Return of the Malayan Tiger - A Malaysian AAR

[mTk]

Prologue

The year was 2020. The world is in greater chaos than anyone would have imagined, 10 years ago.

China, once touted to be the world's next superpower, is torn apart. Its rich, capitalist-leaning southern cities formed a new state consisting of provinces south of the Yangtze River. The new Federation of China is now led by the provinces of Shanghai, Fujian and Guangdong. It was grounds for immediate war, of course, for the communist north. Meanwhile, hidden elements took advantage of this to form a new state of Manchuria, flying the flag of early 20th century's Manchukuo, dealing another blow to the Beijing government.

Seizing this opportunity, separatist elements in Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang (now known as Uyghuristan) formed their own nations. The celebrations were truly grand in the cities of Lhasa and Urumqi, rejoicing in the independence they have desired for as long as they remember.




(the last PRC flag in Lhasa, capital of Tibet)

The United States, torn apart by its ever growing deficit and worsening internal problems, decided to grant much more autonomous powers to each individual state, each becoming a de facto sovereign nation, that the former superpower is no more than a loose confederation today. In neighbouring Canada, a similar trend took place but in relative peace. The crumbling economy in Western Europe led to splits in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Germany as well as the dissolution of the EU. West Germany became a new European superpower while English and Welsh workers began to migrate to Scotland, hoping for a brighter future with its richer economic prospects.

Ultranationalist elements in Russia grew so strong that the country entered another period of civil war and strife. Its far eastern holdings formed the three Siberian Republics, rich in minerals but low in human resources.
Meanwhile, tensions continue to increase in the demilitarised zone of the two Koreas. Things were not looking any better in the Middle East. The grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia and the grand Ayatollah of Iran have both issued fatwas declaring the other to be Kafir, to be an infidel. While the more secular republics of Syria and Egypt stayed away from this Sunni – Shiite political bickering, they gradually built up their respective armed forces with the latest technology obtained from the central government of former Russia in Moscow. Israel, realising this threat, begins a military buildup to protect its precious holdings. Meanwhile, South Africa’s ambitions put it at odds with neighbouring Botswana and Angola.

Several parts of the world, however, saw relative peace. The nations of Latin America remain united in the struggle to survive and brave through the collapse of the old economic system and the new emphasis on natural resources. The Indian subcontinent was relatively quiet, despite past tensions between long-time rivals India and Pakistan. The eleven countries of Southeast Asia continue their efforts of self-improvement amid the global chaos, with varying levels of success.






Malaysia, despite the bleak outlook of the world at its present state, is barely recovering from a state of euphoria. The corrupt, oppressive old Barisan Nasional (National Front) regime was only recently overthrown in 2016. The timing was spot on for reform; as the old world economic system started crumbling, Malaysia was forced to consolidate its resources and find valuable trading partners. Singapore, knowing it can no longer sustain itself with the current economic climate, voted to rejoin the federation in 2018, 53 years after its separation in 1965. Brunei followed suit soon after, knowing its oil fields cannot last forever and being part of Malaysia will be beneficial for its future.

Thus, on the 16th of September 2019, 56 years since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, the new nation of Malaysia Raya (Greater Malaysia) was born. Its new Prime Minister had a far-reaching plan for the country, but there are many pressing matters to be settled first, namely:

- A reform of the economy to bring wealth to the nation and ensure it is used to lift the people’s living standards.
- A reform of the energy and resources policy, aiming for self sufficiency and environmental friendliness as the ultimate goals.
- A key focus on developing the nation’s infrastructure and education system, for technological development to flourish.
- A revamp of the civil services to serve the people's needs far better than ever.
- An overhaul of the government structure and constitution to better reflect the wishes of the people.
- Dismantling the last remnants of the old regime’s divisive, racist policies and tools to heal the race relations of the Malaysian people.
- Hunting down all the leaders of the previous regime who have escaped justice to bring them to court and punish them for all they have done to the country in the last 60 years. Many in Malaysia have questioned the value of such a witch hunt, but the government insisted that these criminals must be made example of so that none, including their own politicians, shall repeat such blunders and disasters in governance again.


