Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-04
You Don't Run
When MoIuyun
Shippers Shoot
BIZ MIRIAM oTTENBERG

me yellow slip printed in English,
Malay. Chinese and Indian.
"This Is essential" the note
began. Government Is sorry to
haze to stop, question and search
you, but these checks are essen
tidl to stop food supplies going
to the Communist terrorists.
when they cannot get food,
they cannot stay In the jungle.
When they all ledpe the jungle,
the emergency DiH come to an
end. together Nth all restrictions,
checks and searches"
That note summed up the story
of the war that still is being fought
in Malaga.
It is war peculiar to the jungles
Of Malaga. There. 5000 Reds lit
used to be 10000 are pitted against
$4,000 Malayan police and special
constables over 100000 home
guards, $4,000 British Common
wealth troops and 10000 Gurkhas
from Nepal.
The odds seem all on the side Of
the Malayan police and British and,
of course, they are. But the seven
year war with the Communist
forces of Chin Peng and the bandits
who kill for the fun of it is not
yet at an end.
The day before / left Johore
Bahru-just Is miles from Singa-
pore at the southern end of the
Malayan peninsula-the terrorists
. ambushed a police lieutenant
short distance away. The day be-
fore I reached Kuala Lumpur, the
capital of the Federation Of Malaga,
a police official wss shot down as he
stopped a car in the city on q
routine check.
Later, Communist terrorists am
pushed security unit near Teluk
Arson. north Of the capital, and
killed five special constables and
their sergeant.
How Ambushes Work
It began when 10 men and their
sergeant were about 800 yards from
the main road. The ground sud-
denly blew up beneath their feet
as the terrorists detonated four
land mines. The terrorists followed
up the initial attack with with
ering barrage of automatic fire and
hand grenades.
The special constables who could
still run jumped into the brush for
cover. But they landed on bamboos
sharpened into spikes. The terror
lists had set the bamboo BOBBY
trap, figuring they would try to
seek cover.
That is the way the terrorists, now
desperate and fighting what is OBJ
viously a losing game, are waging
the war that has kept Malaga in a
state of emergency at time when
the Malayans are trying to become
strong enough to justify the self
government they have been prom
Used by August, 1857.
Driving through Malaga, it Is diff
flcult to believe the stories of am
bush and sudden death. 1t all looks
so peaceful. But the people who live
there know that's al, illusion. Dur
ing the day, there were few cars on
the road. Driving at night. the
only other vehicle we saw over
30-mile span was an armored
patrol car.
When got in the car, an auto
matte pistol was in the open glove
compartment in front Of me. AS
we drove along, I was instructed
in the business of what to do in
case of an ambush.
We're not going to drive
through it," I was told. eve ditch
the car and try to get away into
the jungle"
In MoIoyo You Don't Run
In Malaga you don't try to run
through an ambush. The terrorists.
who have to track through the
jungle for days to get into ambush
positions, plan them carefully.
They hide on both sides of the
road so their victims are caught in
crossflre. They usually pick hairpin
turns, SO If they don't get you on
the first part of the curve they've
got second chance. So you ditch.
At one point saw factory on
one side of the road and a group OF
houses on the other. Two white
lines were drawn across the road.
This was in a curfew area where
all residents had to be indoors by
dusk. To let the late-working en-
ployes get from the plant to their
homes, the path within the white
lines was free of the curfew.,
The New ViIIoees'
There were what we're called
''new villages" created out Of the
emergency. Chinese squatters who
had lived beside the streams and
tended their rice crops had been
brought into these villages along
with farmers in other isolated spots
for their own protection. Terrorists
couldn't get at them now behind
the barbed wire and the all-night
play of searchlights.
Along the way one large house
after another was boarded up and
abandoned. The people will return
to these houses when the terrorists
finally lay down their arms.
To cope with ambush warfare,
the government keeps the jungle
slashed back from the road for 100
yards on each side. This has the
effect Of minimizing hiding places
but it also gives the bandits head
start into the jungle.
There are signs announcing the
beginning and end of o white"
area, which is bandit free. Else
where, police check posts appear at
frequent intervals. Women detec-
tives, some in sarongs, some in uni
form, are on hand to search the
women in the cars.
The road winds through rubber
estates and rice paddles. Behind
and beside this cultivation is the
i,,v,ula foil traoc opd fI;nL 11pdor-