The Japanese invasion of Malaya, 1941

In December 1941, the darkest days in Penang's history unfolded. Days after the Japanese military had begun their invasion of Malaya through Kota Bharu, there was widespread mayhem and destruction in George Town when Japanese bombs were dropped amidst simultaneous heavy machine-gun fire on the local population. 

I guess we shall never know today what happened to Westlands School during the war - the people who could remember that period may be too old or no longer around - but in 1965 when my friends in this blog were in the final year of our primary school education there, it was only 20 years since the Japanese surrendered control of the land back to the British. Although we boys missed the trauma of the war years, our parents did not. They went through much suffering, and life in the 1950s and 1960s was still difficult enough for most of them. And while it impacted us as young boys, we ourselves didn't know better due to our own childhood ignorance. In our own ways though, we remained resourceful. Left to our devices, we fell back on traditional children's games to entertain ourselves.

These are the five stories I wrote elsewhere to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Malaya in 1941.

80th anniversary (1): Japanese invasion

Today, 08 December 2021, marks the 80th anniversary of a very significant event in Malaysia's history. At 00:30 (that is, 30 minutes past midnight) on the eighth of December 1941, Japan launched their offensive on the Malayan peninsula. This was the beginning of almost four full years of hellish dark days of the Japanese Occupation from 19 December 1941 till their surrender on 02 September 1945. Earlier, they had sailed from southern Indo-China and their fleet of warships dropped anchor 3km from the coast of Kota Bharu.  Read more here.

80th anniversary (2): The bombing of George Town

Previously, I had related how George Town had awoken on 08 December 1941 to the first sounds of Japanese enemy aircraft flying over the town. Three days later on the 11th of December 1941, terror rained down on the inhabitants of George Town. Terror in the shape of bullets and bombs. It was truly a rain of terror. Not yet a reign of terror, no, it had yet to begin, but literally, a rain of terror. Without warning, the Japanese aircraft dropped their bombs and trained their machineguns on the people who congregated in the Chinese quarter of the Beach Street area. Read more here.

80th anniversary (3): Silent evacuation

On the 13th of December 1941, the first of four quiet evacuations of the British from Penang soil took place. Although not apparent at that time, these evacuations also signalled that the British Empire itself could be unravelling in South-east Asia. Never mind that Britain came back to administer Malaya after Japan had surrendered in Penang on 02 September 1945, it was never to be the same again. The seeds of nationalism planted, a movement for Independence and self-governance began taking root. Read more here.

80th anniversary (4): White flag

Eighty years ago on the 16th of December 1941, the Japanese military invaded Malaya and bombed Penang. It is quite safe to say that many families in Penang, if not all, were affected by the atrocities. I know that mine were displaced. On my maternal side, my grandparents fled to the hills, the chau huan that I had mentioned in Part 2. My paternal grandparents probably did the same too and they never really recovered after the Occupation was over. My father continued with his education at Penang Free School after the War but because of the pressing economic circumstances, he had to quit within the year to find work and support the family (at that time, comprising his parents and a sister.) Such sacrifices were not uncommon as the local population tried everything to rebuild. Read more here.

80th anniversary (5): From the Japanese perspective

At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th of December 1941, the first Japanese troops landed on Penang island. This was a result of Penang surrendering after nine days of continuous bombardment by Japanese enemy aircraft and the quiet evacuation of the British military garrison and European civilians. With the island now totally defenceless, it fell upon the local civilians to fly the white flag to signify Penang's surrender to the Japanese military. In today's 80th anniversary story, the last of my five-part commemoration of the sad occasion, I shall reproduce two stories from The Syonan Shinbum newspaper. Read more here.

© Quah Seng Sun

Joan Baez and William’s tour de force at 22

Unique story on the back page of
The Malay Mail, Oct 19, 1979

By Lim Siang Jin

ONE DAY in October 1979, something unheard of happened at The Malay Mail. The back page lead, always the domain of sport, was stripped. In its place was a story, “GLORY B! This was something”. It was a memorable day for most of us at the production desk, seeing our irrepressible editor, Chua Huck Cheng, make another innovative and inspiring move.

