British Military Perspectives on the Communist Threat in Sarawak, Borneo, 1962–1966

In the early 1960s, as the Federation of Malaysia was being established, Britain joined Southeast Asian allies in an undeclared war in Borneo against Indonesia. This struggle was waged most visibly on the borders of Malaysian Borneo, notably in the state of Sarawak, but the British military was ever mindful of the internal threat from a growing communist network. This aspect of the 1962–1966 “Confrontation” has largely gone unstudied; historiography has focused on the external conflict. While the military was not central to the campaign against internal subversion, its assessment of the problem is central to a real understanding of the campaign as a whole.