New village

New villages (Chinese: 新村; pinyin: Xīncūn; Malay: Kampung baru), also known as Chinese new villages (Chinese: 华人新村; pinyin: Huárén Xīncūn, Malay: Kampung baru Cina), were internment camps created during the waning days of British rule in Malaysia. These camps were originally created as part of the Briggs Plan, first implemented in 1950 to isolate guerillas from their supporters within the rural civilian populations during the Malayan Emergency. Most were surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers to stop people from escaping, with guards being ordered to kill anyone who attempted to leave outside of curfew hours.^[1]

Since the British left Malaya, many former New Villages have grown into ordinary residential towns and villages.

History

The original purpose of the New Villages in Malaya was to separate the primarily ethnic Chinese villagers from contact with the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), which as led by the Malayan Communist Party. It was part of the Briggs Plan, a military plan devised by Sir Harold Briggs shortly after his appointment in 1950 as the British military's Director of Operations in Malaya.^[2]

The plan aimed to defeat the MNLA, which was operating out of rural regions of Malaya as a guerrilla force, by cutting them off from their sources of support, mainly amongst the rural population. To this end, a massive program of forced resettlement of rural workers was undertaken, under which about 500,000 people (roughly 10% of Malaya's population) were eventually transferred from their homes and housed in guarded camps termed "New Villages". These New Villages were usually surrounded by barbed wire and sentry posts. In some cases 22-hour curfews were placed upon the populations of New Villages, such was the case in the Tanjong Malim New Village.^[3] Although most of the victims of the forced relocation and "New Villages" were ethnically Chinese, the aboriginal Orang Asli were also a target due to their homelands being in the regions frequented by the MNLA. Believing that the Orang Asli were supporting the MNLA, many of them were forcibly transferred to the New villages. However, the transfer scheme was halted when many of the Orang Asli started to die of diseases while in the new villages.^[4]

By isolating this population in the "new villages", the British were able to stem the critical flow of material, information, and recruits from peasant sympathizers to the guerrillas. The new camps were guarded by soldiers, police, and were partially fortified to stop people from escaping. This served the twofold purpose of preventing those who were so inclined from sneaking out and voluntarily aiding the guerrillas, and of preventing the guerrillas from sneaking in and extracting aid via persuasion or brute force.^{[citation needed]} Upon completion of the resettlement program, the British initiated a starvation campaign, rationing food supplies within the camps and torching rural farmlands to starve out the Communists guerrillas.^[5]

Population

During the Malayan Emergency, 450 new settlements were created and it is estimated that 470,509 people, 400,000 of them Chinese, were involved in the resettlement program. The Malaysian Chinese Association, then the Malayan Chinese Association, was initially created to address the social and welfare concerns of the populations in the new villages.^[6]

It is estimated that today, about 1.2 million people live in 450 new villages throughout Peninsular Malaysia. About 85% of the population in new villages are ethnically Chinese.

