Operation Janus, page 11
It was an unsatisfactory conversation as far as Hinlea was concerned. He had expected to learn a lot but with this dolt it was almost, but not quite, a waste of time his coming here.
‘I’ll use your phone to order my transport. There’s not all that much to do here. I’ll come on Thursday, not tomorrow,’ and he rang through to the battalion. On putting the phone down he had another question. ‘Surely there’re secret files about the guerillas? There’s so much that’s not on these cards they’re only of limited use.’
‘Sir, I’m only the same as a police constable. You’re an officer. How can you ask me such questions? I’m sure the OCPD will answer you,’ and he turned away to put the cards back in their boxes. Hinlea left the room without another word.
He’s no good but there’s no proof unless he takes the sleeper’s bait. But he’s the opposite of my Shandung P’aau.
That night Ah Fat and Ian planned to finish work on the other cards with one more session, mind-numbingly boring though it was. Towards the end, Ian said, ‘I’ve a good mind to sow dissention among the ungodly.’
‘And why not, the more the merrier, but how?’
‘One way to keep any heat off you is to make someone else into a sleeper. We’ll take the Military Commander’s name off the Wanted List and hide it as far as Hinlea is concerned. We’ll then write a really scurrilous report about the Political Commissar himself and put, at the bottom, the military commander’s name in English and Chinese, so that, once it is read up in the committee camp, the one won’t trust the other and the other won’t understand the one’s mistrust. How about that for evil thinking?’
Ah Fat burst out laughing. ‘Go to the top of the class, Ian. Communism, thirty-four years of tradition untrammelled by progress and no sense of humour, and, for the record, nothing is more soul-destroying than fanaticism based on ignorance.’
‘That must have taken a lot of thought,’ said Ian Clark, in admiration.
Thursday, 14 August 1952
The High Commissioner’s jointery was for the administration, police and military to work together at all levels, so the District Officer, always a Malay, chaired DWECs – as indeed they did SWECs – it being British Government policy for Malays to be District Officers to train them for their eventual self-rule. However, most of the impetus for Emergency work came from the British members with, sadly, little being offered by the Chairmen, yet colonial politeness and good manners usually left the Malay Chairmen not losing that all-important Oriental characteristic, ‘face’ – the display of public potency which makes for personal prestige.
After the meeting Ian Clark said to the Gurkha CO, ‘Sir, now it’s time for “your ears only”. Would it suit you to come to the Police Station or shall I come up to the battalion?’
‘You come to my place, Clark, and if it’s as scary as you seem to be making it out to be there’s that much more security in a Gurkha battalion than almost anywhere else – no, please don’t take offence.’
‘No offence taken, sir. I’ll follow along behind you.’
They went into the CO’s office, the CO telling the Adjutant that they were not to be disturbed and to warn the Mess for one extra for lunch. ‘Right, Clark, fire away.’
The CO was a good listener. He made a few notes as Ian initially told him about Ah Fat, his background and work, his present task and his childhood relationship with Captain Rance. He went on to tell of the discovery of that long-term mole in Special Branch but it was only when he came to the part of Captain Hinlea did the CO’s facial expression change from almost excited interest into one of firm disapproval, lips visibly tightening. ‘One problem, sir, is who else to tell, when and how much. You are obviously number one, you must know now and know it all. However it’s up to you to decide whether to keep it at your level or to go ‘one up’ and then the ‘one up’ will also go ‘one up’ and security could be badly jeopardised. I have not yet told my OSPC. So far, to be fair to Hinlea, Ah Fat, although while in Seremban he is using another’s name and ID card, probably does not have proof that would be considered firm evidence in a court of law about what Hinlea is reputed and reported to have said he plans to do. Ah Fat has made no mention of anything like that during their conversations, except a request for more secret data which might or might not be coincidental. Hinlea has been asking questions about why and how the British are in Malaya and these Ah Fat parried without any difficulty, saying that the British were much better than the Japanese ever were and that the British also gave the Chinese more “social manoeuvrability”, not in those exact words, than the Malay rulers would, so neither denied him nor encouraged him.’ He let out a deep sigh. ‘Oh yes. I should have mentioned it earlier but Head of Special Branch, Mr Mubarak, was with Ah Fat, Captain Rance and me.’
