losses |In 1955, the British agreed to open 52 out of 98 seats for popular vote in |

| |between 1968 to 1972. They want to consolidate their position and |the 1955 Federal Elections |

| |continue fight to reunify country. |The winning party would be allowed to nominate/choose 5 more members. |

| |Eg. Failed Tet Offensive of 1968 had left 37,000 VietCong killed | |

| |and NLF leadership weakened. |The major fight was between the UMNO-MCA-MICA Alliance Party under Tengku |

| |Eg. US bombing operations – Operation Rolling Thunder & Linebacker |Abdul Rahman and |

| |II. US military operations in Cambodia & Laos. |Dato Onn Bin Jaafar’s new multi-racial party Party Negara. There was also an|

| | |Islamic Party led by Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy called the Pan-Malayan Islamic |

| |Results of Paris Peace Accords |Party (PMIP). In the end the Alliance Party won 51 seats. Party Negara did |

| |Immediate, internationally supervised cease-fire. |not get any seats. PMIP won one seat. |

| |Withdrawal of all foreign military forces. | |

| |Exchange of POWs |D. 1955 Constitution |

| | | |

| |The ceasefire was violated by end 1973. Local communist forces |After the Federal elections of 1955, Tengku Abdul Rahman was made the Chief|

| |refused to cooperate in the search for US soldiers listed as MIA |Minister and Minister of Home Affairs. Ten Alliance Party members of |

| |and high-level US-North Vietnamese contacts ceased. NVA units |parliament in the Legislative Council were appointed as Ministers. A new |

| |reunified Vietnam in 1975. |constitution was drawn up for Malaya but there was only limited |

| | |self-government. |

| | | |

| | |F. Merdeka Mission 1956 |

| | | |

| | |In 1956, Tengku Abdul Rahman went to London on a Merdeka Mission. His |

| | |mission included 4 representatives of the Sultans, and four alliance |

| | |representatives. The mission was to persuade the British government that |

| | |independence could be granted on 31 August 1957. |

| | | |

| | |G. Reid Commission 1956 |

| | | |

| | |Before independence could be given, Malaya needed a new constitution yet |

| | |again. Britain was committed to independence after the Merdeka Mission. |

| | | |

| | |To prepare Malaya for independence, an independent committee was set up in |

| | |1956. The committee was called the Commonwealth Constitutional Commission. |

| | |It was made up of representatives of UK, Canada, Australia, India and |

| | |Pakistan. Its job was to set up a new constitution for an independent |

| | |Malaya. It was chaired by Lord William Reid. There were no Malayans on the |

| | |Reid Commission. Instead the Reid commission only consulted the Alliance |

| | |Party and the British government, as well as other political parties, |

| | |commercial groups and told individuals to submit memoranda. (written |

| | |statements providing information) |

| | | |

| | |The Alliance Party agreed that Malaya should be a secular state. However, |

| | |they also demanded that Islam must be recognized as the official religion of|

| | |Malaya. |

| | |Alliance wanted only Malaya and English as official languages. Tamil and |

| | |Chinese may not be used in the Legislative Council for the first 10 years |

| | |after independence. |

II. Emergence of Independence Southeast Asia

How different were the paths to independence taken by the countries in Southeast Asia?

Evaluate the response of colonial governments to the demand for independence

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