Author: kmhew
Date: 10-12-02 19:26
Hakka Terrorists
Terrorism is the buzzword today. Where there is excitement you can be sure that the Hakkas will be in the thick of it.
After the Fall of Singapore on February 15, 1942 the MPAJA (Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army) which is the military arm of the MCP (Malayan Communist Party) form the largest group of resistance fighters in Malaya. They stayed in their jungle bases and came out whenever opportunity suited them to harass the Japanese.
On 23 August 1943 Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed Supreme Commander of SEAC (South East Asia Command) based in Ceylon (Sri Lanka today). Operation Zipper was planned to invade Malaya by sea and retake it by force from the Japanese. But first SEAC sent Force 136 agents by submarine to establish contact with the MPAJA in the jungle. By August 1945 SEAC had parachuted 371 Force 136 agents and large quantities of weapons and supplies to the MPAJA at their jungle DZs (dropping zones) to prepare for the anticipated invasion. When Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 after USA dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all these efforts came to nought.
After the British returned to Malaya the MPAJA members came out of the jungle and handed in their personal arms to earn the bonus of $350. The post War colonial government introduced trade unions and encouraged the local workers to form trade unions. The MCP infiltrated the unions and fomented strikes to destabilize the government. The Singapore General Strike brought the island to a standstill. Strikes by rubber estate and tin mine workers in Malaya created havoc to the country’s economy.
In February 1948, sponsored by Communist controlled organizations, the Calcutta Conference of Youth and Students ended with a message to the peoples of South East Asia to rise up against their colonial oppressors. Accordingly the Central Committee of the MCP held their Plenary session in Singapore in May 1948 and made the momentous decision to switch from destabilizing the government through labour strikes to overthrowing the government by armed struggle. Secret orders were sent to the various branches of the MPAJA ex-Service Comrades Association in Malaya to close shop and recall their members to report back at their jungle camps. They renamed themselves as the MRLA (Malayan Races Liberation Army). They put on their uniform, retrieved their cache of weapons and went into business straightaway. A large number of the members of the MCP as well as the MRLA were Hakkas.
The results were seen immediately. On June 16, 1948 three European planters were killed by armed men in their respective rubber estate office in Sungei Siput in the state of Perak. On June 18, 1948 the government proclaimed a State of Emergency for the whole of Malaya.
At first the Malayan government borrowed the KMT (Kuomintang – Guomindang) terminology and called these insurgents ‘bandits’. After 1949 when the Peoples Republic of China was established they changed the name to CTs (communist terrorists).
Based on the previous relationship of Force 136 with the MPAJA the British estimated that there were about 5,000 odd armed ‘bandits’. Against these insurgents they mobilized the might of the British Empire. In addition to the local Malay Regiments several British regiments were sent out from Britain together with their favourite Rottweiler, the Gurkha Rifles, who will attack at their masters command. Other troops included the King’s African Rifles and the Fiji Regiment. Australian and New Zealand armed forces were of as usual represented.
The rhetoric of that time sounds strangely familiar today:
The British Governor addressing the Chinese community: those of you who are not with us will be considered as against us.
The British General speaking to his troops before setting out on operations: The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist.
The Malay commander of the Police ‘Jungle Squads’. The Malayan Police Force was greatly inflated and started a paramilitary field force called ‘jungle squads’ whose job was to enter the jungle and ‘flush out’ the terrorists while the regular troops were lying in ambush at the escape routes. The Malay Commander told a press conference how he was going to do his job: I will shoot first and ask questions afterwards. When a reporter put up his hand and asked: If you shoot first and killed the poor fellow what then? After struggling while the scenario sank into his ponderous brain his face lit up and with a broad smile he announced Then no need to ask question, lah.
To be continued.
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