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The First Battallion The Manchester Regiment: Part 5 - Resettlement Chui Chak New Village, Bidor

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Subject :The First Battallion the Manchester Regiment: Part 5 - Resettlement Chui Chak New Village, Bidor
Published By : None 
Location : Perak
Estimated Year : 1951
Media Type : Photograph
Source : Tom Turnbull & John Harding,
Remark : The establishment of 'New Villages' known as the Briggs' Plan was a military plan devised by British General Sir Harold Briggs shortly after his appointment in 1950 as Director of Operations in the anti-communist war in Malaya. The plan called for the resettlement of Malaya’s Chinese population to new areas so that the Communist would be cut off from their main sources of supply. 450 new settlements were created in this process and it is estimated that 400,000 Chinese were resettled to New Villages.

From left to right the photographs show:

  • Cleared land in Chui Chak to be used as a New Village, the thatched hut in background must have been a house that belonged to the occupants who had worked the land before it was cleared.

  • Chinese villagers inside a wire enclosure; they are possiblywaiting for plots of land to be issued to them. Note the baggage they have with them, it most likely contains all the possessions that they have in the world.

  • The New Villages had checkpoints for entry and exit; in addition anyone could be stopped and checked inside or outside the villages. Here two members of the Manchester Regiment are examining the identity of a local outside the perimeter of a New Village. Part of the process of beating the communists included issuing identity cards to all Malayans which enabled the security forces to determine the details of everybody at all times.
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    To read more about The Briggs Plan / New Villages, click here.

    To go to Part 6, click here.

    Filename : 20100224-004