DTIC ADA229809: The Role and Mission of the Military in a Post-Colonial Developing Nation: A Study of the Malaysian Armed Forces, 1970-1983.

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The Role and Mission of the Military
in a Post-Colonial, Developing Nation:
A Study of the Malaysia Armed Forces, 1970-1983.
Major Stephen C. Ball
R E PCRT N.L E
Headquarters
Department of the Army
ODCS OP S
ATTN: DAMO
-SSF
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REPORT NUM6E=R
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SP-'EMENACARY N.C7ES
Thesis was submitted as part of requirements for completion of a Masters of
Arts in Asian Studies at Cornell University. Graduate study was part of
Foreign Area Officer (FAO) training.
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This thesis looks critically at the role and mission of the armed forces in
developing, post-colonial nations in Southeast Asia, specifically, Malaysia.
The argument is, essentially, that the military and other coercive institu-
tions should be viewed not so much for their martial characteristics, but
more for their social, political, and economic institution-building attri-
butes. This notion has been argued previously, however, whenever Malaysia's
post-colonial development was discussed, the role of the military has been
down played. This is attributable to the apolitical nature of the Malaysian
Armed Forces. I argue, however, that there is a paradigm for development of
these nations, Malaysia included, and that in this paradigm the military is
not only prominant, buL is essential for political stability, social
mobility, and economic prosperity.-'-
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Malaysia--Armed Forces--Government--Hlistory1&PIECE
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UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIU UNC ___________ :~-.-~--~-:- -~-a-
THE ROLE AND MISSION OF THE MILITARY
IN A POST-COLONIAL, DEVELOPING NATION:
A STUDY OF THE MALAYSIAN ARMED FORCES, 1970-1983
A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Cornell University
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts
Accso, Fr
Statement "A" per telecon Maj. Jill L, '"
Uhisker. Total Army Personnel Command/ .
TAPC-OPB-D. 200 Stovall. Alexandria, VA j-._1
22332-0411.
VHG 11/29/90 Bjyja a,%, rA O
by
Stephen C. Ball ...... ...
January 1991
f-)
© Stephen C. Ball 1991
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ABSTRACT
The institution of the armed forces has played a (if not the) prominent role
in the social, political, and economic development of post-colonial Southeast
Asia since World War Two. In fact, in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and
Burma, the armed forces still manage, control and/or significantly influence
their respective state political and economicaf bureaucracies. The armed
forces in Malaysia, however, did not become the political or economic force
that other Southeast Asian militaries did - this difference served as the germ
from which this study evolved.
For comparative purposes, the focus of this thesis concerns the militaries
of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Each country experienced similar
phases of development after attainment of independence. Initially, each
country witnessed a dramatic change in leadership precipitated or followed by
some sort of national emergency - the attempted coup d'etat in Indonesia,
Martial Law in the Philippines, and the violent communal riots in Malaysia ,n
May 1969.
Throughout the 1970's each country's military grew in manpower and
strength, however only Malaysia's military maintained an apolitical status. This
fact is all the more intriguing when one realizes that Malaysia spent a higher
percentage of her national budget and maintained a significantly higher
soldiers per citizen ratio than either Indonesia or the Philippines throughout the
70's.
With the backdrop of the Communist insurgency and the May 13th Riots,
security and restoration of order became cornerstones of state-building in
Malaysia. Within this context the New Economic Policy was drafted and by the
late 1970's, Malaysia became a new economic power in ASEAN, Southeast
Asia, and the world. Security and restoration of order became the implied and
explicit tasks of the Malaysia Armed Forces, and was eventually articulated into
the policy of KESBAN - an acronym for keselamatan (security) and
pembangunan (development) - or the military's war of national development.
I contend that in Malaysia the military was as integral (if not more so) to
national development as were the militaries in Indonesia or the Philippines.
This deviates from the traditional notion that Malaysia's social, political, and
economic advances occurred without military involvement, while most other
Southeast Asian countries advanced under the watchful eye of military
generals. It was Malaysia's military, though, that enabled the New Economic
Policy to succeed. The military guarded against a reoccurrence of May 1969;
defended Malay hegemony, and thus the national leadership; and, within the
institutional infrastructure of the military, the military provided a means for
social, political, and economic advancement of Malays.
Therefore, the military in Malaysia, as in the other post-colonial nations in
Southeast Asia, should be viewed and understood within the context of its role
and mission in the overall state-building process and not merely as the
coercive arm or protector of the state.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Stephen Carter Ball is a major in the United States Army. He received his
Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maine at Oronr in History in 1977. He
was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps and has served
as a platoon leader in the Federal Republic of Germany; was a member of a
select study group in Augusta, Georgia; an advisor to Reserve and National
Guard units in Utah, Idaho and Montana; and Signal Company Commander in
Tacoma, Washington. He graduated from the Defense Language Institute's
Basic Indonesian Course in 1989.
iii
DEDICATION
This is dedicated to Allane, Ben, and Jonathan, without whom I would not
be in this position today.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My academic pursuits at Cornell would not have been as successful or
nearly as productive if it were not for Olin library, its staff (in particular, John
Badgley, curator of the Echols Collection ), and the faculty of the Southeast
Asia Program. I am especially indebted to Professors Takashi Shiraishi and
David K. Wyatt for their timely guidance and accurate critiques; often providing
the exact remedy when all seemed lost. I also thank fellow SEAP graduate
students, particularly Yang Sam and Kimo Gabriel, for the intellectual
stimulation, support and friendship.
V
TABLE OF'CONTENTS
LIST OF GRAPHS ...................................................................... viii
LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................... ix
Chapter One INTRODUCTION................................................... 1
Chapter Two BIRTH OF AN ARMED FORCE, 1933-1968.......... 10
The Police as a Combat Power .................................................. 11
The Army ............................................................................. 15
The Royal Malaysian Navy ........................................................ 19
The Royal Malaysian Air Force ................................................... 20
Malaysian ization.................................................................... 23
Konfrontasi .......................................................................... 25
The British Withdrawal-Malaysia Becomes a Regional Player........... 32
Conclusion .......................................................................... 40
Chapter Three THE TUMULTUOUS PERIOD, 1969-1970 ......... 42
A Period of Transition.............................................................. 44
The May 13th Riots................................................................. 51
The State Policy is Formed ....................................................... 57
The Role of the Armed Forces ................................................... 60
Conclusion .......................................................................... 63
Chapter Four IN SUPPORT OF DEVELOPMENT, 1970-1983 ...65
Barisan Nasional.................................................................... 70
A New Era of Development....................................................... 74
The Insurgency ..................................................................... 77
The Modernization and Expansion Program .................................. 87
Becoming a Conventional Force ................................................. 91
Vi