.

In Korea, as in Malayan, fire and destruction is the fate of villages suspected of har-
boring guerillas. Yet in Malaya, despite such savage reprisals, the hand-picked legislative
council has just voted another $17 million which will provide armed police with 600
more armored cars for policing villages — to ensure their inhabitants don’t assist the libera-

tion army.

|

Heroes of the
Malayan jungle

By MICHAEL
RAPOPORT

I WAS one of a small force of

British liaison troops para-
chuted into Malaya during 1945
to make contact with the Malay-
an People’s Anti-Japanese Army,
the indomitable army of the
Malayan Resistance.

I was attached as medical of-
ficer to one of its regiments, It
was an honor to be associated
with these. heroic. unassuming
men, the bulk of whose equip-
ment came from killed or cap-
tured Japanese soldiers.

Poorly armed, ill-fed, suffer-
ing from jungle-sores,_ their
courage and unflinching will to
victory were an inspiration to
the whole Malayan people who
fed them and supplied them with
information.

They had fought a solitary
fight in Malaya without any aid
from the Allies until 1945, when
some equipment was sent, and
had created an. excellent fight-
ing force which was winning
ever-increasing victories.

Early in, August 1945, the
Japanese government in Tokyo
eapitulated, but the main centres
in Malaya were still occupied by
Japanese troops. All that time
I was with a section of the regi-
ment encamped in the jungle
not far from the main road.
®

One morning a minor sensa-

tion was created by the arrival
of a British naval officer, ex-
hausted after a seven-day trek
through the jungle.

He had a strange story to tell
us.

He was in command of a
small naval party which had
landed several months previous-
ly from a British submarine to
test the beaches for their suit-
ability for invasion purposes,

Their work®done, they waited
for a landing party to pick them
up again. None came.

For several days they had hid

near the beach, then decided to
give up hope of the submarine.
Cold and hungry, they took a
chance and surrendered at the
first house they came-to. that of
a Chinese peasant.

At great risk to himself, he
took the four men through the
Japanese lines to some friends
many miles inland. They lodged
the sailors in nearby villages,
one to a family. :

Food was scarce, but their

host gave them the best of what-

was available. When | suppiles
were exhausted, they were trans-
ferred to another family.

Their presence was an open
secret in the villages for, miles
around. But the Japanese never

heard of them, although their

betrayal would have brought a
rich reward.

One of the sailors developed

a jungle sore which failed to
respond to treatment by the local
herbalist. It was feared. that
gangrene was setting in. :

A villager, having heard of
the presence of a doctor with
the guerilla troops, had gone
off in search of us, taking the
naval officer with him. ‘They
eventually arrived at our camp,

A small group of us marched
to the main road and got into
an ancient bus which had escap-
ed the Japanhdase and was now
miraculously produced. We were
taken to the headquarters of the
Japanese area garrison com-
mander, from whom we demand-
ed a safe conduct pass and a
car,

Two hours later I was attend-
ing my patient, who was fortun-
ately not as ill as had been fear-
ed, He was overjoyed at seeing
us, but when it came to parting
with his hosts his eyes filled
with tears.

They had become firm friends,
and he could not speak too high-
ly of their kindness and gener-

osity. Similar scenes occurred
when I picked up the other two
sailors. :
o

On our way back. as we pass-

ed through one of the villages
which had befriended them, we
saw some houses on fire.

We stopped and made inquir-
ies, and my Chinese interpreter
told me tn a cold fury that Jap;
anese soldiers had fired these
houses as a reprisal against the

villagers for having harbored the
British sailors. They had lost
no time.

When I returned to camp, I
reported the outrage to my su-
perior officer, a former British
poilce officer in Malaya.

He raised his eyebrows at my
indignation in an affair which,
so far as he wag concerned, af-
fected a few illiterate Chinese
only. However, he promised to
look into the matter.

A few days later he told me
casually that he accepted the
Japanese explanation that the
houses were burned as a punish-
ment for the villagers having
harbored “bandits.”

It had nothing to do with the
British sailors and was merely
a commonplace police action!

‘He was satisfied that this action

was justified for the mainten-
ance of law and order,

It came as no surprise to me
to learn that this man is now in

charge of the police in a large

town in North Malaya, and is
actively employed in hunting his
erstwhile comrades-in-arms,

He no doubt approves of head
hunting, blood money and the
burning of Malayan villages.

His role is.a shameful one,
But the shame is not only his,
but that of the whole British
people.

, We won it by our valor, we hold it by our brains.”

“Across the hush that followed a voice was heard tto speak

‘You claim a whole Dominion: we won a continent.”

Ballad for
anadians

By J. S. WALLACE

Pee in the audience an Englishman arose

Turning to the chairman in an indifferent pose;

‘His shoes were shabby (but well brushed,

The same went for his clothes.

‘He waited for attention with calculated calm

And. stated when he got it: “You may know who I am,

The heir of those who conquered ‘the Plains of Abraham.
‘Since then this wide Dominion is part of our domains
Tts people and possessions and all that it contains.

,

se

Twould make a mortal merry and make an angel weep
He owns the British Empire, but not a place to sleep.”

The chairman rapped his gavel: “What is it that he said? N
Don’t interrupt the speaker, address the chair instead.
Don’t interrupt the speaker, address the chair instead.”

Cee eyed Englishman with thunder on his brow.

“While you were mounting cannon our hands were on
the «plow

We did not count ten thousand, but count our millions now.

We found the Mississippi, and followed where it went :

The heckler gently added: ‘‘and haven't got a cent.”

The chairman rapped his gavel: “Whatt was it that he said?
It sounds like trouble making, we will not tbe misled.
Tt sounds like trouble making, we will not be misled.”

A Ukrainian Canadian rose slowly ‘to hhis feet

“T helped ‘to break ‘the prairie soil, and planted it to wheat...”
“He helped to break the prairie soil, and he’s too broke to eal.
Canadian or English, Teuton or Celt or Slav

We work to earn a living, and that is all we have.

We either work together, or share one epitaph.”

: The chairman rapped his gavel: “What was it that he said?
He sounds just like a malcontent, the man may be Red.
’ He sounds just like a malcontent, the man may be a Red.”

Beas the flustered chairman arose a man of mark
The hand that he extended displayed a diamond spark

He measured all before him while smiling like a shark.
“Tho’ born below the border this Canada seems mine,

I love its rich resources, its people too are fine,

A little less aggressive than those across the line.

What is it that you’re seeking? You want a chance to toil
And I can see you get it, for, underneath your soil,
Uranium for atom bombs, nickel and gold and oil... .”

“He wants to gut our country, leaving an empty shell,
And while he guts our country, gutting our men as well,
Leading thro’ wars we cannot win, into an atom hell.”

The chairman banged his gavel: “I heard each word he said _
He's certainly a malcontent, he’s certainly a Red.”
The heckler rose and answered: “You've hit it on the head.”

For how can I be otherwise when born an Indian?
The first of all our immigrants. The first Canadian.
But first of all and most of all I want to -be a man,
To share with all my brothers, who toil around the earth,
No vicious pride of riches or silly pride of. birth j
But first of all and most of all the dignity of worth.
So all mankind foregathered, the cannon will fall still
Anl peace and plenty change the world for all m

of good will. " :
And they who thirst for justice, at last shall drink their fill.’

The chairman dropped his gavel. The audience rose'and swore

That Canada, our Canada, would work for peace, not war—

You share their dreams and dangers, swear as your ‘brothers
‘swore!

a

PAOIFIO TRIBUNE — JULY 11, 1952 — PAGE 10