BIBLIOASIA OCT - DEC 2019 VOL. 15 ISSUE 03 FEATURE CIVILIANS IN THE CROSSFIRE The

Ronnie Tan recounts the hardship suffered by civilians as a result of the British government’s fight against the communists during the Malayan Emergency. operating in small patrols… intended to regulations were so stringent that in some “strategically sited with an eye to defence, deprive the MRLA [Malayan Races Libera- instances, people were not allowed to stock protected with barbed wire and guarded tion Army]5 everywhere in the country of more than a week’s supply of rice. by a detachment of Special Constables, every necessity of life from food to clothes, until they were each able to form their and every article for their military aims Relocation to “New Villages” own Home Guard units”.8 from printing materials to parts for radio To further ensure that the communist Each relocation was shrouded in China-Japan relations, which are marked The MPAJA, which comprised mainly and subsequently in Singapore on 24 June. receiving and transmitting sets, weapons guerrillas were isolated from the main secrecy and the villagers were not notified by a long history of animosity that goes ethnic Chinese fighters, found a ready The Malayan Emergency would last for the and ammunition”.6 population, the predominantly Chinese beforehand. According to British military Cback several centuries, took a turn for the source of new recruits among the Chinese next 12 years, ending only on 31 July 1960. Shopkeepers in operational areas for villagers living in squatters in the jungle historian Edgar O’Ballance, “secrecy was worse from the 1870s onwards. During squatters in the Malayan jungles to fight the One of the first things the MCP did instance were not allowed to store excess fringes were relocated to settlements essential to success, otherwise the­squatters the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), guerrilla war against the Japanese and their was to revive the MPAJA, rebranding it as quantities of canned and raw food that called “New Villages”. These villagers were would have disappeared into the jungle many overseas Chinese who were still sympathisers. In a quid pro quo arrange- the Malayan People’s Anti-British Army were designated as “restricted”. In addition, loyal to their motherland, including those ment, the MPAJA turned to the British for (MPABA), and subsequently renaming it they had to keep detailed records of all in Malaya and Singapore, supported military training and supplies, provided the the Malayan National Liberation Army customers and their purchases, and not sell China’s war efforts against Japan. Thus, communists with the resources they needed (MNLA) in 1949.2 any kind of food item unless the customer when the Japanese Imperial Army invaded to defeat a common enemy. To secure access to supplies of produced an identity card. Restricted items Malaya in December 1941, one of the Following Japan’s surrender in 1945 ammunition and food, the communists included “all types of food, paper, printing first communities they targeted was the and the return of the British in the form began intimidating, torturing and even materials and instruments, typewriters, Chinese. To escape torture and persecu- of the British Military Administration,1 the murdering civilians who refused to support every drug and medicine, lint bandages and tion, many Chinese fled to the fringes of MPAJA was formally dissolved in Decem- their anti-colonial activities. By October other items; torch batteries, canvas cloth, the Malayan jungles where they set up ber that year. For the MCP, however, the 1948, the MNLA had killed 223 civilians, and any clothing made from cloth as well as makeshift homes. problem had not gone away; the British had most of whom were Chinese, “for their cloth itself”.7 Even cigarettes and­beverages The (MCP) reinstated themselves as colonial rulers and reluctance to support the revolution”.3 like coffee and tea were restricted. The had been a formidable element even before the communists would once again resume To counter the communist threat, the the Japanese invasion. It had been set up its armed struggle. British put in place the Briggs Plan, a a decade earlier in 1930 with the primary As hostilities between the MCP and strategy aimed at defeating the commu- (Above) A member of the Malayan Home Guard aim of overthrowing British colonial rule. the British grew more intense, on 16 June nist insurgency.4 manning a checkpoint on the edge of a town during When Malaya fell to the Japanese and the 1948, three European planters in Perak the Malayan Emergency. Such checkpoints allowed British were booted out, the MCP went were brutally murdered by communist The Briggs Plan the authorities to search vehicles and intercept food and supplies being smuggled out to the communist underground and formed the Malayan insurgents. Two days later, on 18 June, a One of the chief aims of the Briggs Plan insurgents. © Imperial War Museum (K 14435). People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA). state of emergency was declared in Malaya was to deprive the communist guerrillas of sources of support and sustenance. (Right) An identity card issued during the Malayan Emergency (1948–60). Image reproduced from Yao, Ronnie Tan is a Senior Manager (Research) with the National Library, Singapore, where he conducts research The plan was described as “a policy of S. (2016). The Malayan Emergency: Essays on a Small, on public policy as well as historical, regional and library-related issues. His other research interests include starving [the communists] out, coupled Distant War (p. 57). Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Malayan history, especially the Malayan Emergency (1948–60), and military history. with ceaseless pressure by security forces Asian Studies. (Call no.: RSING 959.5104 YAO) 20 21 BIBLIOASIA OCT - DEC 2019 VOL. 15 ISSUE 03 FEATURE

