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His main occupation now, however, is the country's social services: getting more doctors and nurses into rural areas, organizing training schools for student teachers. There was one project he could turn to with all his soldier's heart: the creation of a 240,000-man Malay Federation army, of Malays, Chinese, Indians and Eurasians. He saw it as the prerequisite of self-government, and was disappointed when the Chinese held back. He is also deep in such unsoldierly problems as rural industrial development and low-interest loans for local cooperative societies. The sensational fall in the price of rubber, as a result of a falling-off in U.S. purchases, distressed him. More even than the guerrillas, that might spell disaster for all his plans.
It is a measure of Gerald Templer's success that in less than one year he has been able to turn from quick skirmishes against disaster to slow battles for Malaya's peaceful future. "We are beginning to get the shooting war under control," said Templer. "Deserves highest credit," said the Economist. "Staunch service," said the London Evening News. "An absolute ace," exulted Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttelton. In London to report to Churchill on his "full powers, sparingly used," he faced the press in a Colonial Office room overlooking Westminster Abbey. Dressed in a neat, dark, double-breasted suit, with blue & white striped shirt and stiff collar, he did not at first glance look like a man who had just flown in from the jungle. But there was a brown sweater under his waistcoat—a concession to chilly London—his 6-ft. frame was down to 147 Ibs., and his slicked-back hair was greyer.
The substance of his report: Malayan guerrillas are on the retreat. To use their own "beastly jargon," the Communists' "situation has become malignant" since "the regrouping of the masses." In October there had been 36 contacts between police and terrorists, and 35 terrorists had been killed. The Reds were shifting their tactics to "insidious subversion."
When he had finished, the reporter from the Communist Daily Worker asked him if his collective punishment policy was not the same as that used by the Nazis. Templer's lip curled into a smile like a soundless snarl. Grimly he recited the prosaic, ghastly facts & figures he had had to deal with. "I notice you do not deny using the Fascist system," said the Daily Worker reporter. "Didn't bother to," said Templer. The Communist reporter asked: "What is the level of anemic malnutrition in Malaya?" Answered Ternpier: "I haven't the vaguest idea." The reporter: "Why don't you? You're High Commissioner, aren't you?" Templer said quietly: "You sit down. You sit down, or get out." The Communist sat down.