NewsFocus: Stopping the Red terror
(NST) Sixty-one years ago today, three European plantation managers were killed at Sungai Siput, Perak. The British immediately brought emergency measures into law, first in Perak and then, in July, country-wide. The Malayan Communist Party and other leftist parties were outlawed.
The MCP, led by Chin Peng, retreated to rural areas, and formed the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), which began a guerilla campaign. FAUZIAH ISMAIL and EVANGELINE MAJAWAT revisit the Emergency period
| Men of D Company of the First Battalion, the Fijian Infantry Regiment, pictured with the bodies of five communist terrorists they killed in a plantation area in Batu Pahat district, Johor in Sept 1953. |
| Some Tanjung Malim residents going into the jungle to urge five communist terrorists hiding in the area to surrender in August 1957. — Straits Times picture |
IT is called God's Little Acre. The cemetery in Batu Gajah, Perak is the final resting place of the three European planters who were killed 61 years ago by communists in then Malaya.
A memorial cross was erected there 20 years ago to commemorate the Communist Emergency from 1949-1960.
The memorial inscription reads:
Erected by The Perak Planters's Association and other well-wishers
In memory of all those who lie at rest in God's Little Acre
Pioneers, planters, miners, police and the military
Many of whom gave their lives when defeating communist insurgency
1948 – 1960
We shall remember them.
A.E. Walker was the first of three European planters killed in Sungai Siput, Perak on June 16, 1948.
Two communist terrorists (CTs) of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) arrived at the Walkers' bungalow on a motorcycle armed with Sten submachine guns. They fired through the door and window of the bungalow, killing Walker instantly. His wife miraculously was unhurt.
Within hours of Walker's murder, 50-year-old J. M. Allison and his young assistant, Leonard Christian, were killed in cold blood at their office, also in Sungai Siput, with their hands bound behind their backs.
The CTs' plan was to cripple the country's economy. Their initial targets were rubber estates in Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor and Pahang.
A month before the merciless killing of the European planters, the CTs were attacking locals working in these estates.
Their killings were described in newspaper reports as "industrial or political murders by Chinese gunmen".
Following these murders, High Commissioner Sir Edward Gent declared a state of emergency on June 16, 1948. It covered Ipoh and Sungai Siput police districts in Perak and Kluang, Muar, Kulai and Plentong police circles in Johor.
The Straits Times then reported that the essential emergency power regulations were introduced "in view of the serious state of lawlessness now prevailing in those areas" and would continue until Gent considered the emergency to have ended.
The new regulations provided for the death penalty for unauthorised possession of firearms, ammunition or explosives.
In addition, they confer special powers to, among other things, arrest, detention, exclusion from particular areas, assembly of persons, imposition of curfews, search of persons and premises, closing of roads, paths and waterways, requisition of buildings, vehicles, boats, seizure of seditious documents and any article which can be used as an offensive weapon.
A day later, Gent and the then commissioner of police, H.B. Langworthy, each held a meeting to decide on "action to be followed in the Federation of Malaya under certain contingencies in the present political emergency".
At Gent's executive council meeting, he was given a complete picture of conditions existing in the Federation.
"Certain unofficial members of the Executive Council spoke strongly and urged wide action," the Straits Times reported.
Meanwhile, Langworthy's meeting was attended by all chief police officers except those of Kelantan and Terengganu — who were not summoned as their states were not as fully involved as the west coast states — and of Malacca, who was ill. No statements came out of the two meetings.
It was a month later on July 22 that Officer Administering Government Sir Alec Newboult declared Emergency nationwide.
The CT plan was becoming clear. They first started attacking places of employment, such as estates, mines and factories, under the guise of industrial unrest.
Then, it changed to a direct attack on the lives of the management and estate staff, both European and Chinese. The attacks then moved on to places such as police stations, where success would weaken public morale.
"The enemy will not go for the well and strongly defended places because their immediate purpose is not to inflict a material loss on us as much as to discredit and disorganise the government machine and so bring about the condition of unrest and chaos and that dislocation of the economic life of the country, which is their primary purpose," Newboult said.
Under the new emergency rule, European police officers of the Malayan Police, who were on leave in Britain, were recalled with instructions to return by air.
The army was to co-operate with the police, whereby the former had been asked to allow as much decentralisation as possible so that spot decisions may be made by the chief police officer and the military commanding officer in the territory.
The police were also armed with Sten guns against the CTs. Guns were also distributed to planters.
Planters and estate labourers were also asked to form special constabulary corps under the direct orders of the chief police officer of each district. The chief police officer in each district also had the discretion to issue guns to Europeans and Asians sworn in as special constables.
The nationwide emergency rule also saw the introduction of national registration and the issue of identity cards in the Federation.
It was not introduced nationwide immediately but in certain areas. Fingerprints and photographs of each person in the registration areas were taken to help the police and military in their battle against terrorism.
Upon registration, an identification card was issued in which the holder must carry with him and produce on demand.
It was 12 years later on July 31, 1960 that the government declared the end of the Emergency period. By then, Chin Peng had left south Thailand for Beijing where he was accommodated by the Chinese authorities in the International Liaison Bureau, where many other Southeast Asian Communist Party leaders were housed.
During the conflict, it was reported that security forces killed 6,710 guerillas and captured 1,287.
A total of 2,702 guerillas surrendered while about 500 more did so at the end of the conflict.
A total of 1,345 Malayan troops and police were killed during the conflict, as well as 519 Commonwealth personnel. A total of 2,478 civilians were killed, with another 810 recorded as missing.
Association slams Anwar over Chin Peng statement
OPPOSITION leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's open support for the return of former communist terrorists' leader, Chin Peng, is an act of betrayal against the country.
Stressing that the opposition leader was playing with fire and that his recent support for the terrorist' return to Malaysia was a political gimmick to win over the Chinese community's support, the Ex-Servicemen's Association chided Anwar for his illogical, desperate statement.
"We call upon Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to stick to the government's long-standing decision to bar the terrorist from our soil.
"Anwar is just interested or rather worried about his dwindling support, particularly among the Chinese community.
"This is betrayal. Anwar might be clever but he is not intelligent," Ex-Servicemen's Association president Datuk Muhammad Abdul Ghani said.
Speaking at a press conference at the association's office in Kota Baru yesterday, Muhammad said an increasing number of former soldiers and family members of those who were killed by communist terrorists have contacted the association to protest the opposition leader's irresponsible statement.
"I'm sure others, including the entire Armed Forces and our colleagues in the Royal Malaysian Police force, are also against it.
"We'll teach Anwar and Parti Keadilan Rakyat a lesson through the ballot box. We will be seeking an appointment with the prime minister to convey our strong views against allowing the return of the terrorist."
He also didn't rule out the possibility that Anwar was purposely creating explosive issues to divert people's attention away from the ugly internal crisis in PKR and Pakatan Rakyat.
Two days ago, Anwar urged the government to forgive and forget Chin Peng's atrocities and allow him to return to Malaysia.
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