in mass flight”.9 The operation usually uncooked rice, sugar, cigarettes and began before dawn, with troops and Chinese medicine.18 police surrounding the squatter area. The • Phang Seng, a farmer from Kelapa Sawit villagers were then moved en masse, along New Village in southern Johor, was with their belongings and livestock, using jailed three years for being caught at one truck per family to the New Villages the village gate without a valid permit scattered throughout Malaya.10 for carrying six tahils (227 g) of rice on Most villagers were caught unawares him. When apprehended, he could and “stupefied by shock” at the sudden not give a satisfactory explanation move, protesting that they should not be as to why he had uncooked rice with forced to relocate as they had never helped him because he claimed “he could not the communists. Some tried delay tactics, speak a word of Malay”.19 for example, by claiming that they had to round up their livestock in the jungle, or that they were ill.11 Most were persuaded Coercion from Communists to move only when told that the plots of Many people living in the New Villages land in the New Villages would be allotted were caught between a rock and a hard on a first-come-first-served basis.12 By place. Apart from mounting pressure from mid-1951, around 400,000 villagers had Aerial view of a newly completed village where squatters would be resettled.© Imperial War Museum (K 13796). the police, they were also not entirely been resettled in such New Villages. The safe from the clutches of the communist reality was, however, far from rosy for insurgents. As mentioned earlier, those these new settlers. There were also reported cases of who was then General Officer Comman­ who were either neutral or opposed the while working and was warned, in no nist guerillas gave him to buy “uncooked Once settled in the New Villages, crimes committed by the security forces ding and Britain’s High Commissioner to goals of the communists were coerced uncertain terms, that he would be killed rice, sugar, cigarettes and Chinese medi- people who entered or left the villages against the villagers. Under the pretence of Malaya, stripped the town of its status as into aiding them or faced reprisals – even if he did not supply them with food. He cine”. 21 Such hapless civilians had little were subject to stringent checks by armed checking for possible smuggling attempts, a district capital and imposed a 22-hour death – if they did not cooperate. For did not report this incident to the police choice in these situations because the security personnel guarding the gates some police officers were known to have curfew every day for a week. Shops were instance, a villager in the northern state because he feared for his life and that of communists usually made good their around the clock. This was to ensure that outraged the modesty of young girls by permitted to open only two hours a day, of Kedah was killed by three communist his family members as the communists threats of reprisal. the villagers could not secretly send sup- strip-searching them.15 people were banned from leaving town, guerillas for refusing to buy them food.20 knew where he lived. Even children and youths were not plies to the guerrilla fighters. Plantation The forced resettlement in the New schools were closed, bus services were Hee Sun of Kulai Besar New Vil- As for Wong Pan Sing from Gombak, spared. On 20 June 1951, it was reported workers, whom the communists targeted, Villages also led to a sense of social dislo- ceased and rice rations were reduced. lage, for example, had the misfortune Selangor, he was threatened with death if that an 11-year-old Malay boy from Ben- also had to be home by 3 pm daily and were cation among its inhabitants. Livelihoods To provide a secure way for villagers of encounte­ring communist guerrillas he did not use the $18 that three commu- tong in Pahang was forced off his bicycle not allowed to leave the village from 5 pm were disrupted, and many lost lucrative to supply information, the authorities at gunpoint, “tied and blindfolded and until 6 am the next day. sources of income and had to find alter- handed out questionnaires to the head of forced some distance into the lallang” by (Top right) A British propaganda poster targetting residents of the “New These measures had an adverse native means of survival. In some cases, each household. The completed forms were Villages”. The Chinese caption on the poster, “如果你喂那些马共恶狗，它是 communist insurgents and persuaded to 22 impact on the livelihoods of the people. people who were separated from their then brought to in sealed 会反咬你的!”, is loosely translated as “If you feed the evil communist dogs, work for them as a courier and supplier. Apart from having to wait in long queues to families