In June 1948, the colonial government declared a state of emergency in British Malaya after three men were killed during attacks on plantations, which in turn were revenge attacks for the murder of trade unionists by the British occupation. Under the leadership of Chin Peng, communist activists regrouped in the Malayan jungles and formed the MNLA to wage a guerrilla war against British colonial rule. Many MNLA fighters were former members of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), a communist guerrilla army which was trained, armed and funded by the British to fight against the Japanese during WWII. The majority of support for the communist rebels came from the ethnic lower-class Straits Chinese population, most of which lived in dire poverty, were subject to racial persecution, and were barred from voting in elections. The communists' belief in class consciousness, in addition to ethnic and gender equality, allowed many indigenous Orang Asli as well as women to join the MNLA and their civilian support network, the Min Yuen.