Holding the fort

Source: "Lifestyle"-The Star- 8 May 2005

Back in Alor Star, things were tense, too. TUNKU ISMAIL JEWA, grandson of the Sultan of Kedah at the time the Japanese advanced into the town, shares his memories of those troubled times.

THE first indication the people of Alor Star had that war had broken out was when Japanese planes bombed the Alor Star aerodrome on the morning of Dec 8, 1941.

After the bombing, civil and military authorities in Kedah began to step up air raid precautions and people in town were advised to seek shelter in rural areas.

On Dec 11, news reached Alor Star that Japanese troops had attacked troops stationed at Changloon, near the Kedah/Thai border.

By then, most Government officers in the north, including the Chief Secretary to the Government, Haji Mohammad Shariff, had left Alor Star to seek refuge in Kulim District in south-east Kedah. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra was the District Officer in this area at that time.

Meanwhile, the ailing Sultan of Kedah, Sultan Abdul Hamid, and the Regent, Tunku Badlishah, had already been accommodated in Kulim by Tunku Abdul Rahman when they arrived the previous day.

Tunku Ismail Jewa points to what is believed to be remnants of the concrete structure of the Wan Mohammad Saman Bridge, which was blown up by retreating British troops. In the background is the present bridge.

However, my father, Tunku Mohammad Jewa, also of the Kedah royal family, refused to leave Alor Star as he believed strongly that he should remain with the people.

I remember well the day the Japanese Army entered the town: it was on Dec 13, and my parents and other members of my family were stranded on the southern side of Sungai Kedah at Simpang Kuala.

My father got up early as usual that morning and pretended nothing had happened although he knew that the Japanese Army had already entered Alor Star. He decided to go for a walk in the coconut plantation with Pai Rat, an ex-convict of Punjabi and Thai parentage who had earlier asked my father for asylum after all the prisoners from Alor Star prison were released ahead of the Japanese Army’s advance into Alor Star.

During the walk, my father and Pai Rat were suddenly confronted by two Punjabi soldiers and one of them levelled his rifle at my father. Luckily for my father, Pai Rat intervened and told the soldier in Punjabi that my father was the son of the Sultan of Kedah. The soldier apologised before he and his colleagues left to join British troops in Gurun.

After that frightening incident, my father decided that we should leave Simpang Kuala for his mansion at Bakar Bata in northern Alor Star. After we heard that the Wan Mohammad Saman Bridge across Sungai Kedah had been blown up by the retreating troops – and when our driver, Pak Man, did not turn up for work – my father decided that we should all walk to Bakar Bata.

When we arrived on Sungai Kedah’s bank near the present Sultan Badlishah Bridge on the Seberang Perak side, my father had to pay several people to ferry us across to Jalan Pekan Melayu (now renamed Persiaran Sultan Mohammad Jiwa) in their sampan.

As we reached the street, I saw many people running helter-skelter carrying bales of cloth and other items they had looted from shops. Apparently, they had been frightened by the sight of Japanese soldiers aiming rifles at them from the road.

From Jalan Pekan Melayu, we detoured to Jalan Raja where I saw a British soldier in his khaki uniform lying dead on the five-foot way outside a toy shop near the former Royal theatre. He had been bayoneted to death. On the other side of the street, at Jalan Nagor, which was then an open space, I saw a young Chinese man lying dead on the ground. Gruesome sights, indeed....When Japanese military leaders arrived in Alor Star on Dec 13, they found conditions chaotic as there was no law and order. There was widespread looting of shops, private homes and offices by both civilians and Japanese soldiers.

The next day, my father received a visit from Maj-Gen Manaki, commander of the battalion that first entered Kedah; Major Iwaichi Fujiwara, head of the Japanese Intelligence Corps; and K. Shiba, the manager of a toy shop in town and also a secret agent of the Fujiwara Kikan or Intelligence Unit. They had come to seek his co-operation to restore law and order in Alor Star.

My father took the opportunity to complain to the Japanese leaders that his home had been ransacked by their soldiers and expressed shock at the barbarous behaviour of the soldiers.

Fujiwara ordered an immediate investigation, which resulted in the arrest of three soldiers. They were ordered by Fujiwara to commit hara-kiri (ritual suicide) in front of my father. Their bodies were later buried in a plot of land on which the Holiday Villa now stands.

As an initial step towards maintaining law and order, Manaki appointed my elder brother, Tunku Nong Jiwa – then 23 years old and a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Kedah civil service officer – as Commissioner of Police.

Later, when Lt Gen Tomayuki Yamashita, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese forces, arrived in Alor Star, he appointed my father as Officer Administrating the State during the absence of the Sultan, the Regent and the Chief Secretary to the Government from the State capital.

By Dec 14, all troops under British command had left Alor Star and the Japanese forces were in full control of the urban centre.

After his appointment, my father addressed a large gathering of people near the Zahir mosque. He appealed to the people not to leave their homes, to remain calm, and to carry on with their normal duties.

A new State Council was formed with my father as its President. The other members of the council were Tunku Kassim, Tunku Abdullah, Tunku Aizuddin, Syed Omar Shahabudin and Syed Ali. Colonel Ohyama was appointed the Japanese Occupation Governor.

When conditions began to improve towards the end of December, my father requested Tunku Abdul Rahman to bring back the Sultan from Kulim.

Once the Sultan was back in Alor Star, my father formally handed back the administration of the state to the Regent, Tunku Badlishah, before resuming his position as Superintendent of Monopolies and Customs.

Alor Star did not suffer much damage during the Japanese invasion. Except for the destruction of the beautiful Wan Mohammad Saman bridge and a couple of shophouses along Titi Batu, opposite the Central Police Station, as well as the disappearance of all the cannons displayed at the Balai Besar, everything remained intact.