and loved ones suffered from boxes and reviewed by Templer himself in they will bite you in return”. Image reproduced from Chen, J., & Hack, K. (Eds.). The boy refused and managed to escape be searched by security officers, those who anxiety, despair and hopelessness. the presence of the town’s representatives. (2004). Dialogues with : New Light on the Malayan Communist Party from his captors a short while later. worked outside the villages were prohibited The exercise resulted in the ambush and (p. 216). Singapore: Singapore University Press. (Call no.: RSING 959.5104 YAO) In another instance, on 26 October from taking their mid-day meals with their Punishment for Abetting killing of the communist guerrilla leader (Right) General Gerald Templer, General Officer Commanding and the British 1954, 17-year-old rubber tapper named families. In fact, all they could have on them the Communists in Tanjung Malim, the detention of 30 High Commissioner in Malaya from 1952 to 1954. (Below) Templer is seen here Low Hoon “pleaded guilty to attempting was a bottle of water; tea or coffee was not Severe penalties were meted out to those Chinese shopkeepers and several arrests. opening boxes containing completed questionnaires with information about to supply one tin of milk beverage, two communists, in the presence of representatives from Tanjung Malim, Perak, allowed to be brought out of the villages caught for not divulging information on Only then were curfew and restrictions 6 April 1952. Images reproduced from Cloake, J. (1985). Templer: Tiger of Malaya: bottles of curry powder, dried chillies and “for these would be welcome drinks to the communist activities to the authorities lifted in the town. The Life of Field Marshall Sir Gerald Templer (n.p.). London: Harrap Ltd. (Call no.: salt fish” to the communists along Cheras enemy”.13 Those in the trucking business, or for helping the communists, with the Even harsher punishments were RSING 355.3310942 TEM.C) Road in Kuala Lumpur.23 Low claimed that too, were affected as the regulations meant punishments often disproportionate to exercised on at least six other occasions in the communists had threatened to kill him that lorries could only stop in certain areas, the actual crimes committed. different parts of Malaya: if he did not comply with their demands which in turn impeded the supply of food One particular incident stands out. to buy the items with the money they had to small villages. Collective punishment was meted out • A 70-year-old man, Chong Ngi, was given forced upon him. Despite the best efforts of the Brit- to some 20,000 people living in Tanjung a five-year prison sentence for providing In order to implement an admi­ ish to cut off the supply of food and Malim, a town in Perak, which already had a communist guerillas in an unidentified nistration system in the New Villages, other essential items, the communists reputation for being a hotbed of communist part of Malaya with food and rice.16 government officials urged the villagers still managed to infiltrate and obtain activity since the start of the Emergency. to stand for election as council members. • Hee Sun, a resident of Kulai Besar supplies from people residing in these This took place after an incident on 25 However, it was difficult to persuade the New Village in southern Johor, was New Villages. The presence of armed March 1952 when a group of civilian officers, villagers to do so as they were “terrified sentenced to three years’ imprison- security personnel at the gates and the accompanied by security personnel, were that the communists would see their ment for being found in possession of severe consequences that awaited those ambushed on their way to repair a nearby election as an anti-communist stand and one kati and one tahil (478 g) of rice caught red-handed were not enough of waterworks that communist guerrillas had would kill them the moment they left intended for the guerrillas.17 a deterrence. Communist sympathisers sabotaged. Twelve civilian personnel were the village”.24 Even when the elections and those coerced into aiding the com- slain and eight wounded in the ambush. • A 44-year-old rubber tapper, Wong went ahead and people were voted in munists “invested extraordinary tricks Since the villagers were not forth- Pan Sing, from Gombak, Selangor, as council members, some were so ter- to smuggle rice, often to relations in the coming with information about the was sentenced to 10 years’ jail for rified for their lives that they “bolted for jungle”14 (see text box on page 24). ­perpetrators, General Gerald Templer, possessing five gantangs (14.7 kg) of Singapore and safety”.25 22 23 BIBLIOASIA OCT - DEC 2019 VOL. 15 ISSUE 03 FEATURE

