The Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA) is the name given by British security forces to a combatant in the Malayan Emergency, an insurrection and guerrilla war against the British and Malayan administration from 1948-1960 in what is now Malaysia.Malayan Races Liberation Army is a translation from the Chinese, which uses "nationality" in the ethnic sense.
The organization's leader Chin Peng has called this a mistranslation and corrected it to Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA).
The name of the MNLA in Malay (Malay: Tentera Pembebasan Rakyat Malaya) could also be translated as the Malayan People's Liberation Army although extant records show that the title Tentera Pembebasan Nasional Malaya or MNLA became the normal self-identity by the 1970s.
It is a guerrilla force created by the Malayan Communist Party and, to some extent, led and dominated by overseas Chinese communists.
