ACSI 2026 HIST PRELIM P2 MS

1 Y4 History P2 Prelims Suggested Answers 1 (a) Study Source A. What can you infer from the source? Explain your answer. [5] L1 Describes from the provenance/Misinterpretation of the source. 1 The source is a photo featuring a member of the Malayan Home Guard manning a checkpoint on the edge of a town during the Malayan Emergency. L2 Valid inference, unsupported. 2 I can infer that the British believed civilian support was crucial in defeating the Communist insurgency. L3 Inference, basic interpretation supported with source evidence/Context only. 3 I can infer that the British believed civilian support was crucial in defeating the Communist insurgency. This is supported by the photograph showing a member of the Malayan Home Guard manning a checkpoint at the entrance to a town, together with the "STOP Home Guard Check Point" sign and barrier controlling access into the area. This suggests that the British were not merely regulating the movement of people, but were trying to prevent civilians from providing food, medicine, intelligence and recruits to the Communist guerrillas. L4 Inference supported with good explanation and context. 4-5 I can infer that the British believed civilian support was crucial in defeating the Communist insurgency. This is supported by the photograph showing a member of the Malayan Home Guard manning a checkpoint at the entrance to a town, together with the "STOP Home Guard Check Point" sign and barrier controlling access into the area. This suggests that the British were not merely regulating the movement of people, but were trying to prevent civilians from providing food, medicine, intelligence and recruits to the Communist guerrillas. The Communist insurgents depended heavily on the Min Yuen, a civilian support network that supplied them with essential resources while they operated in the jungle. To cut off this support, the British implemented the Briggs Plan, resettling over 500,000 rural Chinese into New Villages surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by checkpoints such as this one. By isolating the Communist guerrillas from the civilian population, the British hoped to weaken the insurgency and eventually def eat the Malayan Communist Party. OR I can infer that the British security measures were effective in weakening the Communist insurgency. This is supported by the photograph showing a member of the Malayan Home Guard manning a checkpoint, together with the "STOP Home Guard Check Point" sign and barrier controlling access into the town. This

2 suggests that the British had established strict security measures to monitor the movement of people and goods. Such checkpoints formed part of the Briggs Plan, under which over 500,000 rural Chinese were resettled into New Villages protected by the Home Guard. Together with identity cards, curfews and food control measures, these checkpoints prevented the Min Yuen from supplying the Communist guerrillas with food, medicine and intelligence. As the insurgents became increasingly isolated from their civilian support network, their operational strength declined, contributing significantly to Britain's eventual defeat of the Communist insurgency. 1 (b) Study Sources B and C. How similar are the sources? Explain your answer. [6] L1 Description of sources/Mismatch of sources. 1 Source B is an extract from a speech delivered in the British Parliament while Source C is a webpage written by an academic with the National Library, Singapore. L2 BOC/Unsupported analysis/Provenance comparison. 2 The sources are similar in showing that the Communist insurgents continued to receive support from civilians despite British efforts to isolate them. L3 Similarity OR Difference. 3-4 The sources are similar in showing that the Communist insurgents continued to receive support from civilians despite British efforts to isolate them. Source B states that the Communists were "supported and supplied by many thousands of active members of th e Min Yuen" and that "they are still helping the Communists." This means that the British's resettlement programme had not successfully cut off civilian support for the Communist insurgents, who continued to receive supplies, information and recruits from the Min Yuen. Similarly, Source C states that "people in the New Villages used to smuggle out essentials to the insurgents" by having “rice and antibiotic pills hidden in the bicycle frame" and “ hiding rice at the bottoms of pails containing latex ”. This means that despite the British's security measures, civilians continued to provide supplies to the Communist guerrillas through ingenious smuggling methods. However, the sources differ in the reasons why civilians supported the Communist insurgents. Source B states that "the promise to give them a legal title to their land... has not yet been implemented" and that "nothing would do more to win these people over than the security afforded by a legal title to their holdings" . This means that the speaker believed many squatters continued to help the Communists because the British had failed to provide them with a strong incentive to support the government. Without the security and benefits of legal land ownership, they had litt le reason to shift their loyalty to the British. In contrast, Source C states that "those

3 who were either neutral or opposed the goals of the communists were coerced into aiding them or faced reprisals – even death – if they did not cooperate". This means that many civilians supported the Communist insurgents not because they lacked incentives from the British, but because they feared punishment or death if they refused to help. L4 Similarity + Difference. 5 L5 Purpose comparison. Award 5m if evidence/impact is lacking. 5-6 However, the sources differ in their purposes. As Source B is an extract from a speech delivered in the British Parliament on 27 February 1952 during a debate on the situation in Malaya, the purpose of the source is to advocate to the British government that stronger measures are needed to win the support of the squatters. This is seen from "Nothing would do more to win these people over than the security afforded by a legal title to their holdings and a guarantee that they will no longer be liable to eviction." This means that the speaker believed the Briggs Plan alone was insufficient and that granting legal land ownership would encourage the squatters to support the British instead of the Communist insurgents. During the Malayan Emergency, the British recognised that military action alone could not defeat the Communist insurgency, as the guerrillas depended heavily on civilian support through the Min Yuen. Therefore, the author made this speech so that the British government would implement its promise of granting legal land titles, thereby encouraging the squatters to support the government and deny assistance to the Communists. On the other hand, as Source C is extracted from a webpage written by an academic with the National Library, Singapore in 2019, the purpose of the source is to create awareness that civilian support for the Communist insurgents was often the result of coercion rather than genuine loyalty. This is seen from "those who were either neutral or opposed the goals of the communists were coerced into aiding them or faced reprisals – even death – if they did not cooperate”. This means that the author seeks to present a balanced historical explanation by showing that many villagers were caught between the British authorities and the Communist insurgents. As a historian writing decades after the Emergency, the author had access to a wide range of historical evidence and sought to provide a nuanced account of life in the New Villages. Therefore, the author created the source so that readers would develop a more ac