And India? Well, India would have meant nearly 2,000 miles of jungle travel, for obviously the rail and roads were out of the question. I’m convinced that even a Malayan who spoke first-rate Malay and knew the whole country, would have had 1,000-1 odds against getting half way. An Asiatic fearful of the responsibility of having seen a white man in his district; a reward from the Nips; jungle ulcers and malaria; food, each of these were vast difficulties in themselves. Then, should you have reached the Thai border, you would have another people to cope with, another language, hundreds more miles of jungle, tens of thousands of Nip troops, and still have all Burma before you! No, escape was lunacy.

Yet people did have the magnificent courage and stupidity to attempt it, and the following story may illustrate the difficulties. Four Malayans, planters and so on, decided to try and escape up country, overland. They had their Malay contact in a kampong outside whose duty was to provide food and a canoe to paddle over the Strait and land them in Johore. On the night of their chosen day, these four met their Malay in his boat on the water’s edge. He was very late in coming, which didn’t help their nerves, but eventually arrived with part of their ordered food. His charge was high – but so was his risk. It was 500 dollars. They clambered on board, and soon reached the other side in safety. They were carrying far to heavy kit – tinned food, rice, blanket, mosquito-netting, etc., probably 50 lbs in all, and 2,000 miles to go.

That night they decided to lie in the jungle till it was light, and to start off at dawn. At dawn two went off on a brief Recce, and on their return, to their horror, heard excited Nip voices near them. They retreated, but on returning later to their rendezvous found their comrades gone. Guessing that this meant bad news, they managed to re-cross the Strait and entered Changi unknown to the Nips once more.