Daily News Channel
One week after its stormy birth, the infant nation of Malaysia was hoping for peace but preparing for war. Two Malayan infantry battalions packed their kit bags and prepared to embark for the steaming jungles of Sarawak and Sabah ; in Sarawak, orders were issued to raise a native infantry battalion.
For centuries, the Strait of Malacca has been one of the great thoroughfares of global commerce. In the old days of wood and sail, the 500-mile ribbon of water, which connects the Indian and Pacific oceans between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, carried pricey spices from the islands of the Indies to the eager markets of the West