Thus the rest of the story begins on the 17th of June, 2020 CE.










(Guys, I can’t remember the first decade of my playthrough so this may not be accurate. Also, do you prefer storytelling AARs like this or the more straight to the point versions which seem to be 95% of AARs I see here?)


Disclaimer: None of the elements in this story are intended to villify any real persons or groups, and added only for storyline effect and to explain why things in the game happen as they did. By the way, I'm still playing this on version 5.5.21.

[Hullu Hevonen]

Prologue

The year was 2020. The world is in greater chaos than anyone would have imagined, 10 years ago.

China, once touted to be the world's next superpower, is torn apart. Its rich, capitalist-leaning southern cities formed a new state consisting of provinces south of the Yangtze River. The new Federation of China is now led by the provinces of Shanghai, Fujian and Guangdong. It was grounds for immediate war, of course, for the communist north. Meanwhile, hidden elements took advantage of this to form a new state of Manchuria, flying the flag of early 20th century's Manchukuo, dealing another blow to the Beijing government.

Seizing this opportunity, separatist elements in Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang (now known as Uyghuristan) formed their own nations. The celebrations were truly grand in the cities of Lhasa and Urumqi, rejoicing in the independence they have desired for as long as they remember.




(the last PRC flag in Lhasa, capital of Tibet)

The United States, torn apart by its ever growing deficit and worsening internal problems, decided to grant much more autonomous powers to each individual state, each becoming a de facto sovereign nation, that the former superpower is no more than a loose confederation today. In neighbouring Canada, a similar trend took place but in relative peace. The crumbling economy in Western Europe led to splits in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Germany as well as the dissolution of the EU. West Germany became a new European superpower while English and Welsh workers began to migrate to Scotland, hoping for a brighter future with its richer economic prospects.

Ultranationalist elements in Russia grew so strong that the country entered another period of civil war and strife. Its far eastern holdings formed the three Siberian Republics, rich in minerals but low in human resources.
Meanwhile, tensions continue to increase in the demilitarised zone of the two Koreas. Things were not looking any better in the Middle East. The grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia and the grand Ayatollah of Iran have both issued fatwas declaring the other to be Kafir, to be an infidel. While the more secular republics of Syria and Egypt stayed away from this Sunni – Shiite political bickering, they gradually built up their respective armed forces with the latest technology obtained from the central government of former Russia in Moscow. Israel, realising this threat, begins a military buildup to protect its precious holdings. Meanwhile, South Africa’s ambitions put it at odds with neighbouring Botswana and Angola.

Several parts of the world, however, saw relative peace. The nations of Latin America remain united in the struggle to survive and brave through the collapse of the old economic system and the new emphasis on natural resources. The Indian subcontinent was relatively quiet, despite past tensions between long-time rivals India and Pakistan. The eleven countries of Southeast Asia continue their efforts of self-improvement amid the global chaos, with varying levels of success.






Malaysia, despite the bleak outlook of the world at its present state, is barely recovering from a state of euphoria. The corrupt, oppressive old Barisan Nasional (National Front) regime was only recently overthrown in 2016. The timing was spot on for reform; as the old world economic system started crumbling, Malaysia was forced to consolidate its resources and find valuable trading partners. Singapore, knowing it can no longer sustain itself with the current economic climate, voted to rejoin the federation in 2018, 53 years after its separation in 1965. Brunei followed suit soon after, knowing its oil fields cannot last forever and being part of Malaysia will be beneficial for its future.

