Guerrillas again becoming active in Malaysia

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32639, 22 June 1971, Page 2

Guerrillas again becoming active in Malaysia

(By DAVID BARBER, N.Z.P.A. staff correspondent) SINGAPORE, June 21. The Malaysian Prime Minister (Tun Abdul Razak) has said that the Communist threat in the north and on the border with Thailand is becoming serious.

His deputy, Tun Ismail, has said that Communist terrorists have changed their tactics, are taking a more aggressive approach, and are attempting to increase their activities throughout the country.

The leaders’ comments have again focused attention on South-East Asia’s almost forgotten war, the 23-year-old Communist struggle to take over Malaysia.

An estimated 1200 terrorists, remnants of the guerrillas led by Chin Peng who tied down up to 100,000 Commonwealth troops for 12 years until 1960, are apparently getting bolder. There have been unconfirmed reports that armed guerrillas have been sighted within 15 miles of the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Terrorists have made two recent attacks on bridges near the Butterworth air base, where Australia keeps Mirage aircraft worth millions of dollars.

camp—suitable for 30 to 40 guerrillas—in jungle only nine miles from the important north-western town of Ipoh. The area was a major Communist centre during the Malayan emergency. Although the terrorists have largely confined their activities to the northern areas since they were forced over the border 11 years ago, Tun Ismail said yesterday that they were becoming more aggressive, with the aim of infiltrating deep into Malaysia. If this is so, the consequences will be serious for Malaysia, which is still acutely conscious of the Malay-Chinese racial differ-

ences which erupted into riots in May, 1969. Observers believe that any new drive by the Communists—who in the past have been predominantly Chinese —would not fail to make capital of racial tensions. The terrorists, members of the banned Malayan Communist Party, gave a graphic reminder that they had retained some national organisation when they launched a nation-wide series of simultaneous bomb attacks in April of last year. The incidents were never followed up, and their purpose seemed obscure.

Thai officials who have never appeared unduly concerned about the terrorists hiding out in the jungle-dad hills on their side of the border, have increased their interest recently. They believe that Moslem separatists, who have plagued Thailand’s four southernmost provinces for years, are now getting arms and moral support from the Communists. It is interesting that Tim Razak and Tun Ismail should make simultaneous remarks on the terrorist activities over the week-end. The Malaysian Government has, in the past, tended to play down the seriousness of the threat, although curfews and security operations have continued almost non-stop. It could be that the Government wants to warn Pe-

king that it will not let up on the anti-Communist fight, despite its diplomatic and trade moves towards a detente with China.

At the same time, forecasts of Western measures to come could be taken as a warning to Malaysian Chinese not to get carried away by the Government’s keen interest in ping-pong diplomacy.

Tun Razak said yesterday that security forces had uncovered a major terrorist