The Iban mercenaries deployed to Malaya were widely praised for their jungle bushcraft skills, although some British and Commonwealth officers found that Ibans were outperformed in this role by recruits from Africa and certain parts of the Commonwealth. The behaviour of Iban mercenaries serving in Malaya was also the subject of criticism, as some Iban recruits were found to have looted corpses and others had threatened their commanding officers with weapons. Due to fears of racial tensions with ethnic Malays the Iban mercenaries that Britain deployed to Malaya were denied access to automatic weapons.
the iban mercenaries deployed to malaya were widely praised for their jungle bushcraft skills although some british and commonwealth officers found that ibans were outperformed in this role by recruits from africa and certain parts of the commonwealth the behaviour of iban mercenaries serving in malaya was also the subject of criticism as some iban recruits were found to have looted corpses and others had threatened their commanding officers with weapons due to fears of racial tensions with ethnic malays the iban mercenaries that britain deployed to malaya were denied access to automatic weapons