5th Light Infantry

The British colonial administration had been severely shaken and a deterring example now needed to be made of the mutineers.

21 men of the 5th Light Infantry were immediately found guilty of mutiny, having broken their oath to His Majesty the King.

16 were sentenced to transportation or imprisonment and five to be shot.

On the 22nd of March, five weeks after the revolt started, the sentences were read out to a crowd of over 6,000 people and the executions began.

Their resistance to serve for the British Empire beyond the shores of Malaya was embarrassing and potentially damaging if other colonial troops heard about and followed this lead.

Before they went home, a corporal persuaded a local merchant, Qasim Mansour, to request a gunboat through the Turkish consul in Rangoon to assist in a rebellion.

The letter was intercepted, Mansour arrested and found to have contacts in both the Malay State Guides and the 5th Light Infantry, the mutineers.

His role was deemed to have been significant in fermenting the mutiny.