British Malaya
British Malaya describes a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia and Oceania, with its capital in Singapore. It starts out as an integrated puppet of the United Kingdom and is a member of the British Commonwealth. It is bordered by
Siam to the north and the
Dutch East Indies to the south.
While the territory does start as a minor nation, control of Singapore could be vital for dominance in the Asia-Pacific region due to its highly strategic location in addition to being a choke point, something that eventually becomes apparent once Japan expands as part of their plans for a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (GEAPS).
The flag used in the game is identical of the former Straits Settlements, which also had Singapore as its capital.
Historical background[edit | edit source]
The first European outposts in the region were established by the Dutch in the 17th century. The British occupied these during the Napoleonic wars, and confirmed their control through a treaty with the Netherlands in 1824, which formally separated Malaya from the Dutch East Indies. Initially limited to Singapore and a few other trading centers known as the Straits Settlements, in the late 19th century British rule expanded over the whole peninsula via protectorates.
British dominance over the Malay peninsula was of vital interest to the Empire, due to its abundant resources as well as Singapore's strategic location at the southern end of the Straits of Malacca, the most direct passage between the Indian and Pacific Oceans to the west and east respectively.
As part of Japan's idea of a Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere (GEAPS), they invaded Malaya and Singapore in December 1941. At the time, Singapore was the foremost British military base and economic port in the region. The swift fall of Singapore in February 1942, thought to be well-defended, was one of the greatest British setbacks in the Pacific theater and was called the "worst disaster" in British military history by Winston Churchill. The Japanese renamed the city to Syonan-to and occupied it until the end of the war with its surrender in August 1945.
Following the war, Malaya and Singapore returned to the British, this time with increased autonomy. After the return of the British, there were growing nationalist sentiment amongst the local populace, as many felt that the British were no longer competent in their administration and defence of the crown colony and its inhabitants. It became independent in 1957 and merged with Singapore, British North Borneo and Sarawak to form Malaysia in 1963. Singapore was expelled from Malaysia in 1965 and became its own sovereign nation.
National focus[edit | edit source]
- Main article: Generic national focus tree
British Malaya utilizes the generic national focus tree.
Some focuses in other countries' trees relate to British Malaya. The United Kingdom's focuses in the "Fortify East Asia" branch of its politics tree add several land and coastal forts and anti-air to Singapore, while slightly lowering autonomy. Additionally,
Australia has two ahistorical focuses that allow it to request control of Malaya from Britain, making British Malaya (if it accepts) an Australian puppet instead of a direct British one.
Technology[edit | edit source]
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This is a community maintained wiki. If you spot a mistake then you are welcome to fix it. |
British Malaya starts with 3 research slots, and can acquire 2 more from the generic focus tree.
Army Technology | Naval Technology | Air Technology | Electronics & Industry |
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Doctrines | |||
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British Malaya is not part of the Commonwealth technology sharing group, but will join the group automatically if it raises autonomy to Colony or higher.
Politics[edit | edit source]
As a Democratic country, British Malaya has a positive relationship with other Democratic countries (+20) and a slight negative relationship with everyone else (-10). British Malaya begins the game in the Allies. If the Together for Victory expansion has been activated, it starts as an integrated puppet of the United Kingdom with 500 autonomy points on the way to becoming a puppet.
National spirits[edit | edit source]
British Malaya starts with no national spirits.
Political parties[edit | edit source]
British Malaya starts as a Democratic nation. There are no elections. The country names are not to be confused with modern day real life Malaysia, they are considered a distinct nation as the history of Malaysia and Singapore diverged when the two countries split in 1965. In essence, British Malaya corresponds more to Singapore than Malaysia in the modern day; Singapore was the capital of the Straits Settlements and was Britain's most foremost colony in the Far East, while the Malay states, which were then known as the "Federated Malay States", consisted of protectorates with a different flag and legislature.
Early ideological changes are to based on an ahistorical history whereby the two countries never split, therefore resulting in a hypothetical country of Malaysia, this time with Singapore as its capital.
Staff and designers[edit | edit source]
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This is a community maintained wiki. If you spot a mistake then you are welcome to fix it. |
Designer | Type | Effect | Cost (![]() |
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Armor Company | Tank Designer |
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150 |
Designer | Type | Effect | Cost (![]() |
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Naval Company | Ship Designer |
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150 |
Concern | Type | Effect | Cost (![]() |
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Industrial Company | Industrial Concern |
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150 |
Electronics Company | Electronics Concern |
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150 |
Economy[edit | edit source]
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This is a community maintained wiki. If you spot a mistake then you are welcome to fix it. |
Laws[edit | edit source]
British Malaya starts with the following laws:
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This is a community maintained wiki. If you spot a mistake then you are welcome to fix it. |
Conscription Law | Economy Law | Trade Law |
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Resources[edit | edit source]
British Malaya is very rich in resources for a small country. It has the majority of the world's rubber, a great deal of tungsten, and moderate amounts of steel and oil.
