BATTLE OF MALAYA: Collective Punishment

For eight days the 20,000 people of Tanjong Malim had been confined to their homes. In the brief two hours a day in which they were allowed out to buy a reduced ration of rice, they had to pawn belongings to pay shopkeepers' soaring prices.

Britain's new High Commissioner for Malaya, General Sir Gerald Templer, intended that the people of Tanjong Malim should suffer. It was his way of punishing them for having failed to supply information about the Communist terrorists who had murdered twelve men of a pipeline repair gang near by (TIME, April 7).

In Britain there was uneasiness about...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!