ABSTRACT
On 7 September 1945, after the defeat of Japan in World War II, a young Malayan Chinese named Ch'in P'eng, aged twenty-six, took part in the Victory Parade held in London. He was there by official invitation, with a contingent of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), a communist guerrilla force he had set up. Along with other guerrillas, he had been released from custody when the Japanese began their invasion of the Malayan peninsula. As part of the victory celebration, he was presented with the Order of the British Empire. Three years later, in June 1948, Ch'm P'eng launched his MPAJA in what turned out to be a prolonged revolt against British colonial rule, known as the Emergency. In the latter stages of the prolonged Emergency, a new and effective personality played an important role in the final stages of the strangely protracted Emergency: Sir Robert Thompson.
