This is an extremely fine British 1918-1962 General Service Medal with bar “MALAYA” that is in excellent condition. The sterling silver planchet exhibits very sharp detail and has not been softened by excessive polishing. The rim is correctly named to 22769744 Pte. N. Smith. E. Yorks. It is suspended from an original section of ribbon which is solid and with vivid color. There are no edge knocks or bruises to the edge, and it remains in excellent undamaged condition.
The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought in the Federation of Malaya from 1948 until 1960. The conflict was between Commonwealth armed forces and pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military wing of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP). The war was fought over attempts by communist forces to gain independence for Malaya from the British Empire and to establish a socialist economy. The fighting spanned both the colonial period and the creation of an independent Malaya in 1957.
In June 1948 the colonial government declared a state of emergency in British Malaya after the killing of three Europeans during attacks on plantations. Under the leadership of Chin Peng, communist activists regrouped in the Malayan jungles and formed the MNLA to wage a guerrilla war against British colonial rule. Many of the MNLA fighters who fought against British colonialism were former members of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) who had been trained and funded by the British years prior to fight against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War.
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