Briggs Plan

[1] To achieve this a large programme of forced resettlement of Malayan peasantry was undertaken, under which about 500,000 people (roughly 10% of Malaya's population) were forcibly transferred from their land and moved to concentration camps euphemistically referred to as "new villages".

Some New Villages were equipped with amenities, such as electricity and piped water, and had a perimeter surrounded with fencing and armed guards to keep the civilians from escaping, many of whom had been in the MCP or had been forced to provide assistance.

However, critics argue[citation needed] that the homogenous nature of New Villages, with the few multiracial ones eventually failing or turning into ghettoes, worked against that goal, but accentuated communalist fervour and causing ethnic polarisation, especially in politics, as electoral constituencies would now be delineated more along racial lines.

The Malaysian Chinese were sometimes targeted for collective punishment, preventive detention and summary deportation, which were aimed at weeding out communist supporters, and the Malays were incensed at the infrastructure provided for the New Villages since their own settlements had remained undeveloped.

[12][13] One example collective punishment came from Tanjung Malim, where the British put the civilian population on rice rations to stop them from supporting the communist guerrillas.