Thursday, November 23, 2023

Erasing HAMAS and its ideology : Lessons from Malaysia's Datuk Leong Chee Woh's Operation Judas, and General Sir Gerald Templer's new villages demonstrate how even an ideology can be erased once starved of funding, and its billionaire leaders and their wealth liquidated

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

It has become fashionable to assert that Israel is waging a futile war against HAMAS because HAMAS is (or represents) an ideology. 


However, history suggests otherwise. The Malayan Communist Party (MCP)  drew support from a large Chinese population in then Malaya  who believed in Communist China as a means to  their cause of Chinese supremacy over Malaya. That cause, and the MCP have been destroyed, and the lessons as to how  the ideology can be destroyed might be drawn from the works of Malaysia's  Datuk Leong Chee Woh.  who is widely regarded as the man responsible for ending the MCP's reign of terror, and.   General Sir Gerald Templer, whose new village strategy drove the MCP into the jungles of Malay, from where they were left fighting a losing battle for over twenty years, eventually surrendering in 1985. 


As previously reported on this blog,  70 years on Sir Gerald Templer's HUMINT and  new village methods may help in any project to turn Gaza into Singapore. Here some insight into some of  Datuk Leong Chee Woh's methods is provided, in the excerpt below from his book, Scorpio- The Communist Eraser.  It demonstrates how an ideology can be erased by capturing, turning, and otherwise destroying the financial backers, and wealthy promoters of that ideology.  



TOE BE READ WITH 

From:

SCORPIO – THE COMMUNIST ERASER

By LEONG CHEE WOH

 

RASCOM HQ was housed in a temporary onstorey buildinof plank walls and flooring with a zinc roofit was situated next to the Divisional PolicHQ in Sibu and was constructed likan armbarrack with roomlined on either side with an emptspacin between the two rows of rooms. Thfacilities providewere not in the least conducive for producing thbest workbut at the timit was the onlavailable accommodation. Except for thSB most of thdepartments werlocated inside this buildingThe CEO who had an officthere wausuallin Kuching ahheld another Federal appointment there. Without air-conditioning thhumiditwas uncomfortable during the hot seasons and when it rainedthnoiscreated bthrain falling on throof was irritatingDuring thrainseason the wholcomplex was floodedThdiscomfortothoffice were furthecompounded bthe noisfrom the tramp of armboots when armed forces personnel made their wafrom onroom to the otherThSB personnewermorfortunatas they werhoused in a normal brick government building which thetook over from somother government department on the grounds of security.

 

Finance was the NKCP's main assein sustaining thinsurgencyFor a long timeit was suspected that the CTs werwell supplied with money but not from thrural folkas they would have to travel far and widto collectheir finance andin thprocessrisrunning into thSF. We surmisedthereforethat thermust be other sources from which they obtained moneyand that these sourcewerthe wealthand thbusinessmen from the townsNews also filtered through from the rural peoplthat there was a disparitof treatmenof thrich and the poorThe former category were spared no matter what thedideven if it was to the extent of supporting the enemybut thpoor werarresteand detaineeven if they contributed a mere dollarWhen morcamps werattacked and mordocumentwerrecovered and there wermore surrendersa clearer picture was obtained regarding the CTs sources of financeIt was most startling that doctorstimber tycoonsbankersand wealthbusinessmen were all contributing to thSCO's coffersand that thehad been doing so for a lontime. When sufficient evidence was availablea mass arrest of thbig time financial supporters waplanned to allasuspicions of thrural folk that the Government othe authoritiewerbiased against thrural folk.

 

Operation "JUDAS" was then launched and over thirtprominenpeople in the RASCOM areabut mostlfrom thtown of Sibu itself, were arrestedBeforthis took placean opportunity was given to thosinvolved to come forward voluntarilto clear their cases but this call was ignoredBeforthey were arrestedthose involved must have felt that they would be intentionallbypassed as thmajoritof them were of high social standing and had contributed generouslto welfarschemes launched bthe governmentwas responsiblfor preparing the casfiles against thespeople and presenting them to the Director of Operations fohis scrutinand approvalOperations of such a big naturusuallinvolveverdetailed planning and manpersonnelHowever in this case all the paper work was carried out in utmost secrecand known onlto a feofficers who werspeciallsworn in. At this juncture, "That Fellow" suffered his second mild heart attack and was sent off on holidaleaving mto hold thfortAlthough I was DeputHead of SBRASCOMcompared to the Head who was constantlexposed and rubbing shoulders with the prominent peoplewho included those to barrested under JUDAS,  was unknown and ignored bthe prominenpeopleTo ensure that thnews othe arrest did not leak out prematurely and alert the arresteesall those who took part in the operation were only briefed immediatelbefore it was launched and until "Dtimeno one was allowed out of the briefinroom or to use the telephone. Transport and manpower all stood by with no onknowing the nature of the impending operationThe team leaders were given the list of their targets and all available addresses wherthey could be locatedThsecrecy was so tight thaonltwo in the targelist were not accounted for when thoperation concludedOne was out othe countrwhilst another was on business in the Republic of SingaporeThis latter person was the elder brother of the one who demanded special privileges of police escorts when he visited

