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A HISTORY LESSON THE FIRST BATCH DID NOT GET
19
ONE
Volunteers, as part of the Malaysian Territorial Army, would have come under command of the
designated Malaysian headquarters that had operational command of the forces from Singapore.
The SAF was forged in the crucible of the heightened political sensitivities that a historically
unprecedented event had created, namely the expulsion of a state from a federation by the central
government. The fact that the central government had overwhelming military forces and legal
prerogatives at its disposal as well as other alternatives such as suppressing the divisive elements
in the ‘renegade’ community only made recourse to expulsion more intriguing. However, for the
outcast state, the possibility that this was a shrewd political gamble, which, if successful, would
see it crawling back on its hands and knees, willing to accept any terms of reconciliation, was a
reality. But that prospect also carried the corollary that if the gamble failed, then the deferred
chastisement could yet be applied.
Endnotes
1. Buckley 1965, p. 43
2. ibid., p. 59
3. ibid., p. 60
4. ibid., pp. 585-595
5. Brigadier T.J.D. Campbell (DGS); Brigadier Kirpa Ram Vij (DGS); COL James Aeria (Chief of
Navy); COL Mancharan Singh Gill (Chief of Artillery); COL Kwek Boon Yong (Chief of Artillery),
LTC Seah Peng Yong (Chief of Armour); COL Ee Tean Chye (Commander, Singapore Air Defence Command)
6. Murfett, et. al., p.56
7. ibid., pp. 87-112
8. ibid., p. 108
9. ibid., p.124
10. ibid., p.151
11. The Times Weekly Edition, 3rd March , 1939, p 40
12. Winsley 1938, p.195. Tanglin Barracks had been completed in 1868 for occupation by British troops; prior to
the barracks, it had been a 1,600 acre nutmeg plantation belonging to one William Willan and included Mount
Harriet which is the site of the building which used to be the Officers’Mess.
13. Murfett, et. al., p. 167
14. ibid., pp. 177-180
15. ibid., p. 281
16. ibid., pp. 282-283
17. ibid., pp. 297-298
18. Lau 2003, pp. 4-5
19. Singapore 2001, p. 33
20. Huxley 2000, p. 3
21. Winsley 1938, p. 115
22. Our Security: Keselamatan Kita, 1969, p. 13
23. ibid., loc. cit