MALAYAN REDS’ PLOT TO SEIZE COUNTRY BY REVOLUTION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 5

MALAYAN REDS’ PLOT TO SEIZE COUNTRY BY REVOLUTION

1 1 Z.P.A.—Reuter— Copyright) (10 a.m.) SINGAPORE, June 20“I have seen documentary proof that the Malayan Communists plan to seize the country by revolution,” says Reuter’s correspondent in Singapore. “They intend to make a ‘second Indonesia’ of Malaya, employing murder, arson and intimidation to paralyse the country’s economy. The recent murders are the opening move.

“The Communists hope in a protracted armed struggle eventually to gain world recognition as a nationalist body seeking independence. It is now clear that they recently declared war on British rule and a decision will be gained only after a drawn-out hit-and-run jungle campaign like the one they fought so successfully against the Japanese during the occupation. British Forces at Lowest Ebb

“War has been declared when the strength of the British military forces in Malaya is at the lowest ebb since the end of the second world struggle. "Practically all the British battalions have been repatriated to England for demobilisation and the security of the country is now entrusted to two recently-arrived Gurkha brigades. “The Communists have trained men and arms in plenty. The authorities thus far have discovered only three of the 15 arms dumps believed to be scattered throughout the country. “The Communists know how to exploit the peninsula’s vast distances and how the military and police forces are becoming thin in an attempt to protect all individuals.” Five Chinese armed with Sten guns and revolvers last night murdered the Chinese manager of the Chang Wing estate at Bekok Labis in the southernmost State of Johore.

Another party of Chinese, armed with rifles and sawn-off shotguns, looted a provision store on the Johore River estate. Leaders Go Underground

Leaders of the former Malayan People’s Anti-Japanase Army in Johore have gone underground and called on ex-members to rejoin on an "active basis,” says the Sunday Times. The police say that ex-guerrilla chiefs have already taken to the hills and the “call to arms" is the preliminary to the commencement of largescale guerrilla activity. A Chinese gang of 20 men yesterday burned down a rubber factory on Nyor estate in Kluang. A bandit last night shot and seriously wounded a Chinese detective at Bahau Negri. A report from Bangkok says that 56 Communists and secret society leaders who were recently arrested by the Siamese police will be immediately deported from the country. Twenty-one persons—lß Chinese and three Europeans—have been murdered for political or industrial reasons since the beginning of May in the federation of Malaya. The figure does not include killings for other motives. One other European was killed in a hold-up Eight Chinese labourers were also killed in a police baton charge near Segamat at the beginning of June. Many other persons were wounded as a result of political crimes. The Selangor police, in the first swoop under the new emergency powers, today arrested one mile outside of Kuala Lumpur a Japanese ex-Army doctor who is believed to have been preparing to act as medical officer for Communist guerrillas in the neighbouring hills. The police also arrested his Chinese wife and five Chinese, three of whom are alleged to be members of “strong-arm squads” of a powerful secret society with Communist connections.

The presence of the Japanese doctor, who is 30-year old Takeshibashi Riutaro, a graduate of the University of Tokyo, was unknown to the police until the raid. They seized 20 packing cases of Japanese medical equipment which were ready for moving to the hills. The doctor said he “disappeared from a Japanese camp shortly before repatriation to Tokyo. It is believed that the secret society “protected” him by frightening any villagers from reporting his presence.

EDEN ADVOCATES FIRM MEASURES

( 9 a .m.) LONDON,. June 20. Mr Anthony Eden, speaking in Derby, urged firm and prompt handling of the unrest in Malaya. ...... He said that the Communist agitation in Malaya was threatening life and security in the territory where production was the greatest dollar earning asset Britain possessed.