Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Mahmud Sulaiman was a

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

general officer A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

. He has been credited for the Malaysian military's success in purging the remnants of the

Malayan Communist Party The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore from 1 ...

guerrillas in the 1970s, at the height of the

Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–89) Communist insurgency in Malaysia may refer to: * Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) * Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–1989) The Communist insurgency in Malaysia, also known as the Second Malayan Emergency ( ms, Perang insurgensi melaw ...

. Mahmud's leadership style reportedly focused on constant evaluation of his subordinates; evaluation reports were commonly disregarded by other Malaysian military leaders. His military career took off when Mahmud was personally selected by then

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

High Commissioner to Malaya

Gerald Templer Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer, (11 September 1898 – 25 October 1979) was a senior British Army officer. He fought in both the world wars and took part in the crushing of the Arab Revolt in Palestine. As Chief of the Imperia ...

to study in Sandhurst in the 1950s.Musa, p. 214. Mahmud's strategy in prosecuting the Insurgency War was to reduce the number of insurgents through peaceful means by, in the words of one commentator, giving them "every chance to surrender and escape from being killed". Mahmud reportedly "saw immense propaganda value in former terrorists who were now alive, repentant, and leading full productive lives", he analogised the war to exterminating rats. Poisoning and killing them would not work as long as they reproduced; instead by attacking the root causes such as the habitat, the rats could be extinguished. His strategy was approved of by civilian superiors such as the later

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...

.Musa, pp. 213–214. After Prime Minister

Hussein Onn Tun Hussein bin Dato' Onn ( ms, حسين بن عون, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 12 February 1922 – 29 May 1990) was a Malaysian lawyer and politician who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Malaysia from the death of his predece ...

bypassed Mahmud for promotion to Chief of the Armed Services, Mahmud resigned his commission and retired from the military.

Notes and references

Malaysian military personnel Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Possibly living people Year of birth missing Malaysian people of Malay descent Malaysian Muslims {{Malaysia-mil-bio-stub