As for the writer, the person who put this “critique” together, he lived one of the wildest dreams any young reporter could have. William de Cruz was 22 when Joan Baez came to town for her only concert in Southeast Asia. Dubbed the Lady with the Flowers, she had become world renowned and, around that particular time, she was also campaigning for the “boat people”, refugees from Kampuchea. What made chasing this story even more dramatic was that Baez had only one night in Kuala Lumpur in her ultra-tight schedule; she was due to fly off to Anambas Islands (Indonesia) the next morning at 8am.

Like many other enthusiastic professionals, William was there at the get-go, attending a press conference at the Subang International Airport, connecting well with Baez and making himself conspicuously known — so much so that at their next contact, at the backstage right after the concert, she gave him a peck on the cheek and a bunch of flowers. That would have been a heaven-sent for an ordinary fan. But it was not nearly quite adequate for a journalist sensing a gigantic scoop looming before him.

Joan Baez: “Disarming feminine charisma”
Source: Wikimedia Commons, 1973

Getting to the story proved to be a bit tricky though. After some niceties at the backstage, all requests for an interview were turned down, albeit politely. There would not be a post-concert party either. The principal rep of the organisers, Jack D’Silva of the Red Cross, even quipped “with tongue in both cheeks” that he would be going to a girlie joint.

Baez was then packed off into a car which headed away for her hotel. William’s deep desire for a scoop, however, couldn’t be satiated. He told me recently: “About an hour later, the journalist in me couldn’t rest. I happened to know at which hotel she was staying. I went there [The KL Regent], walked up to the reception with the flowers Baez had given me. I handed them over to the concierge, and said: ‘Please give these to Joan Baez. I know she’s staying here’.”

William then took a seat in some far off corner. It was late at night and the lobby was relatively empty. With him were Helen Heng and Sheila Natarajan, our colleagues at The Mail who had gone for the concert with him. Ardent professionals themselves, they realised this was William’s moment to relish and remember, and left all the initiative to him. 

Soon after, the scheme started to play out. “I watched the concierge, flowers in hand, take the lift, which only stopped at one floor, and came back to ground level. After a respectable wait, the three of us caught the lift, as discreetly as possible, and I hit the button for the floor the concierge got off at.”

At the floor, they headed for the only suite and rapped on the door. Anne, one of Baez’s assistants, opened it and William said: “If Joan Baez is staying here, please tell her the guy who sent up the flowers is at her door.” Anne excused herself and went back in.

“When the door opened again, there she was — Joan Baez herself,” said an excited William. He recounted that she greeted him like an Indian would, palms held together at her chest, followed by “Come in, Sahib”. Scanning the room, they could see that Baez was having her midnight supper of eggs Benedict and a glass of wine. Jack D’Silva was there too, sipping on a scotch. “I knew it would be you,” he remarked, to which William retorted: “Pretty exclusive girlie joint.”

They were let in for a two-minute chat but it stretched to many more, thanks also to Baez’s kind heartedness and obvious recognition of William’s sincerity, perseverance and knowledge of music — he is a musician and songwriter himself schooled in the respected tradition of buskers and gig performers of the 1960s. The full write-up of the interview, including references to Dylan, her campaign for refugees, etc, can be read here.

I was at the desk at 4.30am when an exhausted William submitted the story to Huck Cheng. Along with me and other colleagues, our editor had also attended Baez’s solo concert at Dewan Universiti Canselor. As the early hours wore on, I sensed something special was being done to the story. I cannot remember who was tasked with subbing it, however, at the paste-up floor, I saw the unusual headline on the back page.

William deserved this very special treatment. He enriched and contextualised our experience of the night and made it so much more meaningful. The words he wrote speak for themselves: 

Hers [Baez’s] was not the long ways of the Streets of London, or the cries of Anak or even the grandiose hopes of Bringing In The Ship — hers was the voice of a generation gone by; one that had thrived on the essence of the Bob Dylans, the Pete Seegers, the Woody Guthries… Four and twenty ears ago, they had only their guitars. Today, she still sticks to hers while others have found an easier way out. 

Particularly, that was the feeling she radiated last night — in her simple midnight blue embroidered caftan, her 75-year-old Martin guitar, a pocketful of songs written so long ago they still apply today, and a disarming feminine charisma that brimmed with character and humanity. 