Part of a series on the
History of Malaysia
Prehistoric Malaysia Paleolithic  Lenggong Valley c. 2.000.0000 BCE  Mansuli Valley 235,000 BCE Mesolithic  Niah cultures 65,000–40,000 BCE Neolithic  Bewah man/woman 16,000 BCE  Perak man/woman 11,000–200 BCE  Neolithic Klang 500 – 200 BCE
Early kingdoms Ancient Kedah <100 BCE Chi Tu 100 BCE–642 CE Langkasuka 100 BCE–1474 CE Gangga Negara c. 100 CE–1025 Pan Pan 424–775 Old Kedah 170–1135 Old Pahang 449–1454 Srivijaya 700s–1025 Majapahit 1300s
Rise of Muslim states Kedah Sultanate 1136–present Samudera Pasai Sultanate 1267–1521 Brunei Sultanate 1368–present Malacca Sultanate 1402–1511 Sulu Sultanate 1450–1899 Pahang Sultanate 1470–1623 Aceh Sultanate 1496–1903 Pattani Sultanate 1516– 1902 Johor Sultanate 1528–present Sarawak Sultanate 1599–1641 Selangor Sultanate 1766–present Besut Kingdom 1780–1899 Setul Kingdom 1808–1916 Reman Kingdom 1810–1902 Kubang Pasu Kingdom 1839–1864
Colonial era Portuguese Malacca 1511–1641 Dutch–Portuguese War 1601–1661 Acehnese conquest of Perak 1620 Dutch Malacca 1641–1824 Pahang Kingdom 1770–1881 Straits Settlements 1786–1946 Siamese invasion of Kedah 1821–1826 Anglo-Dutch Treaty 1824 Burney Treaty 1826 Naning War 1831–1832 Kingdom of Sarawak 1841–1946 Separation of Perlis from Kedah 1843 Crown Colony of Labuan 1848–1946 Pahang Civil War 1857–1863 Larut Wars 1861–1874 Klang War 1867–1874 Pangkor Treaty 1874 Perak War 1875–1876 British Malaya / Borneo 1874–1946 Jementah Civil War 1879 North Borneo 1882–1946 Pahang Uprising 1891–1895 Mat Salleh Rebellion 1894–1905 Federated Malay States 1895–1946 Anglo-Siamese Treaty 1909 Unfederated Malay States 1909–1946 Battle of Penang 1914 Kelantan rebellion 1915
World War II Japanese occupation of Malaya / Borneo 1941–1945 Malayan campaign 1941–1942 Bornean Campaign 1941–1942 Battle of Muar 1942 Parit Sulong Massacre 1942 Battle of Singapore 1942 Sook Ching 1942 Syburi 1942 Sandakan Death Marches 1942–1945 Si Rat Malai 1943–1945 Jesselton revolt 1943–1944
Formative era BMA of Malaya/Borneo 1945–1946 Crown Colony of N. Borneo 1946–1963 Crown Colony of Sarawak 1946–1963 Anti-cession movement 1946–1963 Malayan Union 1946–1948 Federation of Malaya 1948–1963 Sungai Siput incident 1948 Malayan Emergency 1948–1960 Batang Kali massacre 1948 Bukit Kepong incident 1950 Baling Talks 1955 Malayan Independence 1957 Singapore Self-governance 1959 ISA 1960 1960–2012 Communist insurgency in Sarawak 1962–1990 North Borneo Self-governance 1963 Konfrontasi 1963–1966 Sarawak Self-governance 1963 Formation of Malaysia 1963 Singapore in Malaysia 1963–1965 ASEAN Declaration 1967 Second communist insurgency 1968–1989 13 May incident 1969 National Operations Council 1969–1971 Declaration of Rukun Negara 1970 New Economic Policy 1971–1990 Peace Agreement of Hat Yai 1989
Barisan Nasional era Federal Territory of KL 1974 1977 Kelantan Emergency 1977 Pedra Branca dispute 1979–2008 South China Sea dispute (Spratly) 1980–present Federal Territory of Labuan 1984 Memali incident 1985 Operation Lalang 1987 Constitutional crisis 1987–1988 Royal Immunity Amendments 1993 Financial crisis 1997–1998 Reformasi Movement 1998–2022 1MDB scandal 2015–present
Multi-party era Pakatan Harapan takeover 2018 COVID-19 pandemic 2020–present Political crisis 2020–2022 Bornean Amendment 2021–2023 Green Wave 2022–present
Incidents Brunei revolt 1962–1966 North Borneo dispute (Philippine militant attacks) 1962–present Singapore race riots 1964 Brunei's Limbang claim 1967–2009 Penang Hartal riot 1967 13 May Incident 1969 Ligitan and Sipadan dispute 1969–2002 Kuala Lumpur flash floods 1971 Malaysian haze crisis 1972–present AIA building hostage crisis 1975 National Monument bombing 1975 Campbell Shopping Complex fire 1976 Sabah Air GAF Nomad crash 1976 Japan Airlines Flight 715 incident 1977 MH653 incident 1977 Dawn Raid 1981 1985 Lahad Datu ambush 1985 Memali Incident 1985 Sabah Emergency 1986 Ming Court Affair 1987 Penang terminal bridge collapse 1988 Taufiqiah Al-Khairiah madrasa fire 1989 Bright Sparklers disaster 1991 Highland Towers collapse 1993 Genting landslide 1995 MH2133 incident 1995 Pos Dipang mudflow 1996 Tropical Storm Greg 1996 1998–1999 Malaysia Nipah virus outbreak 1998–1999 Al-Ma'unah incident 2000 Sauk Siege 2000 2001 Kampung Medan riots 2001 2002 Taman Hillview landslide 2002 Tsunami in Malaysia 2004 2006–2007 Southeast Asian floods 2006–2007 Bukit Gantang bus crash 2007 Bukit Antarabangsa landslide 2008 2009 swine flu pandemic in Malaysia 2009 Attacks against places of worship 2010 Cameron Highlands bus crash 2010 Hulu Langat landslide 2011 Genting Highlands bus crash 2013 MH370 incident 2014 MH17 incident 2014 2014–15 Malaysia floods 2014–2015 Sabah earthquake 2015 2015 Plaza Low Yat riot 2015 Movida Bar grenade attack 2016 Kim Jong-nam's Assassination 2017 Darul Quran madrasa fire 2017 2018 Subang Temple riot 2018 2020-21 Malaysia floods 2021 LRT train collision 2021 2021-22 Malaysia floods 2021–2022 2022 Batang Kali landslide 2022 2023 Elmina plane crash 2023 2024 Lumut helicopters crash 2024
By topic Communications Constitutional Economic Immigration Legal Military
By region Kedah Kuala Lumpur Penang George Town Sabah Sarawak
Malaysia portal
v t e

Part of a series on
History of the Cold War
Origins World War II Hiroshima and Nagasaki Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Iron Curtain
Periods Cold War (1947–1948) Cold War (1948–1953) Cold War (1953–1962) Cold War (1962–1979) Cold War (1979–1985) Cold War (1985–1991) Frozen conflicts
Related topics Arab Cold War Cold War in Asia Historiography List of related conflicts Post-Soviet conflicts Reagan Doctrine Second Cold War Timeline of events
v t e

Historical evaluation

According to British historian John Newsinger, people transferred to live in the New Villages were "effectively deprived of all civil rights".^[7] Although the majority of inhabitants were Chinese, thousands of Orang Asli were forcefully transferred to the "new villages". Historian John D. Leary in his study of the Orang Asli during the Emergency argued that the forced resettlement used to create the New Villages brought "misery, disease and death" to many Malaysians.^[8]

Notable new villages

• Jinjang
• Kampung Tengah
• Labis
• Seri Kembangan
• Gombak
• Ampang
• Jenjarom
• Buntong
• Aulong
• Pokok Assam
• Lukut
• Machang Bubok
• Machap Baru

See also

• Bantustan
• Planned community
• Slum
• Strategic Hamlet Program
• Villagization

References

External links

• (Chinese version)

2°40′N 101°46′E / 2.667°N 101.767°E / 2.667; 101.767