ABSTRACT
Within counter-insurgency doctrine, breaking the hold of the insurgent forces and re-establishing control by the authorities has generally been seen to be attempted in two stages. The first is to break contact between the insurgents and the people, while simultaneously destroying the insurgent organisa tion. The second stage is to obtain the active participation of the population against the insur gent forces. Strict population control including protected villages, curfews, martial law, food con trol, identity systems, and related measures have been traditional methods of isolating insurgents from the population. A number of these have already
been discussed in previous chapters. Local militia whereby the people are encouraged to defend themsel ves against insurgent forces is a further important element in the second stage of the counter-insur gency strategy. Normally these would be in the form of a local force within a protected village. The local population thus become responsible for their own defence. Mobile, quick-reaction Security Forces should back up this system. Both stages were succintly summarized in the four objectives of the well known Briggs plan as employed in Malaya:
a. To dominate the populated areas and to build up a feeling of complete security, which would in time result in a steady and increa sing flow of information coming from all sources.
