Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 09-26-11 05:48
The formation of 8th MPAJA Independent Regiment - 1942
馬來亞人民抗日軍第八獨立隊
----------------------------------------
五月的鮮花開遍了原野,
鮮花掩蓋着志士的鮮血:
為了挽救這垂危的民族,
他們會頑強地抗戰不歇.
In May, the fresh flowers blossom all over the plain,
They cover the fresh blood of the comrades,
For the sake of saving the nation,
The comrades will relentlessly resist the enemy.
A patriotic song
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On December 8, 1941, Japanese troops forced landed on Singora in southern
Siam (Thailand). Three days later, the Japanese forces had penetrated Jitra
in the north Kedah State in Malaya. On the 12th December entered Alor Star
the capital of the State of Kedah. The British troops treated very fast.
Within one week they lost the States pf Perlis and Kedah to the Japanese.
The British troops retreated orderly and therefore did not not abandon their
weapons. Members of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) found it hard to picked
up abandoned weapons from the retreating British forces.
The MCP branches of Kedah and Penang had a meeting with the aim of establishing
an Anti-Japanese Force, but of no avail.
In February 1942, ten students from Chung Ling High School in Penang (鐘
靈中學檳城) formed a guerrilla band with five rifles and more than 50 hand
grenades. The members were, Xiao Ya He (肖亞河), E Yue (阿岳), Huang Zhi
Cheng (黃志成) and seven others whose names were not recorded. Later Xiao
Ya He and E Yue were killed in an engagement and this guerrilla unit disbanded
themselves.
In May 1942, the MCP branches of states of Penang, Kedah and Perlis formed
the 8th Independent Reigiment of the MPAJA in Kedah. The MCP representative
in this regiment was Liu Rong Guang (劉榮光) and the commander was Zhang
Yun (張雲alias Zhang Shi 張士, Ya Han 亞漢). At the initial stage there
were only about twenty fighters in this regiment.
All over Malaya there were eight regiments of anti-Japanese army with about
two thousand fighters, in the initial stage, who were supported mainly by
the Malayan Chinese. The war in China had made many Chinese anti-Japanese.
The Japanese accused the Chinese of helping the "bandits" (Note: The Japanese
called all guerrillas "bandits," never acknowledging the existence of ant-Japanese
fighters). The Malays and Indians in Malaya practically took no parts in
anti-Japanese warfare. Mainly the Chinese bore the brunt of Japanese brutality.
The Japanese hated the communists who were like a disease which ate into
their pride and wounded their vanity. In 1931 when the Japanese invaded
Manchuria and the Chinese Government of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) did not
put up a strong resistance. It was the communists who fought them with guerrilla
warfare. The communists were the people who really put up a fight against
the Japanese. Here again in Singapore the communists wanted to fight the
Japanese, even though the British had surrendered. The communists refused
to give up fighting and they wanted to carry on the fight into the jungles
in Malaya.
During the Japanese occupation, all over Malaya, the fighters in the were
eight Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) Independent Regiments
increased to about six thousand fighters who were supported mainly by the
Malayan Chinese. The war in China had made many Chinese anti-Japanese. The
Japanese accused the Chinese of helping the "bandits" (Note: The Japanese
called all guerrillas "bandits," never acknowledging the existence of ant-Japanese
fighters). The Malays and Indians in Malaya practically took no parts in
anti-Japanese warfare. Mainly the Chinese bore the brunt of Japanese brutality.
The disposition of the M.P.A.J.A was as follows:
The 1st Independent Regiment of the MPAJA was in Selangor
The 2nd Independent Regiment of the MPAJA was in Negri Sembilan
The 3rd Independent Regiment of the MPAJA was in North Johore
The 4th Independent Regiment of the MPAJA was in South Johore
The 5th Independent Regiment of the MPAJA was in Perak
The 6th Independent Regiment of the MPAJA was in Pahang
The 7th Independent Regiment of the MPAJA was in Trengganu
The 8th Independent Regiment of the MPAJA was in Kedah.
At the later stage of the war some of the regiments were incorporated into
the British-led Force 136 of the South East Asia Command (SEAC) under the
command of Colonel John Davis and Major Lim Bo Seng (林謀盛少校 Lin Mousheng)
, from Singapore.
http://yn.chung.id.au/Davis&Lim.inBidorCamp.jpg
The photos are from the book "新馬抗日史料“
by the popular Malaysian author 郭仁德.
Will talk about Davis and Lim soon.
The military flag of the MPAJA was three yellow stars in a red background.
The MPAJA fighters wore five-cornered service caps with three stars. They
were being called Three-Star Army, or Bintang Tiga (三星軍隊) , representing
the three main races in Malaya, Chinese, Malays and Indians. Their salute
was the closed right hand fist holding up in front of the fore head. Their
army song was San Da Kou Hao (三大口號):
抗日的旗幟高空飄嘿嘿,
我們是人民抗日軍,
要打倒日本,
只有打倒日本鬼才能生存.
The flag of Anti-Japanese is fluttering in the breeze,
We are the Anti-Japanese Army,
We want to strike down the Japanese,
Our survival depends on striking down the Japanese devils.
Posted to asiawind.com
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永yuan)
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