‘Clark, I don’t like this one little bit. How much is true, how much is gossip? Who’s to tell? Also the position of Ah Fat is delicate. We must do nothing whatsoever to impede or imperil his standing with the other guerillas who most certainly hold him in high esteem from what you say. We have a military target that is well worth going for – but when? Before Ah Fat returns or after he has gone back, giving him enough time to get back to where he properly belongs?’ Before the OCPD had time to answer, ‘the latter, I suppose,’ he said, answering his own question. He looked at his watch and gave out a long whistled whew. ‘Let’s go and have a pink gin or a beer, then lunch. Afterwards we’ll come back here and have another session.’
At the end the CO thanked Ian Clark and said, ‘I’ll talk to Hinlea after he’s finished with you and let you know what I discover and what I intend to do – or not do.’
‘Righty ho, sir. And may I ask how Captain Rance, who is also worried about his Chinese friend and feels that he really shouldn’t be involved in any of this, will be tackled?’
‘Good points. I’ll have a word with him, too.’
Next afternoon the CO called Jason to his office and, seeing he looked worried, spoke to him kindly. ‘Captain Rance, sit down and take your hat off. I understand you have become muddled up in a king-size problem, much against your will and find yourself torn between what is still not full proof and your own gut feelings. Correct?’
Jason paused so long before answering that the CO felt he had framed his statement wrongly. ‘Sir, may I be impertinent and ask you for your source?’
The CO tried not to show any impatience at the query, only allowing his eyebrows to twitch. ‘The OCPD, who else?’
‘Good. That means that there’s been no leak. Yes, there are two parts to this unforeseen situation and I’ll dilate on the first, if I may.’
The CO nodded his approval. He sat back in his chair and laced his fingers across his stomach. ‘Go ahead. I want to know as much as I can and we can be all afternoon. If you have any other appointment, use my phone to cancel it.’
Jason rang through to his company office and told his clerk that he was with the Commanding sahib. He then gave the CO a full briefing of his childhood in Kuala Lumpur when he’d learnt Chinese, his father’s job, his Chinese friend and how he’d lost touch with him until, oh so unexpectedly, the previous Sunday.
‘And which side is he on, childhood friendship apart?’
‘Sir, it had never occurred to me, until your question, that he was not firmly on our side and acting, most bravely, as a long-term police agent. My father had the greatest respect for his father, they worked closely together, and yet I fully agree that’s no reason why the son should think and act like his father. But, again, my gut feeling and my more intimate knowledge of the Chinese than many Europeans both make me feel he is clean.’
‘Can’t argue against that even though it wouldn’t stand as evidence in a legal battle, as the OCPD has already opined,’ said the CO, arranging his pen in a better position on his blotting pad. ‘How good is your Chinese?’
‘I was virtually bilingual in it as a young child and I’ve kept it up since.’
‘But you rather keep it under your hat, it seems to me. I’ve never heard you flaunt it, as some Chinese speakers might. Why not?’
‘My father was in the intelligence business and I can so well remember him telling me that I’d learn much more if I kept my knowledge secret. He said he’d never have had his successes had it not been for feigning ignorance in the language. I’ve kept to that rule.’
‘And I must ask you another, rather difficult, question. I’ve never heard you but I gather you’re also a talented ventriloquist. How come?’
Jason gave a grunt of a laugh. ‘My mother was in an unusual “trade”, if I can call it that, before she married. She was a ventriloquist who helped her father run a Punch-and-Judy show. She made sure that I could master that unusual art and make different voices. Quite why, other than party tricks, she never told me: possibly it was vanity and possibly so that her own gifts need not be lost after her death. She saw that I had a gift for mimicry and I suppose I have, as well for languages, in that I learn them quicker than most other people seem to,’ he added modestly.
‘Pre-war no regular officer would ever have had such a mixed background,’ said the CO pompously. ‘When I was a subaltern my first Commanding Officer told me to be sensible without being heavy, original without being eccentric and lively without being silly,’ he pontificated. Couldn’t have put it better myself! thought Jason, smirking inwardly. ‘How about your Malay?’