![]() Oil |
![]() Aluminum |
![]() Rubber |
![]() Tungsten |
![]() Steel |
![]() Chromium |
16 | 20 | 497 | 246 | 26 | 0 |
Industry[edit | edit source]
While it was rich in resources, British Malaya starts out with very little industry in 1936, only consisting of a single civilian factory.
![]() 0 Military Factories |
![]() 0 Naval Dockyard |
![]() 1 Civilian Factory |
Military[edit | edit source]
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This is a community maintained wiki. If you spot a mistake then you are welcome to fix it. |
At the start of the game, British Malaya is reliant on its colonial master for defense and does not have a navy and an air force. It does however have control over 2 small infantry divisions. Overall, it has a total manpower of 56.86K with 6.00K in the army, leaving 50.86K available for recruitment.
Type | No. | |
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Infantry | 2 |
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Total divisions | 2 |
Type | No. | |
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Total ships | 0 |
Type | No. | |
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Total planes | 0 |
Army[edit | edit source]
The entirety of the military consists of 2 Malaya Infantry Brigades made up of 3 infantry battalions each.
[edit | edit source]
British Malaya has no navy, but does possess 25 convoys.
Air force[edit | edit source]
British Malaya does not start with any aircraft.
Military staff[edit | edit source]
Name | Type | Effect | Cost (![]() |
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Zachary Roberts | Army Offense (Specialist) |
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150 |
Colbert Churchill | Army Defense (Specialist) |
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150 |
Strategies and guides[edit | edit source]

Re-form the Thalassocracy[edit | edit source]
With the Waking the Tiger DLC enabled, British Malaya is arguably one of the most difficult nations to play as, due to it having the Generic Focus Tree and being an Integrated Puppet of the United Kingdom, there is not much room for the player to declare war on other countries. The player in this case has two choices. The first is to use the "Increase Autonomy" Continuous Focus to break free of the United Kingdom and second is to ignite a civil war. The latter is recommended due to the former taking an excruciatingly long time to complete, and also prevents the player from using the focus tree for better rewards.
When starting the game, pick the "Political Effort" focus to get started. This focus, when complete after 70 days, grants the player an extra 120 political power, which when combined with the 70 pp accumulated, allows the player to pick a Political Advisor. Pick the Communist Revolutionary or the Fascist Demagogue. While there is already high support for Communism in the nation, it should be noted that going down the
Fascist path is recommended if the player wishes to gain control of the
Dutch East Indies more quickly later in-game. While waiting for Stability to drop low enough and the popularity of Fascism to go high enough, it is essential that the player takes the "Industrial Effort" path for the focus tree and rush down the "Armament Effort" branch to accumulate as many Military Factories as possible for the civil war. The "Naval Effort" focus MUST ALSO be completed so that they can win the civil war. You can research Marines, Paratroopers, or Mountaineers but are not needed. Train around 2-3 divisions but DO NOT deploy them until the civil war has started. Allocate your civilian factory to build one military factory.
The player should note that the civil war should only be fired when the 2-3 divisions lined up for deployment have received sufficient weapons, the various decisions such as "Ensure Lower Army Command Loyalty", "Expand Civil/Military Support" have been taken. The player can also have set up a naval invasion (which is recommended, as the player really cannot afford to allocate another military factory for transport planes), build at least one submarine or destroyer in order to gain naval superiority for a naval invasion. Once you have 3 divisions queued up for deployment and one submarine/destroyer built, the civil war can be fired. The democratic side should be in North Borneo while the player controls Singapore, which is the reason why a naval invasion is required. The player can immediately deploy the 2-3 divisions they have stored up, and rush a naval invasion of North Borneo with the 1 division they already have. The democratic supporters will be no match at all, due to the sheer difference in number of troops.
Once the civil war has ended, join the Axis if you are fascist. Germany will very likely accept you. Immediately justify on the Dutch East Indies. You need them to re-form the Majapahit Empire. Send your army to the nearest German port to the Netherlands
Netherlands, and plan naval invasions to the entire coastline of the Netherlands. Have 1 division launch a naval invasion to one of the DEI's islands. Upon attaining the war goal, declare on the DEI but do not call in the Germans, launch the naval invasions and the Dutch will capitulate easily. Then the
Greater Indonesian Confederacy can be formed.
Achievements[edit | edit source]
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South America |
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Africa |
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Oceania |