Draft:Ibans in the Malayan Emergency

• Comment: It's not clear why this requires a separate article, rather than being incorporated into the Malayan Emergency one, where the subject is already mentioned? DoubleGrazing (talk) 12:18, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

---

During the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) the British Empire hired 1,000s of mercenaries hailing from the Iban people (a subgroup of the Dayak people) of Borneo to fight against the Malayan National Liberation Army. During their service they were widely praised for their junglebushcraft skills. Though their military effectiveness and behaviour during the war has been brought into question.

Their deployment received a large amount of both positive and negative attention in British media. They were also responsible for a number of attrocities, most notably the decapitation and scalping of suspected pro-independence guerrillas. Photographs of this practice were leaked in 1952, sparking the British Malayan headhunting scandal. In 1953 most Ibans in Malaya joined the reformed Sarawak Rangers, transitioning them from mercenaries into regular soldiers.

According to a former member of the Sarawak Rangers, Ibans served with at least 42 seperate battalions in the Malayan Emergency belonging to either British or Commonwealth militaries.

Deployment

Main article: Malayan Emergency

Iban mercenaries were first deployed to British Malaya by the British Empire to fight in the Malayan Emergency on the 8 August where they served Ferret Force. Many were motivated to fight with the hope that they could collect the heads and scalps of their enemies.

Their deployment was supported by the British politician Arthur Creech Jones, then serving as the Secretary of State for the Colonies who agreed to deploy Ibans to the Malayan Emergency for 3 months. Amid rumours that the Iban mercenaries they deployed were practiced headhunters, all Ibans serving with the British were removed from British Malaya and quietely redeployed in 1949 and served for the entirety of the war until its end in 1960.

Some historians have argued that the British military's use of Ibans stemmed from stereotypes that "primative" people enjoyed a closer relationship with nature than Europeans. Others have argued that the British army's deployment and treatment of the Ibans during the Malayan Emergency reflected the British military's history fetishising what they percieved as 'martial races'.

Reception in British media

The deployment of Iban mercenaries recruited to fight in the Malayan Emergency was a widely publicised topic in the British press. Many newspapers articles contained titles refering to the Iban cultural practice of headhunting and contained articles fetishising Ibans as violent and primative while being friendly towards white Europeans. While many newspaper articles incorrectly argued that Ibans deployed to Malaya were no longer headhunters, others put forward arguments that Ibans in Malay ashould openly be allowed to decapitate and scalp members of the MNLA.

Headhunting controversy

Main article: British Malayan headhunting scandal

During the Malayan Emergency it was common for Iban mercenaries to kill and decapitate suspected pro-independence fighters of the MNLA. Ibans were allowed to keep the scalps and hair, and in some cases the entire heads. These attrocities became common during the Malayan Emergency and were eventually exposed by the British communist newspaper the Daily Worker (Morning Star) where it sparked a political scandal known as the British Malayan headhunting scandal.

Military effectiveness

The Iban mercenaries deployed to Malaya were widely praised for their jungle bushcraft skills, although some British and Commonwealth officers found that Ibans were outperformed in this role by recruits from Africa and certain parts of the Commonwealth. The behaviour of Iban mercenaries serving in Malaya was also the subject of criticism, as some Iban recruits were found to have looted corpses and others had threatened their commanding officers with weapons. Due to fears of racial tensions with ethnic Malays the Iban mercenaries that Britian deployed to Malaya were denied access to automatic weapons.

There were also communication difficulties as virtually all the Iban recruits in Malaya were illeterate and most British troops serving alongside them had no prior experience with Asian languages. Some Iban mercenaries refused to go on patrol after receving bad omens in their dreams. Iban society had no social classes making it difficult for them to adhere to military ranks. Some Royal Marines complained that their Iban allies were inaccurate with firearm, and Ibans would be both the victim and perpetrator of an unusual ammount of friendly fire incidents. The first Iban casualty of the war was a man called Jaweng ak Jugah who was shot dead after being mistaken for a "communist terrorist".

Awards and decorations

Photograph of a George Cross

Main articles: List of recipients of the George Medal, 1950s and List of George Cross recipients

At the beginning of the Malayan Emergency, the Ibans serving the British were classified as civilians and were thus awarded British and Commonwealth medals reserved for civilians. In one example, the Iban mercenary Awang anak Raweng, was awarded the George Cross in 1951 after he allegedly repelled an attack of 50 MNLA guerrillas. Another example is Menggong anak Panggit who was awarded the George Medal in 1953.

In 1953 Ibans in Malaya were given their own regiment, the Sarawak Rangers. Many would go onto fight during the Second Malayan Emergency.