Thus, on the 16th of September 2019, 56 years since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, the new nation of Malaysia Raya (Greater Malaysia) was born. Its new Prime Minister had a far-reaching plan for the country, but there are many pressing matters to be settled first, namely:

- A reform of the economy to bring wealth to the nation and ensure it is used to lift the people’s living standards.
- A reform of the energy and resources policy, aiming for self sufficiency and environmental friendliness as the ultimate goals.
- A key focus on developing the nation’s infrastructure and education system, for technological development to flourish.
- A revamp of the civil services to serve the people's needs far better than ever.
- An overhaul of the government structure and constitution to better reflect the wishes of the people.
- Dismantling the last remnants of the old regime’s divisive, racist policies and tools to heal the race relations of the Malaysian people.
- Hunting down all the leaders of the previous regime who have escaped justice to bring them to court and punish them for all they have done to the country in the last 60 years. Many in Malaysia have questioned the value of such a witch hunt, but the government insisted that these criminals must be made example of so that none, including their own politicians, shall repeat such blunders and disasters in governance again.


Thus the rest of the story begins on the 17th of June, 2020 CE.










(Guys, I can’t remember the first decade of my playthrough so this may not be accurate. Also, do you prefer storytelling AARs like this or the more straight to the point versions which seem to be 95% of AARs I see here?)


Disclaimer: None of the elements in this story are intended to villify any real persons or groups, and added only for storyline effect and to explain why things in the game happen as they did. By the way, I'm still playing this on version 5.5.21.

Personally I enjoy reading both storyline and "straight to the point" versions, it gives a good variations to have both. I wait for continuation

[w00tang]

I love a good storyline to go through much of the domestic situations and diplomatic situations but a good straight to the point style when the battle starts!

[mTk]

Got it. I'll go through the battles more briefly. Wait for the next update coming in less than a week. I was away for a holiday with my family, that explains the hiatus.

Also, I do realise that BattleGoat included its own explanation of what happened in Shattered World 2020 but I just feel like making my own story up.



Coming soon: Malaysian Involvement in the Sino-Vietnamese War.


Edit: I can't find any save games nor screenshots from the earlier parts of my Malaysian game run. Let's just say the first time I actually took screenshots or created separate saves for different parts of the progress, my population was well over 300 million. I hope you guys don't mind that.

It also makes me feel tempted to get GC, restart and create another storyline altogether. With the same country of course.

[w00tang]

Nice, I might start a Beylorussian AAR soon.

[mTk]

2027

Having finally reached a true "developed nation" status, Malaysia turns its interest to further research as well as regional affairs. The serving Prime Minister initiated a New Education Act to reform the country's education system and encourage new innovations with large funding increases for the Education Ministry. Its results were clearly seen from the impact on the Malaysian economy - reliance on coal and oil has been reduced with the country's new improved wind and solar power plants.






June 2028

8 years have passed since the installation of a new government took place in Malaysia. The people have finally decided to do away with the rotated-post monarchy in which a Malaysian King is chosen from among the 9 Sultans. Instead, a new head of state titled the Royal President is introduced. The government's excuse for the "royal" title was that "So that we will always remember and acknowledge our history, how we began as a nation." Unlike the King, however, the Royal President is elected by popular vote much in a similar way to the President of the United States, at least back when the States were United. Some sources also claim that the military was insistent in keeping their "Royal" titles, particularly among the highly decorated Royal Ranger Regiment.


2030

Politics aside, the new nation has been largely successful at revitalising its economy, achieving growth rivalling or even surpassing its glorious past in the late 1980's. By 2030, the national debt has finally been paid in full, with the country's credit rating soaring high. Proper management of taxes and the social services were key in achieving this. Lowered corporate taxes and much improved infrastructure were largely instrumental.


2031


The Second Sino-Vietnamese War began in 2026 between Vietnam and South China. Despite having received assistance from former Russian states, the Vietnamese were hopelessly outnumbered and are barely holding on to the city of Hanoi, while many other northern towns have fallen to Chinese forces. Meanwhile, a new alliance is formed between Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations, including Greater Malaysia, although Indonesia and East Timor opted out of the coalition.

