home guard Archives - IpohWorld's World

November 2012

“At Ease”

By felicia|2017-04-12T14:56:08+08:00November 30th, 2012|Categories: history, Identify Photographs, Memories, People|Tags: Bidor, communist terrorist, home guard, Malayan Emergency|

[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 in Bidor (Batang Padang District) during the early 1950s.

To read more about the Home Guard go to http://db.ipohworld.org/view/id/2224

And for those who are not aware of the special Chines force, The Kinta valley Home Guard please go to http://db.ipohworld.org/view/id/4162.

I am sure that those of you who grew up in the New Villages will have many memories of the Home Guard.

But, for readers who do nor know about the Briggs Plan and New Villages there is a well written account of life in a local New Village here http://db.ipohworld.org/view/id/3247

To conclude. Suriya is very keen to find out more about his grandfather and service in the Home Guard. Can you help him in his quest please?

March 2010

Armed and Dangerous?

By felicia|2010-03-03T13:18:41+08:00March 3rd, 2010|Categories: Identify Photographs, ipoh, Memories, People|Tags: communist terrorists, CTs, General Templar, home guard, Kinta valley, Kinta Valley Home Guard, Lau Pak Khuan, Malayan Emergency, New Villages, Tin Mines, towkay|

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 two women from the Kinta Valley Home Guard, taken on the 2nd of March 1953 (the one on the right is holding a Bren gun). These were trained at a camp in Ipoh and were specifically for guarding the tin mines in Perak. They were all Chinese and founded by Towkay Lau Pak Kuan, as President of the Perak Chinese Tin Mining Association, with permission from General Templar, the British High Commissioner. Formed in 1952, some 4000 members were recruited, trained and armed by the government. In 1954 it is recorded that 323 different mines were defended by this “Chinese Home Guard”. They were operational until the end of the Emergency.

(If I were a CT, I’d know better than to get in their way!)