Red Star Over Malaya: Resistance and Social Conflict During and After the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, 1941–46

7. Outbreak of Violence and Reign of Terror

170 | Red Star Over Malaya CHAPTER 7 Outbreak of Violence and Reign of Terror News of the surrender emboldened the guerrillas to come out of the jungle…. There was terror and slaughter. – Mamoru Shinozaki, Syonan – My Story, 1975 …Now I dare not go out. You might ask why this is. I say, quite honestly, because there is violence in the land, because in the small towns and villages of Malaya, the gun and pistol rule. – Letter describing experiences of the transitional period in The Sunday Times, Kuala Lumpur, 3 Mar. 1946 Something of the turbulent conditions prevailing in the countryside in Malaya, when shots were heard day and night, can be conveyed by the violent incidents which erupted during the two-week breakdown of law and order, especially the conflict between the MPAJA guerrillas and their rivals. The Malay Groups The Malay resistance forces, Askar Melayu Setia (AMS), which operated in north Perak, and Kedah, and the Wataniah in Pahang were separate and autonomous units under British Force 136 control . They had very few dealings with the MPAJA before the Japanese surrender, but soon afterwards antagonisms developed between them and the MPAJA over control of areas. Because the AMS was a smaller force than the MPAJA, its members sided with the KMT 170 Outbreak of Violence and Reign of Terror | 171 groups in Perak and in Kelantan. The MPAJA took the field against some units of the AMS guerrillas and succeeded in breaking them up.1 In Pahang, about 17 August, after learning about the Japanese surrender, the Wataniah guerrillas informed Force 136 that they feared Sultan Abu Bakar of Pahang might fall into communist hands. In that event he would either be killed or forced to aid communist plans for a takeover of the state. A radio message was sent to SEAC headquarters advising them of the situation. A day or two after this, when the Sultan and his party arrived at the Ng Tiong Keat plantation on their way from Kuala Lipis to Pekan to collect food supplies, he was approached by six armed members of Force 136, three Americans, and three Nationalist Chinese under the command of Lieutenant Betoise. After explaining the situation to the Sultan, Lieutenant Betoise revealed that his orders, which had been radioed from Ceylon, were to take the whole party into the jungle and keep them in a safe place.2 The next day the Japanese, who thought that the communists had kidnapped the Sultan, sent out regular troops to investigate. They killed a number of innocent Chinese and caused the remainder of the estate workers in that area to flee into the jungle. In the meantime the Japanese posted notices in Malay claiming that the Sultan had been abducted and murdered by Chinese communists. Fearing that this would produce racial clashes, members of Wataniah under instruction from their headquarters followed the billposters around and tore down the inflammatory notices when no Japanese were in sight. On 8 September Captain Dorrity of Force 136 arrived at the camp and conducted the whole party to the main road, where Colonel Headley and a detachment of Wataniah in full uniform were waiting to escort the Sultan back to his capital. The ruler, wearing a colonel’s uniform supplied by Force 136, received a tumultuous welcome in every town and village through which he passed. The Wataniah, backed by Gurkha paratroops of Force 136, then took over control of large areas of Pahang from the Japanese and remained on the alert to frustrate any attempt by the MPAJA to seize control, until a detachment of regular troops landed from destroyers at Kuantan.3 Force 136 probably did not allow the royal party to emerge until 8 September because the situation remained unsafe. Until that date, neither Force 136 nor Wataniah was in a position to do much to check the MPAJA, which had entered Bentong, Raub, Kuala Lipis, 172 | Red Star Over Malaya and Jerantut, the main towns in Pahang. Brig. L.H.O. Pugh, sent to Pahang to take control of the state in September, found these towns virtually in the hands of the Chinese guerrillas of the MPAJA. In Raub they flew the hammer and sickle flag above the Union Jack. “I refused to let them participate in the Victory Parade in the town unless the position of those flags was reversed,” Pugh said. The communist flag soon fluttered below the Union...