10
a
bw Malays and Indians mixed up in it too, but by and large
we have the great advantage of the vast majority of the Malays
being on the side of law and order. Without this large reserve
of loyal manpower upon which to draw for the needs of the Civil
Police, both regular and special, and for the Malay Regiment, our
task in keeping order would have been well nigh impossible.
The task of bringing the bandits to book would be difficult
enough if one considered it only against the background of the
terrain. Some of the country is virgin jungle; in parts
mountainous at that. But the complexity of the problem is far
worse. There are in Malaya upwards of half a million Chinese
Squatters, who exist on small holdings all over the country, ⚫producing vegetables and food.
can, and do, base themselves.
Upon these Squatters the bandits
There have for a long time been
Squatters in Malaya, but prior to the Japanese occupati on they were adequately controlled. During that occupation the numbers of Squatters increased by leaps and bounds, both from illegal immigration and because thousands of town dwellers took to the wilds of the country to escape Japanese persecution.
The
No
Gorn
consequence has been that they have got utterly out of control, and the problem now facing the Civil Administration, to protect and police them, is a colossal one. It will take years before it really becomes effective
Another major problem from the Military angle is that of controlling movement across the THAILAND border.
This border is
some 280 miles in length, at least half is mountainous and the major porti on jungle covered. It presents little of a problem for bandits to move over the border, in either direction, in small
bandit parties undetected.
Thus the tired, hunted, gangs have
only to cross into the PATANI States of South THAILAND to rest, recuperate and retrain. So unless we can get the active
/co-operation