Turning Point

Unlike nearby IndoChina's war, Malaya's fight against Communist terrorists was going great guns. Reported Britain's General Sir Gerald Templer: "We're beginning to get the shooting under control." Able General Templer had methodically totted up statistics to prove his case. The shooting score: back in June 1951, an average of 20 incidents each day; in the first half of this month, an average of four a day. In the four-year war 3,514 Reds had been killed, 965 captured, and 827 had surrendered. In the same period the Reds had killed 2,123 civilians, wounded 1,262, probably kidnaped or killed 600 others reported missing.

For the first time there were fewer terrorist acts than police actions against the terrorists, and recent skirmishes showed that the Reds are short of arms. Such items, said General Templer, mark the turning point in Malaya's war. A possible reason for the decline: Moscow had ordered the Reds to drop terrorism, concentrate on winning the Malayan people.

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