BRITISH LEADERS CRITICISED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23538, 16 January 1942, Page 5

BRITISH LEADERS CRITICISED

Conduct of War In Malaya LONDON PRESS COMMENT (Received January 16, 2 a.m.) (U.P.A.i LONDON. January 15. Singapore's administrators and •uper-optimists are coming under a withering fire in the London newspapers, particularly an unnamed high British authority who predicted on Tuesday that the Allies would have air superiority, in Malaya and the outlying islands "within three days. The "Daily Express" says: "A native force was never formed in Malaya. The pack of whisky-swilling planters and military birds-of-passage had forgotten this side of the Malayan population. They handed it over to Japan, together with the wireless station and stores at Penang." The "Star" says: "The pukka sahibs of the Far East have cut a pretty poor picture since the despised Japanese shattered their world of chota pegs, bridge parties, and Blimpish forecasts that the old Raj had nothing to fear from the Orientals." By contrast, the "Daily Telegraph declares: "Scapegoat-hunting will not make the critical situation in Malaya any better. The real issue is the strategy of the war as a whole. The primary lesson of Malaya is for a vast increase in equipment."