Such fears were not unfounded, for The language barrier became a all present that Templer himself admitted in the town of in central Johor, subject of ridicule when British officials that his parents were also not married to two such councillors had their arms hacked in Malaya tried to communicate with the each other when he was born!27 off. The murder of another village com- grassroots. After communist insurgents mittee member in Kebun Bahru, northern descended on Kulai New Village in sou­ Post-Templer Era Johor, also underscored the probability of thern Johor, taking away 20 shotguns as By the time Templer left Malaya and severe reprisals awaiting those whom the well as ammunition from the local guards ­returned to the United Kingdom in communists deemed to be pro-British. without a fight, Templer unleashed his 1954, the authorities had already gained fury on the villagers by describing them as the upper hand in the fight against the Lost in Translation “just a bunch of cowards”, even berating ­communists. It was clear that the Briggs Language barriers between the local them with the use of an expletive. Unfor- Plan had proven effective in cutting off ­authorities and villagers also proved prob- tunately, the translator totally missed the supplies to the communists; it not only lematic, as illustrated by the afore­mentioned point and reportedly said, “His Excellency hurt them physically and militarily, but trial of Phang Seng. In court, Phang pleaded says that your fathers and mothers were their morale was also severely affected. ignorance and claimed he did not know that not married when you were born.”26 The dire lack of food caused some com- a permit was needed to bring rice out of Templer, apparently ignorant that his munist insurgents to surrender to the the village to cook in the pig sty where he words were lost in translation, conti­nued authorities, while dozens more perished worked. The rice was intended for two of to use the same expletive to describe in the jungles. Many guerrillas were (Above) A communist insurgent being led out of the jungle with his hands tied behind his back. Image reproduced from Barber, N. (1971). The War of the Running his four sick, young children. He also claimed himself, saying that he could be even more killed while foraging for food near the Dogs. London: Collins. (Call no.: RSING 959.5106 BAR) that he could not give a satisfactory answer ruthless than the communist guerrillas. New Villages. In one instance, two dead to the Malay guard on duty because he Once again, the message was lost in trans- communists in their mid-30s were found (Above right) The Federation Government announcing a reward of $250,000 for “bringing in alive” or giving information leading to the capture of Chin Peng, Secretary-General of the Malayan Communist Party, the man responsible for directing the armed communist revolt in Malaya. The Straits Times, 1 May 1952, p. 1. could neither speak nor understand Malay. lation when the translator announced to with “three wild jungle yams and a green

papaya – all inedible”.28 It was reported revealed that the “shortage of food in vari- stayed with them long after the Emergency HOW TO OUTSMART THE learning to ride a bicycle, “or pretending rice hidden in the hollow bamboo that some guerrillas even resorted to kill- ous places prevented us [the communists] officially ended on 31 July 1960. They AUTHORITIES to, for the past week”, and was always pole instead. ing monkeys for meat in order to survive. from concentrating large numbers of troops remained suspicious of strangers and had doing so by riding beyond the security The communists’ efforts to grow their and launching large-scale operations” and difficulty accepting help from outsiders. • Medicine and other items were These are some of the ingenious methods checkpoints.1 own vegetables in the jungle also proved that “they must guard against quarrelling Even after the barbed wire surrounding concealed under raw pork as the that people in the New Villages used to futile: the neat rows of vegetables were over the table and stealing each other’s the New Villages had been dismantled and • In another village, an old woman walked Malay constables would not touch smuggle out essentials to the insurgents: easily spotted from the air by British Royal food. People with huge appetites should outsiders started moving in, there were past through the checkpoint daily, car- these receptacles. Air Force (RAF) aircraft and bombed. After be admonished and taught to develop frequent altercations between former • The bicycle frame was a favourite tool rying two buckets of pig swill that hung • Night soil carriers squirrelled items realising their mistake, the communists self-restraint”.31 residents and the newcomers.32 for smuggling supplies. In a village near from a bamboo pole balanced on her out of the villages by stashing them began planting vegetables in a haphazard Even the restriction to beverages such On a positive note, the ­communists Kluang in central Johor, two soldiers who shoulders. When the suspicious police in false bottoms of their buckets, manner like the , but the RAF as coffee affected some: a note written by never regained their foothold in Malaya. dismantled a bicycle belonging to a nine- officers “put their hands daily into the while rubber tappers did the same still managed to find and destroy these a communist insurgent lamented that he They were put on the defensive and eventu- year-old boy found rice and antibiotic filthy mess”, they found nothing.2 A by hiding rice at the bottoms of pails agricultural plots.29 had not drunk coffee for over two months, ally retreated to the Thai-Malaysian border. pills hidden in the bicycle frame. The boy month later the officers realised they containing latex. Chin Peng, the MCP leader during and when he finally had the good fortune On 2 December 1989, the MCP agreed to drew suspicion because he had been had been hoodwinked when they found the Malayan Emergency, admitted just to find some, there was not enough sugar “disband and end its struggle against the • Women pretended to be preg­nant as much in his memoir when he said that to sweeten the treat. Malaysian forces” by signing a peace accord and wore big brassieres where the Briggs Plan was the MCP’s Achilles As for the civilians who suffered with the Malaysian and Thai governments rice could be stashed, while men heel.30 Recovered communist documents through it all, the psychological impact in Hat Yai, southern Thailand.33 strapped bags of rice to the inside of their thighs and wore loose pants. war, 1948–1960. (p. 109). London: Faber and Faber 21 Bandit supplier gets ten years. (1952, September 12). NOTES Limited. (Call no.: RCLOS 959.5 OBA-[JSB]). Amenities Singapore Standard, p. 5. