Page 35 - BOOK inside pages as at Aug 8

Behind the Walls of Pudu Jail

Chapter 4: Behind the Walls

of Pudu Jail

HE PROCEDURE for “checking in” at Pudu Jail entails a
Tthorough body search by the wardens – including in the
mouth and, to my great humiliation, the private parts. They
had to make sure that nothing that could be used as a weapon
was smuggled in. I was then photographed with my prison
number and for the next two years I was known simply by my
number.
Standing in line, I was asked to strip and change into the
prison shirt and short pants. This was the beginning of my
journey behind prison walls, into a cold harsh world that
knew no mercy. In jail, I met people like myself, some of
whom used to be my gang members and others who had been
my rivals. Depending on the strength of my case, I knew that I
would have to spend at least two years in Pudu Prison.
In those days, we knew of Wong Swee Chin, the
infamous Botak Chin of Hong Moon Gang 386, who had
been executed years earlier. He had been one of the most
dangerous gangsters in the country in the 1960s and 1970s.
The nickname ‘Botak Chin’ did not refer to baldness. It was
derived from three words in Hokkien, ‘Bo Tak Chin’ which
meant ‘no work’ (bo tak) Chinese or Chin. Wong’s name was
also Chin. Others said the nickname was the acronym for
‘Barisan Orang Tak Ada Kerja’.
He gained notoriety for his part in numerous armed
robberies that involved huge amounts of cash. He used to live
in Batu 3, Jalan Ipoh, and back when we were operating in our
own territories, I knew Botak Chin and his brothers. His court
appeal and application for a royal pardon were rejected, and
he was hanged at Pudu Jail on June 11, 1981. Now here I was
in the same prison where he had been locked up in solitary
confinement for many years.

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BOOK inside pages.indd 35 08/08/2018 05:44 PM