Dispatches from the Village

Mediating the archives of the Malayan Emergency, 1948-60.

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马来西亚华人的故事➡我来自新村

Wong, Kew Lit. 2009. My New Village Stories: Survival Stories of the Malaysian Chinese (我来自新村：马来西亚华人的生存故事). Yellow Pictures (椰楼映画).

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Headquaters of the Tanjong Malin Home Guards.

Source: Imperial War Museum

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“...2. On 4th February, 1951, The OCPD, Bentong, gave instructions that the population of the Bukit Tinggi closer-settlement area should remain within the perimeter fence on that day. His reason was that, for operational reasons, it would be unwise to permit the farmers to be at large lest they might confuse Gurkha troops in the area and run the risk of being accidentally shot. His reasons, which I do not wish to query, could not be conveyed to the farmers at the time.

3. Unfortunately the effect of the order was that they could not being to the roadside the beans and cabbage picked on the previous day which therefore became uneatable and unmarketable. The lorries arrived as usual and their charges were payable. It was also impossible for the farmers to pick vegetables for selling on the following day which was New Year’s Eve...They must have missed the market of the year.

4. It is not difficult to imagine that they spent an unhappy and resentful New Year. They recalled how, as a result of closer-settlement, many had to put in more labour to reach distant fields. They remembered the wild animals which have been attacking their unprotected crops. They also remembered the misunderstandings which existed before the Police Lieutenant was posted to Bukit Tinggi. In fact they moped...”  

Bukit Tinggi (1951), National Archives of Malaysia. 

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It was once their shelter and haven. On Nov 2, 1948, the British army burned down all the 61 cottages in Kachau, destroying homes of hundreds, as well as their hope...Resident Zeng Yi Jin, 80, has lived half of his life in Semenyih. The British army issued an order in 1948, giving villagers half an hour to pack their belongings before burning the village into ashes. Like other villagers, Zeng lost his home and together with other residents scattered in the mountains, they rebuilt their homes in Semenyih New Village.

“A forever pain” (2014), Sin Chew Daily, translated by Soong Phui Jee 

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Ulu Kelatan, Malaya. People float their village to safety apparently to avoid communist intimidation. Source: British Pathé

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Aerial view of a newly completed government funded resettlement village in Malaya.

Source: Imperial War Museum

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“LT: Upon returning to Singapore in 1949 what was your first assignment and designation then?

JDHN:...he’d specifically asked the Establishment Officer to send me to Bentong because General Briggs had recently been appointed as Chief of Operations and he’d drawn up a plan for the resettlement of the rural Chinese under protection. So that they would then have an excuse and it would be difficult for them or for those that were wanting to - to provide food and medicine to the terrorists. And one of the worst areas at that time in Malaysia was West Pahang which was not well populated and had quite a number of rubber estates and the security on the estates was poor. There had been quite a number of managers who had been killed and when I arrived in Bentong...I mean, I heard that the terrorists were so brazen that they would walk into the town at night and have meals in coffee-shops and get what they wanted. The place had in fact virtually been taken over by them.

So I was responsible for starting off the resettlement of squatters and rural tappers in West Pahang and that was one of the first areas that the Brigg’s plan was implemented. And in fact my first village was Bukit Tinggi which I so named because it was on top of the hill, just at the foot of the road that now leads up to Genting Highlands. And I see that there is a big blue and white signboard pointing the way to Bukit Tinggi. So it looks as if it’s now a town in its own right.” 

Oral History Interview, James Desmond Howard Neill, conducted by Liana Tan, 1981, Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore.  

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Malaysia: Kebun Bahru, Johor, fighting in 1952 Source: Personal collection, Michael Rogge. 

