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Saved by the Orang Alsi and the jungle


It has been some 65 years after the Japanese invasion of Penang. Molly McIntyre and Harold Speldewinde share with us the tragic adventures that have been locked in their memories.

She was an 18-year-old trainee nurse at Penang’s General Hospital on the fatal day when more than 500 human casualties were rushed in. It was the day (Dec 11, 1941) the Japanese air force bombed Penang.

"We worked nearly 48 hours without sleep," Molly McIntyre remembers today. "There were rows upon rows of casualties in the wards.

"We had to put them on floors as there were not enough beds. And when we came back to the rows, half of them had died. There were so many casualties that we were picking up limbs."

Meanwhile, Molly's 17-year old would-be husband, the youngest recruit in the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force's (SSVF) Eurasian company, was busy catching looters rampaging in the streets.

"We stopped the looters, made them drop what they were carrying," said Harold Speldewinde. "We later redistributed the things to those without food.

"People were in a state of shock. They were carrying their belongings and heading for the hills."

Today, Molly, 83, and Harold, 82, who got married during the Japanese occupation, bears a calmness that belies the pain they shared during their youth. Harold became the bodyguard of M. Saravanamuttu, the legendary editor of the Straits Echo newspaper, who worked to bring order to Penang when British officers absconded with their families.

Sara, as she was called, sent wireless messages to the Japanese appealing to stop bombing, while leading a citizens group called the Penang Service Committee, put together when police, fire brigade and infrastructure facilities collapsed.

Assisted by Harold and the late Oswald Foley, Sara once helped stranded British officers get on a tongkang bound for Singapore with food and water.

The officers escaped and reached Singapore safely. There were never any thanks from the British for the risks the trio took.

"Till the day he was arrested, Sara told me: If I get caught, Harold, you don't hang around. You be gone."

Sara was detained by the Japanese while he was at a health officers house in Barrack Road. Harold, who was standing guard outside, fled. He became a wanted man.

He took Molly to an estate belonging to his planter father in Cameron Highlands. But the Japanese tracked him down. Before the Japanese could get their hands on him, a friend got two Orang Asli (Malay aborigines) to take him, his wife and their baby into deep jungle.

Molly will never forget those dramatic moments. "We walked and walked from midnight till noon the next day until we reached an Orang Aslihouse on a steep hill," she said.

Here, the young couple lived for months. They only found out the war was over many days after it had ended.

Molly and Harold, who is today president of the Penang Veterans Association, have plenty of stories to tell of those difficult years.

"The first lot of Japanese who came were very rough," Molly remembers. "We nurses had armbands so the Japanese would not disturb us."

She also remembers the Polo Ground opposite the hospital being filled with all the cars on the island which had been surrendered to the Japanese.

"Youngsters today will not know what we went through," Harold said. "People live an easy life now. But what we experienced, we will never forget."





Source: New Straits Times.
Author: Himanshu Bhatt.
Published: 24-12-206

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Tong Tong Fair 2013

Malaysians residing in the Netherlands might want to mark their calendar for the 55th Tong Tong Fair taking place from May 22 till June 2 in The Hague.

For more information:
Tongtongfair.nl & Tongtongfestival.nl