‘I’m told I speak it with a “Punjabi” accent, that’s because it’s influenced by my Gurkhali although I had no such accent when young.’
‘I gather you have the men in stitches when you perform your ventriloquist act. Which is your favourite party piece?’
Jason looked abashed: ‘The time I and my dummy have a set-to over a krait,’ he said, with a nervous laugh. I’ll always remember P’ing Yee’s parting shot as the train drew out. That’s why I do it, I suppose.
‘Well, don’t overdo it. I’d hate to think that one of my more promising officers was making himself cheap and too familiar with the men.’
All pre-war officers would say the same thing. ‘Thank you for your warning, sir. When I try not to respond they seem so disappointed. But I’ve got your message.’
‘So back to our main thrust, Hinlea?’
‘He’s a loner from a wretched background with a chip on both shoulders. He seems to like me more than he does the others. Says I get on better with Asians than do the rest; seems hung up about the colonial Brits and downtrodden natives but that could be just trying to make me rise and have an argument. I don’t respond. Or, if I do, not provocatively. In the heart of his heart he knows he’s not officer class and he bitterly resents us as public-school snobs. He was badly snubbed in Darjeeling when he tried to become a temporary member of the Planters Club. That he did tell me but exactly what happened is something he clammed up on when I asked him for details. Stupid of me, I suppose, even to try but at least it diffused the head of steam that had so suddenly and unexpectedly blown up. His childhood was influenced by Communists and, to get his own back, so to speak, rash bravado rather than cool thinking has won his day. However, there is one devastating point my Chinese friend brought up,’ and he went on to explain ‘Calcutta’. The CO listened intently, nodding his head from time to time.
‘Rash bravado or cool thinking, that goes along with what your Chinese friend reports, the Politburo being asked if he’ll be accepted as a fighting Communist with them against the British and his wish to see what Special Branch has about the Communist Terrorists in its Wanted List. Pretty damning, I’d have thought, wouldn’t you?’
‘As we both know, sir, a lawyer for the government would make much of it but a defence lawyer would demand proof and not get it. For the love of me, I just can’t see any British officer actually attempting what seems to be his aim. Is it sheer bravado, I wonder, or does he just want to make us feel jittery? In other words, is this his working-class background getting at us more fortunate people? Snobbery in reverse, so to speak, or an exercise of snobbery over reality?’ pontificated Jason gnostically. ‘He has also confided in me, sir, in plain view, that he wants to earn a bravery award. But surely he wouldn’t go as far as he is reported to have gone just to be able to lead an attack on a guerilla camp himself, to win an MC or a DSO – or maybe he would.’
‘What a poser! I agree with you in the main. For the life of me I cannot see a British officer behaving in the manner he seems to be planning while keeping us in the dark. In a way I’m in a more difficult position than you are. You’re merely a brother officer while I’m his CO.’
The Adjutant asked to be excused as he had a couple of important letters for signature.
‘Have you spoken about any of this with him?’ the Colonel asked, putting his fountain pen back on the table.
‘No, not as such, sir. What little he has said to me is, in fact, the opposite, how much he is enjoying himself, the battalion is his new life, the-men-are-a-treat-to-serve-with type talk.’
It is not often that an officer as senior as a lieutenant-colonel asks a captain for advice but Robert Williams did. ‘So, if you were in my shoes, Rance, what would you do?’
‘Sir, I’d wait until he’s actually finished with Special Branch, call him in …’
‘Yes, I’ve already said I’d do that.’
‘… and ask him point blank what it’s all about. If he admits that he is a traitor, close arrest and o-u-t: if he denies it, see what he comes up with, patently wrong or just smells wrong or just a damned-fool practical joke to get us shivering in our pants.’ Nearly said ‘shitting’ not ‘shivering’. ‘Until then, pretend that there’s nothing wrong but remain more than ready for a loose ball.’
‘I don’t even like saying this but just suppose Hinlea did try and join the guerillas, have you any idea where he’d aim for or be taken, and why?’
