In the context of the military alliance between Japan and Thailand and their joint participation in the Burma campaign against the Allied forces, in 1943 the Empire of Japan restored to Thailand the former Malay tributary states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu, which had been ceded by the then-named Siam to the British under the 1909 treaty. These territories were then administered as Thailand's Four Malay States (), with Japanese troops maintaining an ongoing presence. Perak suffered under harsh military control, restricted movement, and tight surveillance throughout the Japanese occupation and until 1945. The press in occupied Malaya, including the English-language occupation-era newspaper "The Perak Times", was entirely under the control of the Dōmei News Agency ("Dōmei Tsushin"), publishing Japanese-related war propaganda. The Dōmei News Agency also printed newspapers in Malay, Tamil, Chinese, and Japanese. The indigenous Orang Asli stayed in the interior during the occupation. Much of their community was befriended by Malayan Communist Party guerrillas, who protected them from outsiders in return for information on the Japanese and their food supplies. Strong resistance came mainly from the ethnic Chinese community, some Malays preferring to collaborate with the Japanese through the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) movement for Malayan independence. But Malay support also waned with increasingly harsh Japanese treatment of civilians during the occupation. Two Chinese guerrilla organisations operated within Perak in northern Malaya. One, the Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese Army (OCAJA), was aligned with the Kuomintang. The other, the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), was closely associated with the Communist Party of China. Although both opposed the Japanese, there were clashes between the two groups.