In 2030, Malaysia finally began a new modernisation process for its military. The full program is expected to take 3 years, but due to a desire to assist their Vietnamese allies, air squadrons were hastily transferred to Vietnamese air bases. Originally, the Royal Malaysian Air Force consisted of these motley selection of aircraft, some of which were inherited from the Singaporean Air Force:


RMAF fighter aircraft in 2031:


















In a surprising turnaround during the modernisation craze, the RMAF purchased large numbers of MIG-23s from several nations. These Cold War era aircraft were heavily modified to 21st century standards, however. The RMAF claimed that the MIG-23 was the most cost-efficient base for its new Air Superiority Fighter program jointly being developed with the Republic of Korea, and that these heavily upgraded MIG-23s will be a stopgap measure yet being able to be nearly as effective as an SU-30 at a much cheaper maintenance cost:





In fact, this modernised MIG-23 costs half to maintain as the MIG-29 Fulcrum while being marginally more effective in air-to-air combat.


RMAF attack aircraft in 2031:






















At this stage, the RMAF, despite having technology to stand up to the South Chinese Air Force, is still somewhat obsolete in comparison to the hardware used by most of Western Europe. It is also small in number. Large aircraft fabrication facilities were built in the far eastern state of Sabah to pump out more aircraft and train new pilots as most of the current air force hardware and personnel are sent to reinforce the Vietnamese.

[mTk]

2031

The Southern Chinese Air Force consisted of mostly outdated Xian JH-7 Flying Leopards and Nanchang Q-5s. Both are ground attack aircraft. However, they pose a serious threat to the Vietnamese Army, who lack proper air support if not for the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF)'s timely assistance. The Vietnamese Army lacked proper anti-air equipment, consisting of mostly ZSU-57s and ZSU-23-4s from the previous century.

Meanwhile, the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) uses its newly acquired Akula-II submarines to inflict severe damage on the Southern Chinese fleet. Malaysia's shores are safe... for now.

The occasional danger comes in the form of multirole fighters, JF-17 Thunders, Shenyang J-11s (Chinese manufactured SU-27 Flankers) and Chengdu J-10s. However, RMAF's air power eventually prevailed, boosted by newly acquired MIG-35 multirole fighters resulting in the capture of several key Chinese airfields by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese have been provided with advanced Russian armour in the forms of T-90 and T-94 tanks, both of which can more than hold their own against the numerous Type 96 and Type 99s of the Chinese. This was a major improvement over their outdated T-72S tanks.

2032

The first Malaysian Expeditionary Force is assembled at the shores of Pahang, Malaysia. The first land amphibious assault on China is about to begin.


May 2032, shores of Hainan Island:


The city of Sanya came under heavy attack by Malaysian forces. Destroyers pummeled artillery and air defenses as squadrons of A-4 Super Skyhawks were launched from Hanoi Airfield to obliterate the few Chinese IFVs and tanks situated on the island. The conquest of Hainan was completed within two weeks. Of particular note was the contribution by the Malaysian Royal Ranger Regiment and the paratrooper batallions in the capture of Haikou, capital of Hainan.


With a secure base so close to enemy territory, the Malaysian military prepares itself to eliminate the Southern Chinese threat once and for all, air, sea and land. Modernisation of the Malaysian Army continues as its generals look forward to the invasion of Guangdong and Guangxi...

Meanwhile, Malaysian engineers and scientists completed two major breakthroughs in conjunction with the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

The first was a new air superiority fighter design, codenamed Gwangju Tiger. This formidable 2-seat fighter design is expected to be able to handle most air threats up to and including SU-37s. The fighter will later prove to be instrumental in the Republic's victory against the DPRK (North Korea), uniting the peninsula once more.






The second breakthrough was a new method of using renewable energy that finally made renewable energy power plants competitive with fossil fuel. Malaysia has already dismantled its petrol power plants (partly because of the scarcity of oil). With this breakthrough, it is able to dismantle its coal power plants as well, although its current nuclear plants running on uranium mined in the northeast will continue operations for now. With the new technology, massive power generation installations using clean energy were built throughout the southern coast of the country, greatly increasing the UN's approval. Other scientists in the country, though, were more skeptical, putting more faith in the fusion power plant designs they are currently working on.

