The Malayan Emergency: General Templer and the Kinta Valley Home Guard, 1952-1954

Abstract

This is an account of the Kinta Valley Home Guard (KVHG), which played a vital role in protecting Chinese tin mines in the Kinta Valley in Perak from the attacks of the communist insurgents during the first Malayan Emergency. The Kinta Valley, covering some 1035 square kilometres, was one of the richest tin-mining areas in Malaya, and accounted for the major part of Malaya's tin exports to the USA, the revenue from which was one of the most important sources of US dollars in the British colonial empire. The KVHG, which was established by the Perak Chinese Tin Mining Association, was unique in that it had the personal backing and support of General Sir Gerald Templer, High Commissioner and Director of Operations, Malaya, who paid close attention to its development. General Templer's decision to support the KVHG was controversial at the time, and the KVHG was often described as a private 'Chinese Army', especially as many of its members were known to have Kuomintang connections. Colonel H. S. Lee (subsequently Tun Colonel Sir Henry Hau Sik Lee) was closely associated with the KVHG, and this paper makes use of, for the first time, his private papers that have been deposited with the ISEAS (Institute of SE Asian Studies) Library, Singapore.