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Passengers leaving the station watched the line as they walked, while passengers on the train hung out of the windows to watch the array. The smart rows of police constables were really the centre of attention at the station. That was the first time they had seen a line of young policemen, complete with their luggage and guns - a new sight for that era, the era of post-Japanese occupation. In the previous era, they had seen Japanese-trained Malay men with uniforms and attitudes to strike terror in their hearts and on this day, they saw a police team trained by the English, made up of young Malay men, with attitude and discipline of a different nature and form.

Scattered Bones / Tulang-tulang Berserakan (1966), Usman Awang

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“Arrangements have been made with the Chief of Staff, Headquarters, Malaya, for Army units to be encouraged to associate themselves closely with the people living in new villages and kampongs in their areas, where possible. It is not considered necessary to prescribe any rigid rules as to the procedure to be followed but Officers Commanding units are being advised to consult District Officers, who it is hoped will give every assistance to enable the scheme to be implemented...as a guide, the following are examples of amenities which units might be able to offer: -

1. Invitations to new village committee members or leading Malays in the kampongs to attend unit film shows.

2. Band performances in new villages or kampongs.

3. Facilities for games between units and new villages or kampongs.

4. Provision of medical assistance where required from time to time.”

Affliation of Army Units to Villages and Kampongs in Rural Areas (1952), National Archives of Malaysia.

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Malaya: Tanjong Malim (1952), British Pathé.

Unissued / Unused material. 

Precautions against terrorism in Tanjong Malim district of Malaya. 

MS road sign - 'Tanjong Malim, You Are Now in Perak'. MS barbed wire barricades. MS district Home Guard lookout post. MS road barrier checking point. MS troops checking lorry. MS lifting barrier and allowing a lorry to pass through. MS car at the checking point, it drives through, troops check cyclists through afterwards. MS troops going through forest. LS local district Home Guard at drill. MS Malayan NCO giving orders. MS's Home Guard at drill and rifle practise. MS local Post Office. MS children walking through street. MS people building a house. MS Triumph car coming through street. MS river running below bridge. MS traffic going through town. MS girls marching to school. MS bus going through town.

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The Resettlement of Squatters in Malaya (1951), The National Archives (United Kingdom).

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I push open the door/ to search for moonlight/ on the muddy track of the village/ I find last night's barking/ and dark shadows/ have transformed into numberless white/ anti-colonial leaflets

“New Village after curfew”, Wong Yoon Wah, 1997. Collected in The New Village, translated by Ho Lian Geok and Ng Yi-Sheng, 2012.

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“He said that the general public had always the wrong impression of the meaning of the word ‘Information’. He explained to them on the functions and set-up of the Dept. of Information from the Federal down to State, Area and District level and the functions of the Information Officer, the Mobile Units and the Field Officers, Radio Malaya and Malayan Film Unit which were in one way or the other linked with the Information Department. The Units would go to the remote kampongs to put up cinema shows and the Field Officers would disseminate the latest or useful “talking points” for the information of the people.”

Report on the One Day Civics Course for the Boys and Girls of Clifford English School, Kuala Lipis, Pahang Organised by the Area Information Office, North Pahang, Kuala Lipis on 17th October, 1959 (1959), National Archives of Malaysia.

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A member of the Malayan Home Guard mans a check point on the edge of a town. Such check points allowed the authorities to search vehicles and intercept food and supplies being smuggled out to the communist terrorists. 

Source: Imperial War Museum

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Malayan Women Home Guards (1954), British Pathé.

Various shots of the women, preparing for parade in village. Various shots of the women, patrolling through plantation and village streets. Various shots, on parade under the instruction of a male N.C.O. Receiving instruction in rifle training. Firing rifle range, various shots. Various shots searching plantation workers.

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“Truly,’ thought Neo, words going through his mind as if spoken in his ear, ‘truly the People Inside are strong and it is dangerous to go against them.’ He passed a tree with a great dark gash, pith congealed. ‘Fire and water,’ he thought, ‘we stand between fire and water, between the Police, and the People Inside.’

And the Rain My Drink (1956), Han Suyin