‘The why bit first: it’s his background, as far as I can make out. The Communist left and the Nazi right are very much alike in their rigidity of thought. All radicals are. These people can’t sublimate their frustrations so they externalise them. They convince themselves, usually subconsciously, that others are causing their miseries – “others” meaning anyone who’s different from them. In Hitler’s Germany they blamed unemployment on the Jews because Jews held a disproportionately high number of positions in banks, universities, medicine. They were visible, obviously prosperous and clearly different. They had different traditions, different Sabbaths, different holidays. They were an easy target. The same was true of Jews in Communist Russia. Instead of Jews, Hinlea’s abominations are Britain’s hierarchy, public-school educated sahibs and successful upper classes –all his opposites.’
‘That seems a pretty deep analysis. I accept it.’
‘As for the where, sir. I know it: the same camp where my Chinese friend came from. It is not far from here, high up on Bukit Beremban, that’s the nearer of the two high mountains we can easily see from the camp.’
‘And what sort of a place is it and who’s there? Could we attack it with, say, a platoon?’
‘No way, sir! Apparently it’s a devilishly hard place to attack,’ and he described it as Ah Fat had, its approach, its defence, the number of people normally in it, their weapons and the two senior personalities. ‘It is the Regional Committee camp and in it are the Political Commissar and the Military Commander.’
‘One tough nut but a more-than-worthwhile target. Hey ho, it most probably won’t come to that, fingers crossed. Thank you Rance, most useful. As ‘twas said in England during the war, “Mum’s the word”. Before you go, do you know what Mr Clark’s Indian Army regiment was?’
‘Yes, sir. He was a Dogra.’
‘Good soldiers, the Dogras.’
‘Did you hear, sir, that a British service type thought that DOGRA were initials for Duke of Gloucester’s Royal Artillery?’
The CO burst out laughing. ‘No, that escaped me.’
‘I’ve one more before I go. When I walked up the platform to the head of the train I was travelling in to stretch my legs, I reached the engine and the engine driver looked at 1 GR on my shoulders and asked me if I had been commissioned into the Indian General Railways.’
Once more the CO laughed, lightening the tension that had started to oppress them.
‘Thank you, Rance. I’ll call you again if necessary.’
Jason got to his feet, put his hat back on, saluted and went to play basket-ball with his company. He almost sweated his worries out of his system during the game.
Saturday, 16 August 1952
As the Lustful Wolf entered the Yam Yam the barman noticed that he looked happier and more relaxed than he normally did. Waiting until Hinlea had made his way to the bar and was well into his first beer of the evening, Kwek Leng Joo put his head closer than normal for conversation and asked, ‘How’s it all going?’
‘I’m more than halfway ready, Comrade,’ he replied. ‘I reckon I’ll be ready by this coming weekend or the end of the week after. No messing. There’s no bother with my getting the Wanted List and it should take only a little skill to get my hands on the secret list of Special Branch sleepers operating in the jungle.’
‘I offer you my congratulations in the form of another bottle of beer on the house. Siu Tse is not due till eight.’ He looked at his watch. ‘She should be here soon. You’re earlier than normal.’
‘I need her badly,’ and Hinlea laughed lasciviously.
Monday, 18 August 1952
‘Ian, it’s about time I went back. They’re a suspicious bunch up there and I told them to expect me about now. We’ve prepared the secret list and it’s still where Hinlea can find it if he really wants it. He’s not got all that much to do in the copying line and, once you’ve got the wireless set ready, I’ll have to disappear, sadly, as I’d have just loved to have had more time with Jason.’
‘And I with you,’ volunteered Ian, ‘but it can’t b e helped.’ He opened his safe and took out the wireless. He took the back off it as carefully as possible. ‘New batteries and I’ll give you some spares. Look here, soldered behind this little whatsit is just a tiny, tiny beacon,’ and Ah Fat had to peer hard to see it. ‘This will be activated whenever the wireless is switched on. It is compatible with what is carried in an Auster which can therefore lock on to it. Useful for bombing as well as reporting the carrier’s position to any follow-up group or ambush placed in front.’
