Abstract
Between the return of the British to Malaya in September 1945 and introduction of the Malayan Union in 1946 they created a new, multilayered, intelligence apparatus in the region. At its centre, at least in terms of Malaya, was the newly created Malayan Security Service. The next level was Security Intelligence Far East, the Security Service’s regional clearing house. Finally strategic assessment and oversight was provided by the Joint Intelligence Committee (Far East). This chapter reviews how officials came to create this intelligence apparatus. Conceptually, much could be traced back to precedent created in the Second World War. However, the foundations provided by South East Asia Command proved infirm and not capable of withstanding the many pressures and demands generated in region in the immediate post-war period.
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Notes
- 1.
C. Bayly and T. Harper, Forgotten Wars—The End of Britain’s Asian Empire (London 2008), p. 101.
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
L. Comber, Malaya’s Secret Police 1945–60—The Role of the Special Branch in the Malayan Emergency (Singapore 2008), p. 27. See also L. Comber, “Traitor of All Traitors—Secret Agent Extraordinaire: Lai Tek, Secretary General, Communist Party of Malaya (1939–1947)”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 83: 1 (December 2010), pp. 1–25; Cheah Boon Kheng, Red Star Over Malaya, Resistance and Social Conflict During and After the Japanese Occupation of Malaya (Singapore 2012), pp. 83–101.
- 4.
R. Aldrich, The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence (London 2006), p. 495.
- 5.
C.C. Chin and K. Hack, eds., Dialogues with Chin Peng : New Light on the Malayan Communist Party (Singapore 2004), p. 100.
- 6.
WO 203/6236, Survey of Co-ordination Within the Territories of South East Asia, 18 July 1946.
- 7.
P. Davies, “The SIS Singapore Station and the Role of the Far East Controller: Secret Intelligence Structure and the Process in Post-war Colonial Administration”, Intelligence and National Security, 14: 4 (1999), pp. 105–129.
- 8.
L/WS/1/734, JIC (46) 105, Organisation of Intelligence in South East Asia—Report by the Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee, 9 December 1946.
- 9.
Ibid., JP (47) 68 CoS, Joint Planning Staff—British Defence Committee in South East Asia, 26 July 1946.
- 10.
DO 35/2272, CoS (48) 221, British Defence Co-ordination Committee, Far East and British Defence Co-ordination Committee, Middle East—Revised Terms of Reference, 22 December 1948.
- 11.
CAB 81/125, Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee, Conference on Co-ordination of Intelligence in the Far East, Minutes of Meeting held between 8 September and 14 September 1944.
- 12.
WO 203/6236, Survey of Co-ordination Within the Territories of South East Asia, 18 July 1946.
- 13.
WO 203/6236, DOI—Future Intelligence Organisation in South East Asia, 17 August 1946.
- 14.
L/WS/1/174, Cabinet Offices to SEAC, December 1946.
- 15.
Davies, Machinery of Spying, p. 192; Bayly and Harper, Forgotten Wars, pp. 216 and 279.
- 16.
L/WS/1/174, Directive to the Central Intelligence Staff, Singapore.
- 17.
Ibid.
- 18.
L/WS/1/734, Cabinet Office to SEAC, 9 December 1946.
- 19.
CO 537/2653, Note by JIC Secretary entitled, “Composition and Functions of JIC (Far East)”, Appendix A, JIC (FE) to JIC (London), 17 January 1948.
- 20.
Ibid.
- 21.
Ibid.
- 22.
C. Andrew, The Defence of the Realm (London 2010), pp. 129–130; P. Davies, Intelligence and Government in the Britain and the United States, Vol. 2: Evolution of the UK Intelligence Community (Santa Barbara 2012), p. 21.
- 23.
CAB 163/3, “The Intelligence Machine”, Report to the Joint Intelligence-Committee, 10 January 1945; See Davies, Intelligence and Government in Britain and the United States, Vol. 2, p. 123.
- 24.
WO 204/8564, Joint Intelligence Committee Middle East, Charter, March 1944.
- 25.
CO 537/2653, JIC (48) 10, Review of the Intelligence Organisation in the Far East—Report by the Joint Intelligence Committee: Annex—Draft Charter for the Joint Intelligence Committee (Far East), 15 June 1948.
- 26.
Davies, Intelligence and Government in Britain and the United States, Vol. 2, pp. 142–143.
- 27.
FO 371/24715, Telegram from the Foreign Office to Various UK Territories in the Middle East, dated January 1941.
- 28.
Brigadier Oswald ‘Jasper’ Hawker replaced Sir Vernon Kell as Director of the Security Service in June 1940. He was replaced by Sir David Petrie in 1941 but stayed on as the Deputy Director General.
- 29.
See KV 4/442, a note by A.S. Jelf, 13 November 1940 and an unsigned letter by Harker, 21 January 1941.
- 30.
KV 4/18. In July 1941, the Security Service decided to raise the status of Section A. 5, which dealt with Overseas Administration, to that of a section responsible directly to the Director of A Division.
- 31.
KV 4/442, Extract from Report by O.C. to D.G dated 8 June 1943 on the Development and Future Needs of Overseas Control.
