Reasons For Japanese Invasion Of Malaya

The root of their success not only lies in their well trained soldiers but also in their use of bicycles enabling them to travel through jungles towards the south of malaya in a short amount of time.

Reasons for japanese invasion of malaya. The japanese wanted the support of indians in malaya to support freeing india from british rule while ethnic malays for some reason weren t considered a threat. Japan also had almost no natural resources which encouraged them to invade other countries such as malaya who had an abundance of resources. Kota bharu capital of kelantan state on malaysia s northeast coast was in 1941 the royal air force s and royal australian air force s base of operations in northern malaya. The japanese led by infamous tiger of malaya tomoyuki yamashita first landed in singora patani and kota bharu in december 1941 before making their way by bicycle to singapore.

In 1939 malaya was the resource of 40 of the world s rubber and 60 of the world s tin. That fact alone interested japanese expansionists but others additional reasons sealed the approval on the invasion planning that started in early 1941. A key motivation was acquiring the raw materials needed for japan s industrial development and its war efforts 1 the need to gain control of the raw materials found in malaya gained greater urgency after the us placed economic sanctions on japan in response to japanese troops moving into indochina in 1941. During the japanese occupation malaya was affected in many aspects.

The significance of singapore s invasion malaya and singapore were imperative to the japanese empire as it was linked to their expansion and aggressive nature. The reason for the rapid of japanese invasion to malaya can be shown from before invasion and after invasion started. In comparison to the chinese the indians and malays were treated much better and this preferential treatment stirred up a lot of animosity between races particularly between local chinese and malays. The reason of the malay police and army is because the japanese uses them to resist giving it the appearance consistently of the chinese people.

It was the first major battle of the pacific war and was fought between ground forces of the british indian army and the empire of japan. The japan has appointed malays as police and army force. The japanese faced resistance from allied ground troops and airforces that managed to destroy two japanese transport ships stifling their first wave of troops but the allies were eventually overrun and forced. The japanese wanted to add more anger to the chinese.