Manchuria, China, and the Far Eastern Front

[dragoon500ly]

and in the ongoing look at the Far East, here is Malaysia on the eve of the Twilight War

Population: 14,500,000
Army: 80,000
4 division HQ (according to Military Balance, these control variable number of bdes)
9 infantry bdes (total of 36 infantry battalions)
3 cavalry regiments
4 field artillery regiments
1 APC regiment
2 AA Arty bns
1 special warfare regiment
5 engineer regiments

140 AML-series armd cars
60 Ferret scout cars
200 V-100/-150 Commando APCs
40 Condor APCs
12 5.5-inch guns
92 105mm pack hows
120 81mm mortars
40 89mm RL
100 Carl Gustav RCLs
5 120mm RCL
36 SS-11 ATGM
35 40mm AA guns
(on order, 51 Scorpion light tanks; 162 Sibmas APCs; 20 Stormer APCs, 459 Condor APCs)
Reserves:
Malaysian Territorial Army: 45,000
Local Defense Corps: 15,000

Navy: 8,700
2 frigates (1 Yarrow, 1 Type 41)
8 FAC(M)
8 FAC(G)
22 large patrol craft
2 Ton-class coastal minesweepers
2 LST
1 support ship
(on order 4 FAC(M); 4 minehunters, 1 ammunition ship)
Reserves: 1,000

Air Force: 11,000
2 FGA sqns with 14 F-5E, 4 F-5F
2 COIN-training sqns with 11 CL-41G (being replaced by A-4)
1 MR sqn with 3 PC-130H
1 tpt sqn with 6 C-130H
1 tpt sqn with 2 HS-125, 2 F-28, 12 Cessna 402B
2 tpt sqns with 15 DHC-4A
2 helo sqns with 38 S-61A
2 helo sqns with 27 Alouette III
1 training sqn with 10 Bulldog 102, 6 PC-7
1 training sqn with 7 Bell 47, 3 UH-1H helos
(on order 34 A-4S, 6 TA-4, 12 MB-339, 38 PC-7)

Paramilitary Forces:
Police Field Force: 19,000 forming 21 bns equipped with Shorland armd cars, SB-301 APCs, 40 small patrol boats, 4 Cessna 206, 1 C-130H, 1 HS-125M.
People's Volunteer Corps: 350,000

Strategic problems facing Malaysia are (1) the ethnic division of the population, especially between ethnic Chinese and Malays; (2) dangers of a revival of insurgency particularly by ethnic Chinese; (3) the long air-sea lines of communications (roughly 400 miles by air) between peninsular West Malaysia and insular East Malaysia (the states of Sarawak and Sabah in Borneo).

Political power in Malaysia traditionally has been in Malay hands, while economic power has been held by others, chiefly the Chinese, who nearly equal in numbers to the Malay in West Malaysia. From time to time, ethnic violence between the two groups threatens to erupt over imagined or real grievances. The largest outbreak occurred in 1969 leading to a state of emergency that lasted until 1971 and the danger of renewed violence always lurks close to the surface. The ethnic split extends into the military, where the Royal Malay Regiment recruits exclusively among Malay.

During the 1947-1960 Communist insurgency, most of the insurgents where ethnic Chinese. The remnants of the insurgents retreated north of the Thai border in 1959-60 and they have been recruiting, training and conducting propaganda efforts since. The terrorist groups now contain large numbers of ethnic Malay and Chinese recruited and based in Thailand. Cooperation between Malaysian military and police and various Thai authorities has been less than satisfactory from Malaysia's perspective, although combined operations in 1977-78 did succeed in penetrating long-time insurgent base areas. The People's Republic of China continues to support the Communist Party of Malaya, mostly through propaganda, although the PRC's government has declared the Malaysian insurgency an internal problem of the Malaysian government.

East Malaysia has generally presented no major problems since the end of the confrontation with Indonesia in 1966. Small, isolated bands of terrorists near the Sarawak-Kalimantan boundary have limited mischief value. The issue of Sabah has caused diplomatic problems with the Philippines but is not likely to lead to open conflict.

Currently, Malaysia is fully responsible for its own security, although Australia and New Zealand maintains a small military advisory group.

Malaysia is a member of the Five-Power Defense Pact. It is also a member of ASEAN.

[dragoon500ly]

The Republic of Singapore on the eve of the Twilight War...the Military Balance series and the Almanac of World Military Power are the sources.

Population: 2,500,000
Army: 45,000
1 armd bde
3 inf bdes
6 arty bns
1 commando bn
6 engineer bns

273 AMX-13 light tanks
720 M-113 APCs
250 V-150/-200 Commando APCs
36 155mm towed hows
100 60mm mortars
80 81mm mortars
50 120mm mortars
20 89mm RL
200 Carl Gustav RCLs
90 106mm RCLs
40 20mm AA guns
30 40mm AA guns
Reserves: 150,000 forming 2 armd divs, 18 infantry bns, 1 commando bn, 9 arty bns, and 6 engineer bns.

Navy: 4,500
9 FAC(M)
3 large patrol craft
12 Swift-class small patrol craft
2 coastal minesweepers
6 LST, 6 LCVP
(on order 3 FAC(M))

Air Force: 6,000
2 FGA sqns with 41 A-4S/S1, 6 TA-4S
2 FGA sqns with 21 Hunter FGA-74, 7 Hunter FR-74S, 4 Hunter T-75S
1 interceptor sqn with 24 F-5E, 3 F-5F
1 tpt/SAR sqn with 8 C-130B/H, 6 Skyvan
2 helo sqns with 36 UH-1B/H, 3 AB-212, 6 AS-350B
1 training sqn with 18 BAC-167, 6 Jet Provost (nonoperational ?)
1 training sqn with 11 SF-260W, 12 SF-260MS
1 training sqn with 20 T-33A
1 SAM sqn with 28 Bloodhound II
1 SAM sqn with 10 Rapier
1 SAM sqn with 6 IHAWK
1 SAM sqn with 12 RBS-70
(on order 71 A-4S [being rebuilt])

Paramilitary Forces:
Police/Marine Police: 7,500; 10 small patrol craft
People's Defense Force: 30,000

At independence in 1965, Singapore had virtually no defense forces. The Singapore Regiment had more foreigner on its roles than Singaporeans. Since then, the government has taken energetic steps to build up its armed forces and replace expatriates with native Singaporeans. This is a deliberate policy to use the services as a means of integrating the diverse ethnic strains of the population.

Under the Five-Power Defense Pact, a New Zealand Army battalion (less one company) and a Royal Australian Air Force flight are maintained on station in Singapore. Units of the New Zealand and Australian navies call at Singapore from time to time and they, along with forces stationed in the republic, carry out combined maneuvers.

It is difficult to consider the defense of Singapore separate from the defense of Malaysia. However, the circumstances surrounding Singapore's secession from Malaysia, as well as other factors have limited cooperation between the armed forces of the two states. Singapore has pursued defense policies designed to demonstrate the credibility of going it alone, while, at the same time, it maintains a close watch on security matters in West Malaysia.

Limited training areas have hampered the armed services, especially the army. At one time, army units were deployed to Taiwan for battalion-level training, but this has been halted. Talks are currently being held about the feasibility of using training areas in the Philippines.

Singapore is a member of the Five-Power Defence Pact that includes Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Singapore also belongs to ASEAN. It is considered to be very likely that Singapore would enter into a regional security arrangement if this should prove feasible.

[dragoon500ly]

Looking over the numbers for Singapore and the South Korea...its hard to guess who has a stronger military, as a percentage of the overall population....