Page 28 - Malayan Story
P. 28
MALAYAN STORY
where there had been a break in. There was no discharge in this war it seemed, and I began to realise
that Kuala Lumpur was really the base camp for the army engaged in it while the guerrillas must
have had their base camp somewhere in the jungle, but it was hard to know where. It occurred to me
that perhaps Kuala Lumpur might also have to be base camp for us who, as soldiers of our King,
were becoming involved in fighting for the souls of the people in the New Villages, many of whom
had never heard of Jesus Christ. Kuala Lumpur too would probably have to be the R & R centre for
our tired and battle-worn soldiers stationed in the villages.
We were living in Malaya under wartime conditions, and we would have to adapt our whole way of
life to those conditions. Mr. Geare, who had met Percy in Shanghai and asked if Jessie Moore was
his sister, had warned us on one occasion that we were British subjects, and if, in our work in the
villages we found out anything that the Government should know, we must report it at once. This
caused us some concern, as missionaries living in the villages were often told things in confidence
which would immediately cause them to distrust us if we were passing them on to the Government.
We discussed it at Conference and felt we would lose all we were slowly gaining if the village
people felt we were working for the Government. In every village there were letter boxes where
people could post anonymously to the Government any information they wanted to give them. The
boxes were cleared daily so people didn’t need to tell us anything, and we decided we would all pray
that things would no longer be reported to us, and that God would close our eyes and ears to anything
we didn’t need to know. Mr. Geare had warned us that the penalty for holding back information was
deportation, and on one occasion Sir Gerald had actually sent a whole village back to China for this
very offence.
Kuala Lumpur Railway Station
28
where there had been a break in. There was no discharge in this war it seemed, and I began to realise
that Kuala Lumpur was really the base camp for the army engaged in it while the guerrillas must
have had their base camp somewhere in the jungle, but it was hard to know where. It occurred to me
that perhaps Kuala Lumpur might also have to be base camp for us who, as soldiers of our King,
were becoming involved in fighting for the souls of the people in the New Villages, many of whom
had never heard of Jesus Christ. Kuala Lumpur too would probably have to be the R & R centre for
our tired and battle-worn soldiers stationed in the villages.
We were living in Malaya under wartime conditions, and we would have to adapt our whole way of
life to those conditions. Mr. Geare, who had met Percy in Shanghai and asked if Jessie Moore was
his sister, had warned us on one occasion that we were British subjects, and if, in our work in the
villages we found out anything that the Government should know, we must report it at once. This
caused us some concern, as missionaries living in the villages were often told things in confidence
which would immediately cause them to distrust us if we were passing them on to the Government.
We discussed it at Conference and felt we would lose all we were slowly gaining if the village
people felt we were working for the Government. In every village there were letter boxes where
people could post anonymously to the Government any information they wanted to give them. The
boxes were cleared daily so people didn’t need to tell us anything, and we decided we would all pray
that things would no longer be reported to us, and that God would close our eyes and ears to anything
we didn’t need to know. Mr. Geare had warned us that the penalty for holding back information was
deportation, and on one occasion Sir Gerald had actually sent a whole village back to China for this
very offence.
Kuala Lumpur Railway Station
28
