to operate without repression. The MCP adopted a 'National Front' policy, building a broad coalition to work for national independence within legal means. Due to bad economic conditions, the BMA was immediately faced with strikes and demonstrations in which the Communists played an active part. Several were put down by armed force and leaders banished. The MCP also exerted influence through parliamentary parties such as the Malayan Democratic Union (MDU) and the Malay Nationalist Party (MNP). In 1946, amid a discontent with the leadership's cautious line, an investigation commenced into rumours of Lai Teck's treachery. Before he could be questioned in March 1947, Lai Teck fled the country with party funds. Badly shaken, the Central Executive Committee kept the defection secret for a year while they struggled to come to terms with it. The 26-year-old Chin Peng was chosen as the new Secretary General. A senior officer in the MPAJA 5th Regiment in Perak, he had been the party's principal liaison with Force 136. The party's stance became more resolutely anti-British. Malayan Emergency Amid a rising atmosphere of tension, the government outlawed the burgeoning trade union federations on 12 June 1948. Then on 16 June they declared a state of emergency after three European planters were murdered by Communists in Perak state. The police were given sweeping powers of arrest, and punishments including the death penalty could be administered without an ordinary trial. In the two weeks following hundreds of MCP members were arrested, and the party was declared illegal on 23 July. Party militants regrouped in the jungle as the Malayan Peoples' Anti-British Army (MPABA), many ex-MPAJA personnel. The initial commander, Lau Yew, was killed in action on 16 July. Chin Peng narrowly escaped arrest and rejoined his comrades with difficulty. During this period the MCP also engaged in intimidation, including assassination, of civilians with the aim of coercing material aid, information, and silence. This policy contributed to a loss in popular support and was repudiated by the CEC in September 1951. On 1 February 1949 the MPABA changed its name to 'Malayan National Liberation Army' (MNLA) and The party began to campaign for a Peoples' Democratic Republic of Malaya, which included Singapore. The MPLA had a General Headquarters controlled by a Central Military Committee which consisted of the politburo and some of the MPLA's regimental commanders and political officers. The most influential members of the politburo were Chin