Page 18 - Malayan Story
P. 18
MALAYAN STORY
CHAPTER 4 INTRODUCTION TO MALAYA
I arrived in Singapore with the impression of tropical heat and tropical plants, bright sunshine and
heavy afternoon downpours which only increased the humidity. There was a warm welcome from
old friends who had arrived there before me and were settled in at the very new CIM headquarters in
Chancery Lane, which had only recently moved from Hongkong.
I was introduced to “Algy”, the new Austin station wagon which was to serve us faithfully over
thousands of miles of Malayan roads. Best of all, there was “togetherness” again after the long year
of separation.
“We leave tomorrow for KL (Kuala Lumpur)” Percy said on that first day off the boat while I was
still soaking in impressions of a place which was so very Chinese, and yet so different from mainland
China.
“Oh, no!” I protested, “I haven’t seen anything of Singapore yet.”
But Percy had had six months in Singapore when he first arrived from Australia, and it was he who
had found the Chancery Lane location for the CIM headquarters. Now we had our own centre for
work in Kuala Lumpur on the Malay Peninsula where he was to be the Field Superintendent. He
wanted to get me there as soon as possible, installed as housekeeper in the beautiful home he had
rented from the son of the Sultan of Selangor, the young Rajah Muda.
Algy started without a protest next morning, and we were quickly out of sight of the waving hands at
Chancery Lane and around the corner into the main stream of traffic heading for Bukit Timah and
the causeway 16 miles to the north of Singapore which connected Singapore to Malaya. A brief stop
for Singapore Customs on one side and Malay Customs on the other, and we were in Johore Bahru,
the capital of Johore State. Percy pointed out to me some of the many ornate buildings which were
part of the tourist attractions of the area, but we were quickly through the city and out on to the long
centre road which leads from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.
“This was a really dangerous trip when I first came through a year ago,” Percy commented. “Do you
see that pile of rusted metal on the side of the road? When I came through with Paul Contento on my
first trip a year ago, the communist guerrillas had just held up a bus and burnt it here.”
“What happened to the passengers?”
“The guerrillas took their identity cards and left them to walk to the nearest village or be picked up
by another bus. Any European travelling on such a bus would have been shot outright, but
Europeans didn’t travel these roads much in those days, or if they did, they had their own armoured
cars, and never did less than 70 mph. All the plantation managers not only have armoured cars, but
usually have their own well-armed guards as well.”
“You don’t seem to be worrying,” I said, looking at his relaxed hands on the wheel.
“It’s not so bad now, but I still feel a bit uneasy if we travel a long stretch without any traffic coming
the other way. I begin to wonder then if something has gone wrong ahead of us.”
“What a beautiful road this is – better than many of our roads in Australia. Are they all like this in
Malaya?”
18
CHAPTER 4 INTRODUCTION TO MALAYA
I arrived in Singapore with the impression of tropical heat and tropical plants, bright sunshine and
heavy afternoon downpours which only increased the humidity. There was a warm welcome from
old friends who had arrived there before me and were settled in at the very new CIM headquarters in
Chancery Lane, which had only recently moved from Hongkong.
I was introduced to “Algy”, the new Austin station wagon which was to serve us faithfully over
thousands of miles of Malayan roads. Best of all, there was “togetherness” again after the long year
of separation.
“We leave tomorrow for KL (Kuala Lumpur)” Percy said on that first day off the boat while I was
still soaking in impressions of a place which was so very Chinese, and yet so different from mainland
China.
“Oh, no!” I protested, “I haven’t seen anything of Singapore yet.”
But Percy had had six months in Singapore when he first arrived from Australia, and it was he who
had found the Chancery Lane location for the CIM headquarters. Now we had our own centre for
work in Kuala Lumpur on the Malay Peninsula where he was to be the Field Superintendent. He
wanted to get me there as soon as possible, installed as housekeeper in the beautiful home he had
rented from the son of the Sultan of Selangor, the young Rajah Muda.
Algy started without a protest next morning, and we were quickly out of sight of the waving hands at
Chancery Lane and around the corner into the main stream of traffic heading for Bukit Timah and
the causeway 16 miles to the north of Singapore which connected Singapore to Malaya. A brief stop
for Singapore Customs on one side and Malay Customs on the other, and we were in Johore Bahru,
the capital of Johore State. Percy pointed out to me some of the many ornate buildings which were
part of the tourist attractions of the area, but we were quickly through the city and out on to the long
centre road which leads from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.
“This was a really dangerous trip when I first came through a year ago,” Percy commented. “Do you
see that pile of rusted metal on the side of the road? When I came through with Paul Contento on my
first trip a year ago, the communist guerrillas had just held up a bus and burnt it here.”
“What happened to the passengers?”
“The guerrillas took their identity cards and left them to walk to the nearest village or be picked up
by another bus. Any European travelling on such a bus would have been shot outright, but
Europeans didn’t travel these roads much in those days, or if they did, they had their own armoured
cars, and never did less than 70 mph. All the plantation managers not only have armoured cars, but
usually have their own well-armed guards as well.”
“You don’t seem to be worrying,” I said, looking at his relaxed hands on the wheel.
“It’s not so bad now, but I still feel a bit uneasy if we travel a long stretch without any traffic coming
the other way. I begin to wonder then if something has gone wrong ahead of us.”
“What a beautiful road this is – better than many of our roads in Australia. Are they all like this in
Malaya?”
18