Bit by bit, the person in Baez kept creeping out — the mother, the lover, the sensitive, the forlorn, the human — and the songs spoke for her. As she sang The Weary Mothers Of The World Shall Rest, one felt almost palpably the experiences of the war-torn and the dislocated. It was powerful idiom delivered with the fondness of the feeling of care. But even for them she had her own ray of hope: “We may never be the poor, for no one owns us anymore...” 

And, yes, she had her less-than-reverential remembrance of Dylan in her rendition of his Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word — complete with her instantly recognisable mimicry of the slur and scraggly diction of the one-time high priest of youth.

Not one song escaped the injection of the message she wanted to put across — not The Beatles' Yesterday, not The Night That Drove Old Dixie Down, not Diamonds And Rust. They all had the Baez interpretation, the Baez cause — sung as if they were meant to be sung that way. No one noticed the greying hair; no one noticed the overpowering voice; no one noticed the absence of a back-up group. It was, simply Joan Chandos Baez, 38, singing her cause.

William enthused that the concert, which 3,000 attended, rivalled “the most mammoth of rock happenings… even if not in number, diminishing the electric parodies of the Today Era with the simplicity of yesterday's flower revolution.” Read his story in full here.

The making of GLORY B!, the story, was a special act in the play of Malaysian entertainment journalism, an interplay among its three protagonists: a passionate and driven writer, an open-minded editor who gave the story what it deserved notwithstanding the age and lack of seniority of the author and, most of all, a star brimming with warmth who, amidst “her unbelievably tight time schedule”, opened her heart to a near stranger.

                                                                 ****

1. William and I have been great friends since 1980-81, when I was seconded to head the entertainment desk of The Malay Mail while the section editor went on long leave. He and the other team members, like Aishah Ali and Lim Kim Bee, persuaded me to do a weekly series on veteran musicians in Malaysia. It ran for about two months and covered, among others, Frankie Cheah, Ahmad Nawab, Alfonso Soliano, Ooi Eow Jin, DJ Dave and Saloma. It was a memorable exercise, especially for me because I got to know the stories behind these music greats.
2. From then until now, there have been many milestones in his life. The following are two major ones: 
• Becoming the founding president of Global Bersih, leading and co-ordinating its activities from Sydney with a deeply-committed group of Malaysians from the diaspora. William gave me a short account at first but decided to expand it to give a better picture of “The Road to Global Bersih”.  It is certainly a story that needs telling. Read here. 
• 
  Writing Love is the Pill, “the biggest story of my life”, after his encounter with cancer. William’s experience with the disease was nothing short of dramatic, as can be read in his introduction to the blog-book or “blook”. Called “Gifts are for giving”, his comments to lend context to his project can be read here. He had been thinking about writing this “book of thanksgiving” for some time after his recovery. It was during an outing to Kuala Selangor with me and another friend in early 2019 that he finally made a firm commitment to do it. Our pictures from that trip are carried here.

• Lim Siang Jin is one of three people who manage this WPS blogsite. Read more about him here.

Community mediation: From the perspective of Penang’s Justices of the Peace

This paper on our blogsite was published in The Edge,
Dec 6, 2021, with minimal editorial changes.

By Ong Seng Huat

MEDIATION as a means to resolve disputes is not new. It has been practised in the ancient Greek and Roman civilisations. It was also commonly employed in India, China and neighbouring Japan and Korea. Different words had been used to describe the practice and, in each area, local beliefs have had an influence on how it was carried out. In the East Asian region, for example, Confucianism had a strong influence. 

Mediation was being used to resolve disputes in Peninsular Malaya prior to the introduction of laws and the judicial system by the British in 1807. Indeed, the Malays, Chinese and Indians who resided here have been practising it since at least the 15th century.

The Malays used sulh (which in Arabic means “end of arguments or compromise”, translated as “conciliation”). The mediators were local chiefs (imam, penghulu and ketua kampung), administrators of specific areas or jurisdictions. They were appointed by the local people and endorsed by the Sultan. 

