We protested this was unfair. Ah Kei pointed out that the Segamat Regiment had only red-haired troops opposing them. Whereas here we were fighting the Gurkhas!

Now red-haired devils are clumsy, make loud noises, suffer from the heat and the leeches; but the Gurkhas are ferocious and noiseless as the Japanese whom they resemble. They come upon us suddenly with their knives; they are fond of cutting off heads to take back, and sometimes hands. This frightens the new comrades, who are afraid of becoming headless ghosts in death, wandering for ever in the jungle without escape.

14 March General distribution of towels, cigarettes, a pen for me to keep accounts and copy books. An ‘Uncle’[1] has arrived with some messages; he is new to this region, transferred from his courier route up north when the bandit Imperialists raided one of his junction posts.

29 March Slashed two hundred and forty-seven trees (three comrades). Ah Low now collects food, and Ah Kei helps me with subscriptions. Yesterday collected three hundred dollars from Langtry estate, and also many small voluntary gifts from the people.

Ah Kei’s wife, a food supplier, came Inside today. She fled just in time. A traitor had informed on our people there and the red-haired soldiers raided the estate. The soldiers captured her sister and her four children; Ah Kei’s old mother hobbled after them (she has bound feet) screaming: ‘Take me too, take me too.’ She was afraid of starving if left behind, so they also took her away in a truck with many other workers. Ah Kei’s wife wept as she told us this. Her daughter Mui Set is among those taken.

1 April Burnt two buses of the reactionary Nam Fatt Bus Company, whose manager is a running-dog traitor. He cooperates with the British and refuses to subscribe to Party funds. But he will give us money now, as he cannot stand the loss of more buses.

4 April Came to an agreement with the police constables on Langtry rubber estate. When we arrive they hand over one or two weapons and some ammunition, then fire in the air and pretend to have been attacked. We guarantee their safety. They will also forget to patrol the labour line fences in a certain area, and let the lallang[2] grass there grow high, so that our food suppliers slip through easily at night.

7 April Two comrades have arrived from other camps to join us. One is my old friend Ah Lam. When we were children, our houses stood next to each other in Segamat town. Ah Lam left the town when the Japanese murderers arrived, and came Inside. At sixteen he joined the Organization, and fought in the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army, which is now our glorious Revolutionary Force in the jungle, the Malayan Races Liberation Army.