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.