Highway to Merdeka

By New Straits Times – August 31, 2024

THEY say every journey has a story and every story is a journey.

As Malaysia celebrates its 67th National Day, West Coast Expressway takes travellers on an epic road trip along its length and breadth to honour the places and people whose stories are intrinsically linked to the nation’s independence.

The West Coast Expressway (WCE) spans 233km from Banting, Selangor to Taiping, Perak, with 80km of toll-free roads.

However, tucked away between the destinations are pockets of history, each with its own rich, unique tale of Malaysia’s long journey to nationhood.

The New Straits Times takes a look at spots in Selangor and Perak, accessible from the WCE, which played a significant role in nation-shaping events including the Perjanjian Taiping, efforts to retake Malaya from Japanese occupation, and the mass protests against the Malayan Union, which would ultimately lead to independence from the British.

 

 

BANTING, SELANGOR

Significance: Retaking Malaya from the Japanese

Location: Morib Beach

Exit from: Banting toll plaza

At the tail-end of World War 2, the British had devised Operation Zipper, a plan to retake Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) in Selangor or Port Dickson in Negri Sembilan as staging grounds for its bid to recapture Singapore.

However, the sudden Japanese surrender meant the planned assault to liberate Malaya was scaled down.

Nevertheless, on Sept 9, 1945, the idyllic Morib beach was the scene of an amphibious landing by British and Commonwealth troops, one of the largest to mark the return of the forces to liberate Malaya.

The landing party comprised largely of the 23rd and 25th Indian Divisions, with 42,651 troops and almost 4,000 armoured vehicles, making their way inland to push their way into the Malay peninsula.

One of the landing party’s first objectives was to capture an airfield at Simpang Sungai Arak in Kelanang, Banting which was run by the Japanese army. The airfield is now part of the Dusun Durian oil palm plantation.

Each year, the Malaysian Armed Forces Indian Veterans Welfare Association commemorates the event by holding a wreath-laying ceremony at the landing site to honour the servicemen who participated in the operation.

Fast fact: Among those who participated in the landing were two distinguished officers including Lieutenant-Colonel KS Thimmaya (later General KS Thimmaya), who would become India’s third army chief. The other was Second Lieutenant Zia ul Haq (later General Zia ul Haq), who went on to become the sixth president of Pakistan.

KAPAR, SELANGOR

Significance: Malayan Union protests

Location: Jalan Kapar

Exit from: Bandar Bukit Raja (Utara) toll plaza

In 1948, three years after the British reclaimed Malaya from the Japanese following the end of World War 2, the nation was once again in uproar.

There was widespread anger among the people over the establishment of the Malayan Union, the successor to British Malaya, which was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administration under a British governor.

Under the Malayan Union, the Sultans conceded all their powers to the British Crown except in religious matters, with British Residents replacing the Sultans as the head of the State Councils.

Two years earlier in March, 1946, Datuk Onn Jaafar had assembled 41 Malay associations under one roof at the Kelab Sultan Sulaiman in Kuala Lumpur, which would eventually lead to the formation of Umno.

Umno battled relentlessly against the Malayan Union, with its members holding rallies nationwide. In Kapar, Selangor, protesters, like others across the country, wore white bands around their heads and marched down the town’s main street, Jalan Kapar, to protest against the decision.

These marches provided the spark which would ultimately lead to the disbanding of the Malayan Union and the establishment of the Federation of Malaya on Feb 1, 1948, heralding a key step towards Merdeka.

Fast fact: Kampung Batu Belah in Kapar is believed to be one of the possible origins of the ‘Batu Belah, Batu Bertangkup’ legend in Malay folklore. The Klang City Council in 2000 built a replica rock in Taman Sentosa, next to SK Batu Belah to commemorate the legend.

PAPAN, PERAK

Significance: Sybil Kathigasu

Location: Papan Memorial House

Exit from: Changkat Chermin toll plaza

Today, the shophouse formerly known as No. 74, Main Street in Papan, Perak, looks like any other colonial-era building. However, during the Japanese occupation of Malaya, it was a medical clinic run by Sybil Kathigasu and her husband, Dr Abdon Clement.

Apart from covertly providing medical aid and shelter to resistance fighters and civilians, Sybil and her husband also secretly kept banned shortwave radio sets and listened to BBC World Service broadcasts to provide crucial information to the people.

The couple were arrested by Japanese soldiers in July 1943 and were subjected to extreme torture by the Kempeitai, the military police of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Thrown in Batu Gajah prison, she was only freed in Aug 1945 when Malaya was liberated from the Japanese.

Sybil was flown to Britain for medical treatment and died on June 12, 1948 in Lanark Scotland, at only 48.

Time magazine, in 1948 referred to Sybil as the “Edith of Malaya” after Edith Cavell, a British nurse who was executed by a firing squad for aiding the escape of Allied soldiers during World War 1.

She was conferred the George Medal by King George VI in 1948 for gallantry, becoming the only Malayan woman to receive this honour during World War 2.

Fast fact: In 2010, Sybil’s grandniece, actress and former Miss Malaysia Elaine Daly, played her in a TV drama titled ‘Apa Dosaku?’ that featured Sybil’s life and works. A movie on Sybil’s life story is slated for release in 2025.

TAIPING, PERAK

Significance: Perjanjian Taiping

Location: Taiping Airport (Tekah Airport)

Exit from: Taping Selatan toll plaza

On Aug 12, 1945, Japan was weeks away from declaring its surrender in World War 2.

This set the stage for a momentous meeting in Taiping between pre-independence nationalist Datuk Seri Dr Burhanuddin Helmy and his Indonesian counterparts Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, who would later become the republic’s president and vice-president.

Dr Burhanuddin, accompanied by fellow nationalist Ibrahim Yaakub, were the founding members of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), which fought for independence of Malaya and opposed all forms of British colonialisation.

In that meeting, the two parties, believing Malaya’s independence was intertwined with Indonesia’s, had discussed the possibility of creating ‘Melayu Raya’, a political coalition involving both countries.

This would also involve joining Malaya with Indonesia when the latter achieved independence.

At the Taiping airstrip, they signed an agreement — known as the ‘Perjanjian Taiping’ — that Malaya and Indonesia would jointly declare independence on Aug 17 the same year.

This, however, did not materialise.

While Indonesia pressed ahead and declared independence on that date, Malaysia had to wait until Aug 31, 1957 to free itself from British rule.

Fast fact: Built in 1929, the Taiping Airport is the oldest airstrip in Malaysia. It is also the first airfield in Perak and Peninsular Malaysia.