This was historically done, although fears about colonial security delayed arming the Communists/KMT groups.frogcurry wrote: How would the chinese immigrant/ Malay native population ethnic split and the proto-communist movements that existed back then play into this?
i.e. Would it be possible to "use" the guerilla problems of the Emergency by establishing security militia movements, to act as a foundation for anti-Japanese resistance in those areas that were taken?
And is it likely that this sort of propaganda would have counterproductive effects by giving more fuel to the communist movements in the chinese population, by showing how evil the Japanese are (but we won't actually stop them unless they attack the British ruled lands)?
SOE stay behind parties were established with cells led by either a local Chinese leader or British expat.
Their activities during the invasion itself was negated due to the hasty nature of their dispersal and poor comms. Intelligence gathered was mostly not passed down to headquarters in Singapore, similarly, the cutting of supply lines was ineffective given the small number of groups and the Japanese refusal to pull back troops to defend said lines.