Physcological Warfare
( Malayan Police Magazine 1953)
During the Emergency extensive use was made of leaflet drops from aircraft and voice broadcasts, also,generally, from the air, leaflets were in two broad categories, General and Specific. On the left below is an example of a General leaflet (signed by Lt.Gen. Sir G.K.Bourne, Director of Operations 1954/56) spelling out how to surrender, the advantages of surrendering including monetary rewards for weapons surrendered, offers of help in re-entering the civil community and the promise of repatriation to China for those who wished it, the generous surrender terms offered caused some adverse comment amongst the Malayan community. General leaflets were dropped on a regular basis over all the jungle areas. Specific leaflets were produced based on intelligence gathered from surrendered enemy personnel (S.E.Ps.), captured documents and other sources and aimed at individual enemy units and persons within those units and dropped over areas were they were believed to be. For example interrogation of an SEP revealing a high incidence of illness in his unit would produce a leaflet criticising the Communist hierachy for not providing medicines and pointing out the long term consequences of untreated malaria, beri beri, rheumatic fever and other illnesses acquired as a result of jungle life and poor food.Kills by security forces were also proclaimed by leaflet as shown by the one on the right below which records the deaths of thirteen insurgents in a particular area between 1950 to 1954. Sometimes leaflet drops were used in conjunction with voice broadcasts when surrender points were being organised, the message broadcast and repeated in the leaflets was that on a certain date a bright light would be shown at a certain point on the jungle edge where a reception party would be waiting .It was also common practice in rural areas for bodies of Communists killed in operations to be placed on view out side Police Stations for a short time for the local villagers to view.
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