Panchayat, practised by the Indians, centred around a village council of elders (usually numbering five) who were acknowledged by the community as a governing body. Brought from India, the system facilitated decision-making with regard to the social issues confronted by the villagers. 

As for the Chinese, tiaojie (调节), which literally means mediation, was the primary mode of dispute settlement adopted by the early settlers. Used for thousands of years in traditional China, its theory and practice had been influenced by the Confucian philosophy. It was recorded in Malaya, for example, that a temple, EngChoonTohTeoGan in Malacca (1949), included mediation processes in its rules and regulations.

Justices of the Peace in colonial Penang: The office of the Justices of the Peace (JP) was a British creation. Eminent persons of communities were appointed as JPs to assist the Crown in the preservation and maintenance of peace of their communities. In Penang, a Straits Settlements state (1826-1948) under the British administration prior to Independence, JPs were appointed to mitigate the shortage of magistrates then. In addition to their statutory roles, the JPs then also acted as mediators in community conflicts and disputes. 

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN MEDIATION IN MALAYSIA

Mediation has assumed some prominence in Malaysia of late. It is in this light that I would like to discuss the practice. The following are some recent milestone events:

Community mediation: This “alternative dispute resolution” practice was initiated formally by the Department of National Unity and Integration (DNUI) in 2007. The DNUI was previously under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Department, as a mode to help residents of geographical communities (neighbourhoods) to amicably and promptly settle their differences and disputes. Apart from preventing conflict, it also aimed to foster better inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic relations. Since then, the DNUI has been training “community mediators” to serve their respective Rukun Tetangga (RT) sectors throughout the country.

Rukun Tetangga (RT) Act 2012: This Act underscores the role of the “community mediator”. Section 8 stipulates that RT sector committees are “to provide community mediation for the purpose of conciliation or otherwise settle any dispute or difference amongst the members of community”, that is, within their neighbourhoods.

Mediation Act 2012: This piece of legislation was enacted as “an Act to promote and encourage mediation as a method of alternative dispute resolution by providing for the process of mediation, thereby facilitating the parties in disputes to settle disputes in a fair, speedy, and cost-effective manner and to provide for related matters”. It governs the conduct of mediation in Malaysia, particularly ad hoc mediation whereby parties to a civil or commercial dispute voluntarily submit their dispute to be mediated without or prior to commencing litigation in court. 

Practice Direction on Mediation 4/2016: This “practice direction”, issued by the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court, was aimed at encouraging disputing parties to choose pre-action mediation or to seek amicable settlement before trial or appeal. By this Direction, the courts may now also refer the disputing parties to appoint a mediator or mediators to undertake court annexed mediation as directed by the judge or magistrate during pre-trial civil case management. As per Paragraph 5, the modes of mediation could be conducted (a) with the judge leading it (b) via the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA) or (c) via other mediators agreeable by both parties. Mode 5(c) is categorised as other mediation institutions or ad hoc community mediation.

Covid19 Act 2020: The proviso in Section 9 mirrored the procedure laid out in the Mediation Act 2012 (MA 2012). It states that “any dispute in respect of any inability of any party or parties to perform any contractual obligation arising from any of the categories of contracts specified in the Schedule to this Part due to the measures prescribed, made or taken under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 to control or prevent the spread of Covid-19 may be settled by way of mediation”.

Covid19 Mediation Centre: The subsequent creation of the “Covid19 Mediation Centre” reaffirms the government’s commitment to not only acknowledge the benefits of mediation but also assist the affected parties, particularly the lower income groups to resolve their disputes amicably, speedily and cost effectively. A timely test now is to gauge if there are sufficient trained mediators to undertake the unprecedented tasks. Though the Covid19 Bill 2020 is independent of the MA 2012, disputants are free to decide on their preferred mediation option via MA 2012. In this instance the JP Council community mediators are prepared and will avail themselves for national service when called upon.

With these new developments, mediation in Malaysia is no longer interpreted as an informal alternative dispute resolution process that is not binding by law. It is now enshrined as one of the processes of dispute resolutions in the Malaysian legal system.

