in September would have been more propitious for a putsch.18 Although the communist
force at the end of the war amounted to only 5,000 fighters, it was well equipped and
looked forward to support from, firstly, significant numbers of Japanese soldiers who were
reluctant to lay down their arms and, secondly, Malay paramilitary organisations to whom
the Japanese regime had previously promised independence.Moreover, the returning British
discovered that control over rural areas depended on the communists’ co-operation.