2032 in history:

- Israel was finally annexed by the Syrian-Lebanese alliance with significant assistance from Egypt.
- West Germany, now known as Greater Deutschland, has invaded the other German states as well as Austria, Poland and Denmark.
- Tensions between states in the Southern (former) USA threaten to worsen into another deadly civil war.

[mTk]

2034


After much preparation, the invasion of southern Mainland China by Malaysian forces began, to relief much of the pressure on their Vietnamese allies. Once a strong foothold was secured on the Leizhou Peninsula, the Malaysians wasted no time in building an extremely well defended military base with 10 fabrication facilities. Meanwhile, reinforcements from the Malaysian home islands and Vietnam attacked from the western side.

2035


All of Guangxi province and half of Guangdong province has been conquered by Malaysia although some areas remained under administration by the Vietnamese government. The Southern Chinese military has lost at least half of its forces at this point.

Meanwhile, South Korea continues advancing further into the north after taking Pyongyang.

The second American Civil War began, with Texas being the dominant power supported by several other southern states. California stayed neutral despite clashes with Nevada and Oregon. Lousiana aligned with the North, and thus was the first state to fight against Texas, unsuccessfully.

Greater Germany made a pact with South Germany, essentially making the latter an autonomous entity within their administration. The war in Europe rages on as Greater Germany completes the invasion of Poland, Denmark and much of the Netherlands. Meanwhile tension with the Italian and Spanish states increase...


Malaysian scientists in cooperation with other nations in the Commonwealth, notably India, have finally discovered practical ways to utilise fusion power for electricity production. This was discovered to be the most efficient method of electricity production to date. Construction on several fusion reactors began on both the Malaysian home islands and Hainan Island.


2036

The Battle of Guangzhou occured in the middle of the year, culminating in the capture of the city after tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. Malaysian forces continue advancing in the north of Southern Chinese territory, with the aim to reach Nanjing as soon as possible, to capture South China's capital, Shanghai in a pincer movement.

Meanwhile, North Korea's government has finally fallen to the mighty army of South Korea.

2037

The grueling urban battle in Nanjing finally ends with Malaysian forces occupying the city, assisted by Vietnamese ground forces. Meanwhile, South China's navy is essentially rendered useless at this point, as was much of their army.

2038

Tensions between the Saudi government and Iran began to increase greatly.

North China and Manchuria finally declared war on Malaysia to assist their southern ally. South Korea, having conquered North Korea the previous year, sees this as an opportunity to strike Manchuria on its eastern flank, and joins the fray. Meanwhile, Inner Mongolia also joined the war on Malaysia's side, wishing to finally eliminate the threat from Beijing.

2039

With South China divided into three parts, Malaysia began the invasion of South China's Sichuan Province and other areas bordering Tibet. Tibetan forces offered limited assistance as well. The huge abundance of oil and gas in Sichuan was a boon to the Malaysian economy. The war went well on the other fronts as well, with Fujian falling to the Malaysians in the southeast. The Taiwanese provided military assistance as well.

In Europe, much of the Netherlands and Belgium has fallen to Greater Deutschland. The European superpower began making advances towards Paris, having captured Copenhagen in the middle of the year. Meanwhile, Slovakia and the Czech Republic prepared their defences in anticipation of the next German offensive.

In the former United States, Texan forces have successfully conquered Lousiana while California is making significant advances against Oregon.

2040

Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in South China, was captured by Malaysian forces. Meanwhile, North China is suffering heavy losses from the two-pronged Malaysian assault on two fronts. The Malaysians sent half of their northern division towards the coastal areas to disable the Northern Chinese navy. The other half was sent to conquer the provinces on the way to Beijing. Meanwhile, the effort to occupy the rest of South China, mainly in the southeastern provinces continued.