Salina Christmas

A paramilitary group that resisted the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945. The MPAJA was a collaboration between the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the British Force 136 special operations team. In the 14 days between the surrender of Japan and the British Military Administration takeover, MCP reprisals such as kangaroo court trials of Japanese soldiers and their collaborators led to unlawful executions (see the Red Cross’s “Tokyo Draft”, 1934). Some, unfortunately, were mistakenly carried out against innocent civilians. This brief period of chaos undermined the MPAJA’s war efforts. The group was disbanded in December 1945.