Malayan Races Liberation Army

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The Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA) was a combatant in the Malayan Emergency, an insurrection and guerrilla war against the British and Malayan administration from 1948-1960 in what is now Malaysia.

The MRLA was a guerrilla force created by the Malayan Communist Party and, to some extent, led and dominated by overseas Chinese communists.

The MRLA was a successor of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army, another guerrilla force which the British had secretly trained and equipped with arms during World War II in the fight against the Japanese Occupation. The Communist Party, which had been banned in the pre-war years, was thereafter granted legal recognition by the British after the war as a reward for its wartime effort, but had secretly kept most of the MPAJA's weapons for future clandestine use.