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. • Those living near the fences sur- 1 The British Military Administration was the interim such as water, electricity, medical facilities and schools 22 Youth defies bandits. (1951, June 20). Singapore rounding the New Villages often military government established in Singapore and were provided for settlers in the New Villages. The Standard, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. placed supplies near the fences Malaya during the period from the Japanese surrender villagers were run by locally elected village councillors. 23 Gaoled when I told police my son gave food to bandits. to the restoration of civilian rule on 1 August 1946. See Barber, N. (1971). The war of the running dogs: How (1954, October 27). The Straits Times, p. 7. Retrieved where the communist guerrillas 2 Hack, K. (1999, March). “Iron claws on Malaya”: The Malaya defeated the communist guerrillas, 1948–60. from NewspaperSG. could easily retrieve.3 Planks were historiography of the Malayan Emergency. Journal of (p. 103). London: Collins. (Call no.: RDLKL 959.5 BAR) 24 Barber, 1971, p. 108. sometimes placed across the fences Southeast Asian Studies, 30 (1), 99–125, p. 99. Retrieved 9 O’Ballance, 1966, p. 110. 25 Barber, 1971, p. 109. from JSTOR. 10 Barber, 1971, p. 103. 26 Cloake, J. (1985). Templer: Tiger of Malaya: The life or holes were made in the fences so 3 Paul, C., et al. (2013). Malaya, 1948–1955 case 11 O’Ballance, 1966, p. 110. of Field Marshall Sir Gerald Templer (p. 272). London: that the guerrillas could enter and outcome: COIN win. In Paths to victory: Detailed 12 Barber, 1971, p. 103. Harrap. (Call no.: RSING 355. 3310942 TEM.C) insurgency case studies (p. 55). Santa Monica: RAND 13 Miller, 1981, p. 73. 27 Cloake, 1985, p. 272. leave the villages easily. Corporation. Retrieved from JSTOR. 14 Barber, 1971, p. 110. 28 Starving reds killed in ambush. (1958, July 1). The Straits 4 Named after Lieutenant-General Harold Rawdon Briggs 15 Koya, Z. (1998, August 1). Villagers’ sacrifice to beat Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. (1894–1952), who devised the strategy. Although the reds. New Straits Times, p. 7. Retrieved from 29 The Orang Asli are the indigenous people of Peninsular having retired from the British Army in 1948, he was ProQuest Central. . They, too, suffered during the Emergency. NOTES recalled to active duty in 1950 and became Director of 16 Aged man jailed for consorting. (1951, June 21). Thousands were believed to have perished during this The war of the running dogs: How 1 Barber, N. (1971). Operations in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency. Singapore Standard, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. period. Malaya defeated the communist guerrillas, 1948–60. 5 The Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) was 17 Had food for bandits, gets 3 years’ jail. (1952, August 21). 30 Chin, P. (2003). My side of history (p. 270). Singapore: (p. 110). London: Collins. (Call no.: RDLKL 959.5 BAR) often mistranslated as the Malayan Races Liberation Singapore Standard, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. Media Masters. (Call no.: RSING 959.5104092 CHI) 2 Barber, 1971, p. 110. The heavily guarded entrance of a New Village near Ipoh, Perak, 1952. Image reproduced from Yao, S. (2016). Army (MRLA). 18 Bandit supplier gets ten years. (1952, September 31 Food: Reds squeal. (1953, July 1). The Straits Times, p. 1. 3 ‘Operation Starvation’ hits reds. (1951, September 6 Miller, H. (1981). Jungle war in Malaya: The campaign 12). Singapore Standard, p. 5. Retrieved from Retrieved from NewspaperSG. The Malayan Emergency: Essays on a Small, Distant War (p. 101). Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian The Straits Times 23). , p. 5; Malaya’s reds are still being against communism, 1948–60 (p. 73). Singapore: NewspaperSG. 32 Koya, 1 Aug 1998, p. 7. Studies. (Call no.: RSING 959.5104 YAO). The Straits Times fed. (1952, April 17). , p. 6. Retrieved Eastern University Press. (Call no.: RSING 959.5 MIL) 19 Singapore Standard, 12 Sep 1952, p. 5. 33 Hassan Kalimullah. (1989, December 1). CPM to destroy from NewspaperSG. 7 Miller, 1981, p. 77. 20 Terrorists kill man who said no. (1954, December 17). all arms and ammunition in 7-point pact. The Straits 8 O’Ballance, E. (1966). Malaya: The communist insurgent The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. Times, p. 23. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.

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