Buildup

Though the British government last week had its mind on Formosa, it was also keeping uneasy watch on Malaya (pop. 7,000,000), its biggest strategic and economic stake in Southeast Asia. Against fewer than 6,000 Communist guerrillas, the British are currently deploying more than 250,000 troops, home guards and police. General Sir Gerald Templer's brilliant slash-and-starve campaign of two years ago drove the demoralized Communists into jungle lairs, but the Communist victories in nearby Indo-China have produced a new, hopeful rallying cry in the Malay jungles: "Father Mao Is Coming."

The situation, according to Malaya's Lieut. General Sir Geoffrey Bourne, is "potentially nasty." The British are sending paratroop reinforcements to the rubber-rich colony, and last month decided to equip three Malayan airfields for jetbomber use. The Australians are training 1,200 infantrymen for jungle war, and last week the senior generals of both Australia and New Zealand inspected Malaya.

In token of the new uneasiness, the British invited another significant guest to Malaya: General Phao Sriyanondh, the silver-haired police chief of Thailand. The British gave General Phao a helicopter tour of the defenses, and persuaded him to help work out a "general pattern of operations" on the narrow Kra Isthmus, north of the Malaya-Thailand border. The British have evidence that the Communists are training new jungle forces in a safe redoubt across the Thai border. "We will have to be more careful about our future," agreed Thailand's tough General Phao.

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