The whole of SE Asia looked like it would fall to the communists like a pack of dominos I have signed up in support of the campaign to recognise soldiers who fought in Malaya during the 'Emergency' of the 1950s.
The Malaya Emergency has been called a forgotten conflict and it was not technically a war. However it was hugely significant and the Royal Hampshire Regiment played an important part.
The Malaya veterans kept the country free and paved the way for peaceful democratic independence. The conflict was also of great strategic importance during the Cold War. It came off the back of the ‘fall’ of China to communism and the Korean War and also took place during the early years of the conflict in French Indo China, what was to become Vietnam. There was a real fear at the time that the whole of South East Asia would fall like dominos to the communists. These local soldiers were therefore on the front line against the advance of communism in the early days of the Cold War and we owe them a great debt of gratitude.
The Malaysian Government has awarded the rosette to veterans who fought after independence. It strikes me as an unfair technicality that the veterans who served pre independence should not be similarly honoured.
No comments:
Post a Comment