- 32.
Ibid., untitled report by O.C., dated 25 October 1943.
- 33.
Geoffrey Denham was a businessman with interests in Java. In May 1941, he was despatched to Singapore to conduct a review of SIS organisation in the Far East and subsequently became the first SIS regional director. See R. Aldrich, “Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service in Asia During the Second World War”, Modern Asian Studies, 32: 1 (1998), p. 188; P. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying (2004), p. 130; P. Davies, “The SIS Singapore Station and the Role of the Far East Controller”, Intelligence and National Security, 14: 4 (1999), p. 113.
- 34.
KV 4/442, Denham to Petrie, 22 December 1943.
- 35.
Ibid., Draft Minute to the DDG, undated.
- 36.
Sir David Petrie was Director General of the Security Service from 1941 to 1946.
- 37.
KV 4/442, Petrie to Gater, 17 February 1944. See also Note of Lord Swinton’s discussion with Sir George Cater, 1 August 1944. See also Extract from personal letter to the Director-General from Lt. Col. G.J. Jenkins, DSO Egypt, dated 22 September 1944.
- 38.
Ibid., Gater to Petrie, 17 July 1944.
- 39.
Ibid., A report by Mr. Denham entitled, “Post-war MI5 Organisation”, 22 December 1943.
- 40.
Ibid., Draft Minute to the DDG, undated.
- 41.
Ibid., Sir John Stephenson to Petrie, 22 March 1944.
- 42.
Ibid., Draft Letter from Petrie to Stephenson, 13 February 1946.
- 43.
Ibid., Extract from Report by O.C. to D.G dated 8 June 1943 on the Development and Future Needs of Overseas Control.
- 44.
Ibid., Petrie to Gater, 17 February 1944.
- 45.
Ibid., Extract from Report by O.C. to D.G dated 8 June 1943 on the Development and Future Needs of Overseas Control.
- 46.
Ibid., Petrie to Gater, 17 February 1944.
- 47.
Ibid., Minute 88, OC to DG, dated 16 December 1944.
- 48.
Ibid., Minute 93, DA to DDG, dated 21 December 1944; Minute 94 from DDG to DG, dated 21 December 1944; Minute 95 from DG to DDG, dated 22 December 1944.
- 49.
Ibid., Petrie to Gater, 22 June 1944.
- 50.
Ibid., Gater to Petrie, 17 July 1944.
- 51.
Ibid., Petrie to Gater, 2 June 1944.
- 52.
Ibid., Petrie to Gater, 20 April 1946. See also R. Arditti, “Security Intelligence Middle East (SIME): Joint Security Intelligence Operations in the Middle East, c. 1939–58”, Intelligence and National Security, 31: 3 (2016), pp. 369–396.
- 53.
FO 371/24715, The Far Eastern Combined Intelligence Bureau, a report by J. Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence, 30 March 1940.
- 54.
R. Aldrich, Intelligence and the War Against Japan (Cambridge 2000), p. 370. Aldrich notes that, amongst other responsibilities, the CICB tasked Intelligence Assault Units—see HS 1/329 and WO 203/5050.
- 55.
Courtenay Young had distinguished career in the Security Service, not least as the first SLO with ASIO, H/SIFE, and the head of ‘B’ Section.
- 56.
WO 203/5038, “Control and Organization of the Security Service in Overseas Theatres”, HQ SACSEA to Secretary, C of S Committee, 2 January 1946.
- 57.
Ibid.
- 58.
KV 4/442, Petrie to Gater, 20 February 1946.
- 59.
Rhodes House Library, MSS Ind. Ocn. S254, memorandum from Dalley to Ralph Hone, 13 July 1948.
- 60.
Ibid. See also CO 537/2647, Sillitoe to Lloyd, 17 December 1947. See also the introduction to the first Fortnightly Political Intelligence Journal , 01/46 (30 April 1946), MSS Ind. Ocn. S251. These documents cast doubt on Comber’s assertion, which is echoed by Sinclair, that the MSS was formed before the Second World War.
- 61.
Introduction to the first Fortnightly Political Intelligence Journal , 01/46 (30 April 1946), MSS Ind. Ocn. S251.
- 62.
FCO 141/14360, MSS Charter, c. 16 October 1946.
- 63.
For instance, see ibid., MSS Draft Charter, 27 August 1946; also, Minutes of Meeting Between Malayan Police and SIFE on 2 September 1946; MSS Charter, c. 16 October 1946.
- 64.
Ibid., MSS Charter, c. 16 October 1946.
- 65.
A. Short, The Communist Insurrection in Malaya (London 1975), p. 80.
- 66.
MSS Ind. Ocn. S251, Fortnightly Political Intelligence Journal , 01/46 (30 April 1946).
- 67.
Ibid.
- 68.
A. Lau, The 83-Controversy, 1942–1948 (Oxford 1991).
- 69.
MSS Ind. Ocn. S251, Fortnightly Political Intelligence Journal , 01/46 (30 April 1946).
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Arditti, R.C. (2019). Creating a New Intelligence Apparatus in the Far East. In: Counterinsurgency Intelligence and the Emergency in Malaya. Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16695-3_3
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