"What was ANZUK?" ANZUK Force may not have been very large, but it was a complex organization and underwent quite a few changes in its brief history. The idea of ANZUK Force came from the politicians and the diplomats. The British had maintained a presence in Singapore and Malaya for many years, and with the coming of the Japanese during the Second World War they were joined by Australian troops. After the world war another more protracted war began—this time against the communist terrorists—and British, Australian, and New Zealand servicemen joined together to fight the CTs in the jungle. At this time Britain was committed to provide defence assistance to Malaysia and Singapore under the Anglo-Malayan Defence Agreement of 1957 with which Australia and New Zealand were asso-ciated. As the insurgency and the "confrontation" between Indonesia and the newly formed Malaysian State tapered off it was obvious that Britain would reduce the numbers of troops stationed here. The British Parliamentary Labour Party began talking about cuts in 1966, then, in July 1967, the Labour Govern-ment announced substantial reductions. Of the 80,000 men and women working for and in the services east of Suez in 1967 only 40,000 uniformed and civilian men and women were to remain after 1970/71. This decision was not really surprising, but what did shock people was the announcement in January 1968 that Britain would withdraw completely by 1971. This immediately posed the familiar ques-tion "What will happen when the British go ?" The first tentative steps towards finding an answer were taken by the politicians and diplomats at a Five Power (Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and the UK) Conference in Kuala Lumpur in June 1968 at which the Malaysian Prime Minister proposed that control and maintenance of the British bases become a joint Five Power responsibility after 1971. Although this suggestion came to nothing the British Conservative Party eventually decided to oppose the Labour policy of withdrawal, and Mr Heath began talking about a "new and equal partnership, between five Commonwealth governments". In 1970, during "Exercise Bersatu Padu", an election occurred in Britain which returned the Conservative Party to power. This led to a series of meetings which resulted in an announcement on 16 February 1971 that Australian, New Zealand and British troops would remain in Singapore and Malaysia under an Australian commander of "two star" rank. The era during which Britain assumed prime responsibility for the defence of Malaysia and Singapore was fast coming to an end. AMDA was to be replaced by the Five Power Defence Arrangements under which Singapore and Malaysia were acknowledged to be responsible for their own defence, and Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. agreed that "In the event of any form of armed attack externally organised or supported, or the threat of such an attack against Malaysia or Singapore the Governments would immediately consult together for the purpose of deciding what measures should be taken jointly or separately in relation to such attack or threat".    ANZ Military Brats of Singapore©