COUNCIL OF THE JUSTICES OF THE PEACE, STATE OF PENANG

The Council of the Justices of the Peace, State of Penang, was established in 1962 to provide a platform for Penang JPs to coordinate and pool their resources to serve the local community more effectively. It is a registered entity with the Registrar of Societies. With no new appointment since 1990, the membership stands at 60 comprising eminent community leaders including retired senior civil servants, industrialists, merchants, accountants, medical doctors, surveyors, planters, corporate directors and other trade practitioners.

Transformation of council into a mediation institution: Due to changes in certain statutes after Independence, the role of JPs in Penang has been greatly diminished. Although Sections 98 and 99 of the Subordinate Courts Act 1948 allowed for the appointment of JPs as “second class” magistrates, no JP has thus far been given the position. Recent developments in mediation, however, have raised the possibility of re-engaging these community leaders, appointed by the state authorities, to act as mediators to resolve community disputes. They are ideal for the role.

Penang JPs have been involved in mediation since the 19th century. One notable example was Foo Tye Sin JP who acted as mediator in local community conflicts and disputes during British rule. 

Some time in 2014, the JP Council received a paper entitled: “Transformation of the institution of Justices of the Peace of Penang” from High Court judge Yang Arif Dato’ Lim Chong Fong, then an advocate and solicitor in private practice. Inspired by the ideas outlined and convinced after meeting the writer in person, the council, at its 2016 annual general meeting, resolved to transform the office of the JP to include mediators. This is besides continuing with its limited statutory roles and functions. Consequently, the council’s constitution was amended to include mediation as one of its objectives. As a mediation institution, JP mediators can be appointed as ad hoc mediators pursuant to Part III of the MA 2012.

Mediation skills course: Pursuant to Section 7(2)(a), MA 2012, a mediator shall “possess the relevant qualifications, special knowledge or experience in mediation through training or formal education”. To secure recognition, competency and practical experience for its members, the council approached Ir Harbans Singh (currently panelist of the Asian International Arbitration Centre or AIAC).  He in turn pitched the council’s proposal to the then Director of Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA), Datuk Sundra Rajoo, for support and endorsement. KLRCA has been renamed AIAC. The first JP-KLRCA (AIAC) mediation skills course was held in August 2016. Our collaboration with AIAC to train community mediators continues to this day.

COMMUNITY-BASED PHILOSOPHY

In line with a broad community-based approach, trainees for community mediators are both JPs and non-JP community leaders from diverse background including those from sectors like medical, legal, engineering, construction, finance, trade, commerce and other industries. Apart from the ad hoc mediation, two JP mediators have also served in the Penang High Court annexed mediation in 2016. 

Mediation Bureau: As the mediation service involves non-JP mediators, the council established a bureau to allow it to be semi-autonomously managed. With the tacit support of the state government, the Mediation Bureau was officially launched by His Excellency, the Governor of the state of Penang, Tun Dato’ Seri Utama (Dr) Haji Abdul Rahman Bin Haji Abbas, on 20 July 2017. The bureau has a rented office located at the Caring Society Complex and has a panel consisting 25 JP and non-JP mediators (local community leaders) representing different strata of the community. Currently, the bureau provides pro bono pre-action mediation services to the local community. Pursuant to Court Practice Direction 4/2016 paragraph 5c, the council has offered to assist the courts in alleviating the burden of pending cases, particularly those related to community disputes.

Community mediation and social harmony: Community mediation serves as an important means to keep a community harmonious. They do so by resolving conflicts or disputes — no matter how petty — speedily before they develop into full-blown cases that eventually ended up in the courts. By having mediators within these communities, we are also empowering their leaders to manage their interests and well-being from within, apart from maintaining peace. Further, the JP Council’s idea of engaging local community leaders means that the people involved in the mediation processes are familiar with other on-the-ground issues that may help or hinder conflict resolution. 

MOVING FORWARD

We are grateful to all the directors, past and present, of AIAC for their encouragement and support to train community mediators in Penang. The endorsement provided not only the necessary knowledge and skills but also a mark of recognition of their competency as mediators. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and its related restrictions, the last scheduled training was aborted. Nevertheless, we look forward to bring the collaboration to the next level.

