Rashid Maidin Memoirs

12 To Tanjung Bruas 1948-52

After a year and a half of detention I was transferred to a detention camp at Tanjung Bruas, Malacca. Historic Malacca, where colonisation began and where Dr Burhanuddin and I began the road show for merdeka. It was the place that inspired the propitious words of Dr Burhanuddin Al-Helmy, “From the ruins of Malacca will rise the spirit of merdeka.” For me, taken from place to place, handcuffed, chained, fenced in by walls and barbed wire the spirit of merdeka never died.

The detention camp was several times bigger than Pulau Jerejak’s. It housed several thousand detainees held in blocks each with 200 to 300 persons. The blocks were separated by barbed wire standing about 12 feet high. Ahmad Boestamam and Pak Sako (IshakHaji Muhammad) were here too. I often met them and talked to them when we chanced to meet.

I knew Ahmad Boestamam well from the time of PKMM in 1945. When PKMM moved toKL we went too and lived in the same building. Ahmad Boestamam loved chit chatting. Sometimes the talk did seem to mean anything in particular and was rambling. I remembered that before the emergency he had proposed to me that API take up armed struggle. Boestamam’s thinking was like ours, that merdeka must be achieved by armed struggle. He, Abdullah CD and Dr Burhanuddin had discussed the setting up of armed forces to fight the British.

At Tanjung Bruaas we met again but we were not in the same block. I was in Block K with the Cik Muda from Terengganu, Teacher Hamid of Kelantan and Ustaz Yahya Nasim of Selangor and members of the PKMM and the MCP. I was elected the president of the block.

Living conditions were worse than in Pulau Jerejak. We were angry at being forced to carry our waste pots and to clean latrines. So after only one week we formed a committee to organise a hunger strike, demanding that we should not be made to dispose of w.c. waste, that we be allowed to buy necessaries from outside, receive things from our families and allowed to have a place of worship, After three weeks, the authorities were forced to give in to our demands. We also won the right to play badminton at night and to read the Straits Times but not the Utusan Melayu, which they considered a radical paper.

If we didn’t make use of so much free time during detention with some activity we’d be bored. So we ran classes in English as there were many teachers who were good at the language. I also joined these classes to improve my English and also to help those whose level was lower than mine. Many left the camp able to speak an write English.

Many things were happening in the country during my three years at this camp. Although we were cut off from the Party we learnt from talks with the guards and the police that the guerilla war against the colonialists had started and was being actively pursued. Many clashes had occurred here and there and the British did not have the upper hand. The 10th Regiment of the Malayan National Liberation Army was a group of which I attended the foundation classes was developing successfully The news strengthened our will and fighting spirit.

The guerrilla war was costly for the colonialists and resulted in a slide i the economy. They used cheap labour to build police stations and barracks, guard stations and such like to deal with the freedom revolution launched by the MCP’s Malaya National Liberation Army. Even prisoners were mobilised. The British selected 12 detainees to build a police station at Caruk Batang, Jasin, Malacca. I was selected because I knew the officers there well. My friends did not agree with my being selected. They thought I thought only of myself and the pay given. I could not explain and had to keep my plans secret.

I had been in detention for five an a half years: six months in Taiping, two years in Pulau Jerejak and three years in Tanjung Bruas. I remembered the time when I was taken out of camp and was questioned by an English special branch officer who was accompanied by a son of the Sultan of Selangor. Many questions were asked and I answered them one by one. I took the opportunity to ask why I was being held for so long and what specific evidence of my crimes did they have. The reply was that I was accused of being a communist adding, looking at the file before him, that I had spoken openly about it. I told him that as long as there are British colonialists here we would fight. There was nothing wrong about that. Many priests, lebai, religious teachers, and school teachers had been called communist and detained. Actually all wanted the British out. Nothing wrong there.

The man said to me, "How long more do you think you will be detained?" I said I wasn't the one doing the detaining. He said it would be years. I said it would not be my choice. They could what they liked, we would wait and see.

So it was natural that I laways thought of ways of escaping from the grip of the colonial authorities. I did not want to die in detention, it would be an abomination, a waste of my life and efforts , a death of no significance. It was better a death being shot in a clash against the enemy of the country an people - the British colonialists. These thoughts haunted me all the time.

But I had to be restrained and rational unlike the young man from Pahang who jumped the barbed fence one night and ran to the sea. He was captured. It seems he was in a sort of religious frenzy. He was lucky the camp guards, all Malay, usually did not shoot at the prisoners who were Malay like them.

When the chance came to work outside the camp the thought flashed in my mind that here was a chance to get my freedom. So I offered to do the work.

We, the selected twelve were paid one dollar a day. At the beginning we were taken to and from work escorted by policemen. This was a chance to talk to Ahmad Boestamam about the news. He asked me why I was working outside and I told him that he should know. I asked him to work with me so we could escape together. He rejected my proposal and gave me this advice. General Templer (the Governor) was a clever and cunning man. I had to be careful.

I had to think more thoroughly about my planned escape. If General Templer was clever he would not have chosen me to work outside the camp a known communist, not an ordinary one but a high ranking cadre. But deep inside me was the feeling that this could be a trap. I thought carefully over Bustamam’s advice. What if they set a bait to tempt me to escape and I am shot while taking the bait. The confusing possibilities kept me awake nights. But the more I thought about it a trap seemed unlikely.

I made up my mind to escape. I went to see Ahmad Boestamam again. He was a brave man with whom I could share my secrets. I also felt that it was not right not to leave a message. Someone should know of my plans so that if it succeeded, and the news spread, the other detainees would be inspired.

Having spoken to him I said goodbye. He was in tears when he wished me every success. I knew then that he supported me in this venture. I trust Allah will bless his soul.

After a week we were told to live at the police barracks which were surrounded by barbed wire. We were guarded by 4 policemen led by a sergeant known as Pak Mi. He was not happy with the British because he was recalled although he had retired. Besides he had heard me speak at Malacca before the emergency was declared. He became a good friend of mine.

At the midday meal we ate with the police. Pal Mi would bring the UtusanMelayu for me to read. I read the paper aloud so that he too could hear the news. Pak Mi once told me that his job was ro look after kerbau balau meaning the white men not the detainees.

Luckily I had become a skilled labourer before the Japanese facists came, know something about electricity, construction plans and other things. SO much so tha many of the building matters came to me. I was made head of the workers and plans were submitted to me. The engineer was Indian. Sometimes he came sometimes ot. It was same with the white policemen. Without their presence things relaxed and we ate and drank with the policemen, read the newspapers and talked.