Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army | |
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馬來亞人民抗日軍 Tentera Anti-Jepun Penduduk Tanah Melayu | |
Leaders | Lai Teck, Chin Peng |
Dates of operation | December 1941 | – December 1945
Active regions | Japanese-occupied Malaya and Singapore |
Ideology | |
Political position | Far-left |
Size | ~6,500 (claimed); 10,000 (estimated)[1] |
Allies | United Kingdom (during Japanese occupation) |
Opponents |
|
Battles and wars | World War II |
The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a communist guerrilla army that resisted the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945 in World War II. Composed mainly of ethnic Chinese guerrilla fighters, the MPAJA was the largest anti-Japanese resistance group in Malaya. Founded during the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the MPAJA was conceived as a part of a combined effort by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the British colonial government, alongside various smaller groups to resist the Japanese occupation. Although the MPAJA and the MCP were officially different organisations, many saw the MPAJA as a de facto armed wing of the MCP due to its leadership being staffed by mostly ethnic Chinese communists.[5] Many of the ex-guerrillas of the MPAJA would later form the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and resist a return to pre-war the normality of British rule of Malaya during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960).[6]
Before 1941, the party was reported to have carried out acts of terror and violence, including assassinations of its 'enemies' who included British officials, police informers, party dissidents and members of the rival party, the Malayan Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party).
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).