THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

Japanese Reject Independence for Malaya 183
Near Kampar, KMM youths earlier dispatched in Ipoh, faced a rain
of bullets, forcing them to seek cover by crouching behind Japanese
tanks positioned near huge boulders on the left side of the Ipoh-Kampar
trunk road. These boulders, near the old Muslim cemetery, are no longer
there. At this Kampar front, British forces fought valiantly, almost to their
last drop of blood. Heavy fighting occurred, mostly on the right flank.
Hours before New Year’s Eve, hundreds of soldiers on both sides were
either killed or maimed. As events turned out, three days later the British
had to disengage themselves from the Japanese assault in Kampar and
retreated south. I am not sure of the exact date, it was possibly around 3
January, that Kampar was overrun by the invaders.
Our convoy had to grapple with a new danger that could lead to loss
of limb, if not life – land mines planted by British troops on both sides
of the road to Kampar. But Japanese fighting men continued to press
south all day and all night. As we crossed Kampar town in the pitch-black
night, Japanese officers jumped down from their vehicles and used their
booted feet to feel about for land mines. A most remarkable characteristic
of Japanese military officers was that they were always in the forefront,
leading their men in all situations, even now in the face of obvious peril.
Whenever a Japanese officer detected a mine, it was exploded by pushing
a car or a vehicle on to it. I also heard recurring rifle shots, like corn
being popped, and exploding mines all around me in the airless night.
We continued to move at a crawl, sometimes riding in a car, sometimes
walking.
We reached Tapah, about fifteen miles from Kampar, at the break of
the new day. The sun was much welcomed by the Japanese. No damage
to property was evident in the area we passed through except for the
house of Captain Hamid Khan (later Education Minister of Malaysia),
which he later informed me was plundered by Australian soldiers.
The Malay folk of Tapah town stepped out of their homes to catch a
glimpse of the Japanese soldiers. Clearly, there was no trace of welcome
on their faces. Instead, there was a plethora of mixed emotions, mostly,
looks of disbelief and wonder. Would these Asian newcomers improve
their lives for the better? Doubts were aplenty. Perhaps a few Malays
harboured hopes that the new power would be benevolent and grant them
Independence, or at least, a better life. It was a fact that most pre-war
Malays knew little about what Independence meant.
As we drove through Tapah town, which I knew like the back of my
hand, I caught sight of many old friends from my Agricultural Assistant
stint ten years earlier. The aforementioned Captain Hamid was a FMS
Volunteer Officer friend whose lounge suit I had worn to my wedding,