441. Editorial Note
By 1955 British and Malayan forces in the Federation of Malaya were in the final stages of a war to suppress a Communist insurgency movement. A state of emergency, establishing special police powers to combat terrorism, had been in effect since June 17, 1948. Singapore, a separate but related administrative unit within the British Empire, also adopted emergency regulations in 1948 to combat the threat of Communist insurgents. United States policy, as outlined in NSC 5405, adopted on January 16, 1954, was to “support the British in their measures to eradicate communist guerrilla forces and restore order.” (For text of NSC 5405, “United States Objectives and Courses of Action With Respect to Southeast Asia,” see Foreign Relations, 1952–1954, volume XII, Part 1, page 366.) The progressive success of the British campaign to eliminate the Communist guerrilla forces in Malaya led to a change of Communist tactics and created growing concern within the United States Government that Communist subversion in the schools and labor unions of Singapore and Malaya would succeed where Communist terrorism had failed.