Red Stronghold in Kelantan Razed

Northern Advocate, 11 August 1948, Page 5

Red Stronghold in Kelantan Razed

SINGAPORE, Tuc. GO a.m.) Reports reaching Kuala Lumpur tonight from the British force operating against the insurgents in the south of Kelantan State, said a Communist stronghold at Pulai had been razed and army patrols. Gurkhas and Malays, were pursuing the insurgents deep into the jungle. About 1000 Communist-led rebels, their wives and families, are being tracked down by patrols. Announcing the occupation of Pulai, Major-General Boucher GOG Malaya District, said the first attempt to establish a Communist republic in this part of Malaya had completely failed. An eye-witness said Pulai had been destroyed by rocket-firing RAF Spitfires, followed up by the army attack. The Chinese rebel brother-in-law of the Pulai headman was found badly wounded among the ruins. He tried to whistle the Internationale as he died. INTIMIDATION Rubber tappers on Sungei Tua estate, in a lonely area about 10 miles north of Kuala Lumpur, stopped work today following a “stop work or die” ultimatum from a band of armed insurgents. This is the first case in the Malayan crisis where rubber production has been lost as a result of insurgent intimidation. Chinese and Indian tappers returned to their homes alter two Chinese had been waylaid by six armed gunmen early in the morning and one shot in the thigh. Later, the insurgent band appeared on the estate and delivered an ultimatum to a group of tappers. Soon afterward all labourers returned to their homes.