Community mediation symposium: An understanding with the state Department of National Unity and Integration Department (DNUI) to collaborate and share resources to serve the local community was established in 2019. With the DNUI endorsement, the JP Council successfully hosted a community mediation symposium on 10 November 2019. It was unfortunate that due to the pandemic, the scheduled MOU on 5 April 2020 was deferred. 

Road map for promotion: In reaching out to the community at large, we have created a road map to promote, educate and disseminate the benefits of mediation within their own respective communities. Our first collaborator in this road map is Min Sin Seah, a century old local socio-educational organisation.

Accessible and affordable training module: Work is currently in progress with an institution of higher learning to design and develop a training module to make learning both easily accessible and affordable. Meanwhile, we are prepared to work with other interest groups or organisations for mutual benefits and professional advancement.

One-stop centre: In addition, we are striving to establish a state-level one-stop dispute resolution centre with the state government’s participation and support. 

In sum, this low-cost and effective assisted negotiation between two disputing parties with the help of a neutral third party, is here to stay. It should be given much greater prominence to create greater social harmony and more empowerment to the community, especially its leaders.   

• Dato’ Ong Seng Huat JP is Honorary Secretary, Council of Justices of the Peace, State of Penang. Read more about him here.

Don’t overstay when the writing is on the wall

Republished from New Straits Times, Dec 4, 2021,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here.

By Yong Soo Heong

MY late mother, from Dongguan, Guangdong Province, in southern China, Low Ah Hup, had this advice for me to survive the rat race, bracing for life’s challenges or tip-toeing on social etiquette: choot moon thai theen sek, yap moon thai min sek.

It simply meant when going out the front door of a house, look at the colour of the sky; when entering a house, assess the colour of the host’s face.

How right she was! If we see dark skies, then we ought to be prepared and bring an umbrella in case a thunderstorm starts.

The second part of her tip was even more telling: if we enter a house for a tete-a-tete with someone, it’s time to vamoose to avoid overstaying the welcome, lest we see scowls or dark faces.

The most “celebrated” case we’ve seen so far was the riot on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Jan 6.

That was when a mob of unruly supporters of former president Donald Trump attacked the United States Capitol building to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election by disrupting a joint session of Congress to count electoral votes that would formalise President Joe Biden’s victory.

Amid the shocking scenes, the Capitol was locked down and lawmakers and staff evacuated, while rioters assaulted law enforcement officers, vandalised property and occupied the building for several hours. 

What was bizarre was that Trump resisted sending the National Guard to quell the mob and again asserted that the election was “fraudulent”.

But, common sense later prevailed when the Capitol was cleared to allow for the counting of electoral votes, which was completed in the early hours of Jan 7.

Much has also been happening in Malaysia since May 2018 and even right up to about a month ago in Melaka, when politicians schemed to regain or stay in power, depending on how one looks at the convoluting scenarios.

After all, American diplomat, Walter Annenberg, did say that “the greatest power is not money power, but political power”.

Over the last 50 years or so, we’ve seen what political power can do for the political elites in the name of grandiose-sounding policies.

This is especially so when political power easily translates into money power.

And this fact has not been lost among non-politicians as well. Many dishonest leaders of non-governmental organisations, charity foundations, trade unions, cultural federations, clan associations and vocational trades guilds, especially those with plenty of lolly in the kitty through subscriptions, endowments and fundraisers, have been known to follow the rule book of double-dealing politicians.

An ongoing case in point revolves round a state clansmen association for the Hainanese community, a Chinese dialect group noted for its civility and politeness (besides their chicken chop and chicken rice).

But, temperatures among some of them have been rising when key office bearers allegedly sought another another three-year term by amending the association constitution.

These people, who’ve led the association for two terms, claimed they wanted to complete the association’s “unfinished business” as they were stalled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But, their detractors begged to differ, as they claimed that one shouldn’t measure one’s life by its duration but by contributions to society.

One of them said: “Individuals, no matter how powerful or popular, cannot be indispensable. When the time comes for them to take a back seat or retire, they should do so with dignity by welcoming the next generation of leaders who can then emerge with fresh ideas and even bring about new changes to augment the good work undertaken by the elders before them.”

The association’s annual general meeting is, surprisingly, scheduled over Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Let’s hope good sense will prevail among members without sparks flying or punches being thrown.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.