the interior on business whilst I was on my first tour of duty in Sarawak.

 

Duringand after the arrests were madethere were manprotests from the arresteesThey demanded to know the reasons and on whose authoritthewere arrestedThe officers and men who were detailed for the operation were briefed to say that they would find out in timeIn this operationthe Armprovided the transport and all arrestees were taken direct to the prison where thewere finger-printed and photographed and put into cells. Whether it was designed or otherwisethe arrests coincided with the visit of the Director of OperationsSarawakthe Director of SBand some other important dignitariesto the State of Sabahto celebrate its anniversarof joining Malaysia. As there were no senior officials left in Sarawak for the arrestees to complain to I was accused of having exceeded mpowers and taken the law into mown hands in ordering their arrests.

 

Thewere termed as detainees under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the normal term of detention is twyears. Subject to recommendation bthe Board of Reviewheaded ba Judgeand which sat eversimonthsrelease could be much earlier depending on the behaviour of the detainee and the recommendation of the interviewing officerManof these detainees had been born with silver spoons in their mouths and had never been subjected to anmanual labourIn common with other prisoners and detaineesthey were subjected to prison rules and regulations and had to earn their keepIt was quite a sight to see them fumbling with a brush when asked to clean their own toiletsThewere subjected to regimentationtold when to wake upwhen to have their bathsto eatto sleepwork and play gamesBy the time thewere releasedsome were probablthankful thatat least for a short whiletheexperienced and appreciated the difficulties and sufferings of the working classThe one who was in Singapore when Operation JUDAS was launched, was subsequently detained when hreturnedHe was placed under custodat Kuching and escorted to Sibu where he was formallarrestedHe was the wealthiest of thlot and thmost influentialAs soon as halighted from the aircraft hdemanded to knofrom the arresting officer who was in command Pointing to me, standing nearby, the officer told him that it did not matter buhe insisted on speaking to mand verarrogantldemanded that he be allowed to ushis own car to wherever he would btakenI refused himIn turnI advised him to take off his jacket and hand his valuables to his brother who was presentI told him that polictransportwhich was not air-conditioned but almost just as comfortablewould take him to the prisonUpon arrivallike the resthe was finger printed and photographedWhilst in prisonhe tested the authorities brequesting special food on the pretext that he was under medical treatment and waon a special dietWhen the matter was referred to mehe waprovided with a simple answerAs the Government had always been accused of showing favour to the rich and famousit was not desirable that he should be on a special dietbut it could bconsidered if he agreed to provide and pafor the same food for all the other detainees in the camp.

 

Not long after Operation JUDAS concluded"That Fellow" returned from leave. Hspoke to various peopleincluding relatives of the detaineesand came to the conclusion that Ihad mishandled the Operation JUDAS detainees when the operation was launchedI was supposed to have been too harsh towards the detainees during their arrest bunceremoniouslsnatching them from their homes and carting them awain military vehicles in full view of the publicThus my approach was wrong. Subsequently, when he broached the subjectI refused to accept his doublstandards. To mean arresteis an arrestee no matter who he mabe and all should be treated alikeThere should be no distinction between the rich and the poor.

 

With pressure brought about bthe SF and their financial resources depleted with the JUDAS arrests, after about a year, the security situation was reversed and the CTs were on the runThe only obvious placthecould go to was West Kalimantan in IndonesiaDuring the Confrontation days between Malaysia and Indonesiathe Communists

 


 

RASCOM Rajang Security Command – a special command created in the 3rd. and 4th. Divisions of Sarawak to fight the Sarawak communists

 

NKCP – North Kalimantan Communist Party

 

“That Fellow” Head of Special Branch, Sarawak – a person greatly disliked by the author

 

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