Remembering Australian service in the Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Confrontation
On 31 August each year we commemorate Malaya and Borneo Veterans’ Day and remember those who served in the Malayan Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation.
Lasting some 13 years, Australia’s involvement in the Malayan Emergency was one of our longest continuous military commitments during the 20th century.
The Malayan Emergency was declared on 16 June 1948 when Malayan Communist Party guerrillas murdered three estate managers in Perak state, beginning an insurgency against the British colonial government. Australian involvement began when Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) transports, bombers and personnel arrived in Singapore in 1950.
The Emergency was declared officially over on 31 July 1960, although Australian troops conducted anti-insurgency operations until August 1962 and remained in what was by then Malaysia until 1963. Thirty-nine Australians lost their lives during the Emergency, and a further 27 were wounded.
The Indonesian Confrontation began in 1962 and was a small-scale undeclared war between Indonesia and Malaysia. The Confrontation was a result of Indonesian attempts to disable and destroy the newly independent state of Malaysia.
In March 1965, the first Australian infantry arrived in Borneo and were involved in several operations. However, because cross-border operations were conducted in secret, the Confrontation received very little coverage in the Australian press at the time, and for years after.
Indonesia and Malaysia signed a peace treaty in Bangkok in August 1966, ending the conflict.
Twenty-three Australians had lost their lives.
Today we acknowledge and commemorate the service and sacrifice of all those who served in both the Malayan Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation, and the more than 60 Australians who lost their lives during these conflicts.