Ipohworld's World

[front] [back] Suriya Sankaran sent us this picture, along with an interesting email. According to Suriya, his grandfather – T.N. Balakrishnan – is the Inspector (with a pistol at his waist) standing in front of his troops. T.N. Balakrisnan was part of the Perak Homeguard, and this picture was taken at the stand off area [...]

  Yes it is John De Lucy and his twin brother having fun in their garden pool under the supervision of their Amah, but of course this was during the Malayan Emergency and so the ever-present armed guard is also in the picture. As John himself relates in our earlier blog, eventually they had to [...]

The picture, taken in 1964 by an official photographer shows the then Sultan of Perak, Sultan Idris Shah II (1963-1984), when he visited Fort Tapong. He is in discussion with members of the Police Field Force who were billeted there and conducted anti communist patrols in the area. This fort, the last to be built [...]

A E Walker, the Manager of Elphil Estate (Sungai Siput, Perak), was shot in his office by Communist insurgents on 16th June 1948. Walker’s murder and the murder of two other planters led to the start of the Malayan Emergency – which lasted 12 years; 1948-1960. Here we have a rare photograph of the interior [...]

The Home Guard was part of a defence strategy during the Malayan Emergency. Their role was a ‘static local defence’, and ‘manning of checkpoints’ to cut of supplies to CTs, particularly in the area of the New Villages. The Home Guard were said to release the police and military for counter-terrorist ops. Here we have [...]

In 1956/57 there was a great deal of student unrest relating to the communist insurgents and the forthcoming Merdeka. Surprisingly, this even spread to laid back old Ipoh. The situation was described by one of the Special Branch officers at the time as “a compelling problem of student subversion developing in the middle schools in Perak, particularly Ipoh”. [...]

“In 1948 an appalling upheaval took place in Malaya……I was told by the Manager of Kamunting Estate when I made my routine visit that the Manager of Elphill Estate had been shot.” Thus, according to Dr Tweedie, was the start of the Malayan Emergency. Here we have a picture from that era (somewhere between 1948 – [...]

A member of 2nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment recorded a night out in the jungle thus: “Leeches that sucked the blood and covered the body were so prevalent one eventually ignored them, it was not unusual to find 50 or more in all parts of the body.   Vicious red ants, scorpions and ticks big enough [...]

This is a postcard featuring the Memorial Park. In the centre is a fountain, which seems to have attracted the attention of those two individuals on the left of it. On the plaque (centre, bottom) are the words “Memorial Park, 1948-1960″. From this, we understand that this was a remembrance of the Malayan Emergency and those who fell [...]

Although not a new publication (it was first published in 1982 and reprinted in 1984) it is out of print but sometimes still available on the Internet.  It forms a very handy introduction to the Malayan Emergency of 1948 to 1960. Ideal for the student or as a first-time introduction to the events of those difficult times. Osprey [...]