Peristiwa Bukit Kepong

The Siege of Bukit Kepong (Kepung): The Malayan Alamo 

by A L (Paddy) Bacskai 

Kampong Bukit Kepong Police Station, lay at the SW apex of a big bend in the Muar river at around the 65km mark and upstream from its mouth on the west coast of the State of Johore in Malaya. The village itself was small and isolated - consisting of about twenty shops and groups of accompanying houses - and by early 1950 the area had became a hive of CT activity. From the month of January onwards, there had been a noticeable increase in the tempo of contacts & incidents - both road and river ambushes amongst other - but the most disconcerting of all, was the discovery of blazed trail markings showing the way towards the town. The nearest township of note to BK was Lenga, about 10km to the south along a rough enemy controlled dirt road in a vehicle or a 2 ½ hour foot patrol, but apart from this, it was just a few other like kampongs scattered about. The station was commanded by OCPS Sgt Ray Dancey - an old Palestine hand and away at the time and a point not missed by the CT - and manned by a mixed platoon of 15 Malay Regular and Marine Police Constables under the stocky and redoubtable Sgt Jamil Mohd Shah. At the time this force was complimented by three Special Constables (SC) and four local Auxiliary Police (AP) as needed by the post to assist with the guarding and other duty. A force of 22 all told. Thirteen police wives and children were also lodged in the married quarters at the rear of the compound. Communications in and out of BK were poor - hence the marine police attachments and the station’s launch service down to Muar - and signals to and from its nearest neighbour Kampong Java at about a kilometre away, as with kampongs Gek & Tui further on, was by the use of gongs. Even the outpost’s name was ominously translated as 'Siege Hill’- but this was historically believed to have originated from it’s 186m namesake 5km to the east. Now in the early AM darkness of the 23rd of February 1950, the 200 strong 4th Independent Coy under the joint leadership of one of the few Malay CTs within the MRLA called Muhammad Indera AKA Mat Indra from Muar (the main leader was believed the tactical mastermind & Commissar Goh Peng Tun), well armed with a full compliment of infantry weapons, began its move in towards the BK compound (for layout see map). The CT’s aim was to teach the police post a comprehensive lesson and to use it as an example to others and Mat Indra - who wore a talisman around his neck and so believed bulletproof by some - was contemplating a quick and easy straight forward job. As February the 23rd 2000 was the 50th Anniversary of the Battle at Bukit Kepong - an epic by any standard at arms - the following is a reconstruction of the phases of the battle which followed: 

Lay out Map of BK Station under siege by CT 

0400 hrs

After some difficulty in the darkness, the CT Coy deploys to complete the encirclement of BK. The group is accompanied by some of the wives and children and these are to act as medical staff and to carry away the CT KIA (mainly in gunny sacks provided). Half the force is deployed to the front and main parts of the compound (Group 1), with the other half in Pl group lots (Groups 2 & 3), deployed to the other three sides. At this point, there is only L/Cpl Jidin bin Omar and SC Abdul Kadir Jusoh within the Charge Room, and two APs in Samad Yatin & Osman Yahya on guard in the compound backed by SC Jaffar Hassan with a Sten. There is also every indication, that the latter had become aware of the CT’s movements.

L/Kpl. 7186 Jidin Omar

MM 8680 Jaafar Hassan

0430 hrs

SC Jaffar challenges and fires on a CT who is seen to fall and the attack on the wire begins and builds up to the accompaniment of screaming and bugle blasts and although all forward sides are attacked simultaneously, the CTs mainly concentrate on the penetration of the front of the installation and where the post’s main strong-points are housed. They had expected to totally surprise the station - but are in turn! Caught completely by surprised by the volume and intensity of the return fire. This particularly from the two Bren Guns embedded underneath the Charge Room - it being a raised structure on posts - but also as from within the C/R itself as well as from the back and sides of the compound. Around this juncture, AP Osman is KIA and SC Jaffar is wounded,with the wives and children of the policemen fully noted assisting their menfolk with the defence of the base.

0450 hrs

The initial CT assault is beaten back after a protracted exchange but at the loss of Sgt Jamil who had been manning one of the Brens under the C/R, and who is now seen slumped lifeless over one of the weapons. There were trapdoors in use for access down to the Bren guns. Command is now assumed by the junior NCOs like the youthful and diminutive Cpl Mohd Yassin and the much larger L/Cpl Jidin bin Omar (later fatally WIA)and combined casualties for both sides at this time, are placed at a dozen plus. The police wives and children left sheltering in the flimsy walled and also elevated married quarter building behind, make up a good portion of this. Also as such, at around this period. Four of the wives and five children manage to make their escape out of the compound.

Sjn. Jamil Mohd Shah

Ketua Polis Balai Bukit Kepong 

Kpl. 7068 Mohd Yassin Hj. Abdul Wahab

0500 hrs

Auxiliary Police and small groups of citizen volunteers are mobilised around Kampong Java under the headman Penghulu Ali bin Mustaffa, and these react to the attack by going to BK’s aid. They’re expected by the CT rearguard however and in turn ambushed and held engaged in skirmishes and suffering casualties. About this time the defenders main firepower in the two Bren guns back at the station, are knocked out.

0530 hrs

The CTs continue a number of assaults on the wire and lighting and which provides them with a small breach at the front side and with which they attempts an envelopment of the C/R but are still held and beaten back from within and from the interlocking fire from the married quarters. Some of the weapons are at this point wielded by the wives remaining. Mat Indra is reported frantic at the lack of progress after an hour and wary of the approaching daylight, calls for an all out bayonet charge at 0600. Both the compound and CT casualties had mounted and are being treated in situ by the wives and children as before. The CT casualties had been retrieved under fire, and it was noted how the police would not fire at the women and children so involved. 

0600 hrs

Visibility is now better and the CTs hit the wire again in a frantic mass as ordered, but are again surprisingly beaten back with the exception of some further gains at the SW rear and left hand side by the married quarters. Mat Indra now calls for a pause to reconsider his options. During this period and as it had been throughout the engagement, loud hailers and personal voice addresses had been used on the defenders in an attempt to get them to surrender. But to no avail - in spite of the fact that they had suffered badly - and just as the many alternate offers of ‘safe conduct’ out of the area had been treated with defiance and derision.

0700 hrs

The frontal targets are now isolated by the CTs and all efforts concentrated in the vicinity of the previous gains around the rear and SW side and this providing them with an instant result. One of the police wives captured in this thrust, Miriam Ibrahim the wife of Constable Mohamad Jaafar, told her captors that only an other woman and her young child were left alive in the married quarters. The CTs force Miriam to appeal to the men to surrender but this is duly ignored. About this time, Fatimah Yaaba and her son Hassan are also taken, also asked to appeal to the men, and on refusal Fatimah is executed. Her husband Constable Abu Bakar Daud the base’s MP launch driver down at his duty station on the Muar river - perhaps aware of the personal tragedy which had just taken place - elects to fight to the death in a skirmish with the CT sent to capture and sink his launch. In the final outcome he is shot through the chest & arm. There are indicators that some others were either sent or also went to assist him with getting away for help. But this group is also assumed engaged by the CTs. And although its also believed that the MP Constable could have saved himself if he chose by starting his motors and casting off, he never ever did. At this point, the CTs consolidate their hold on the rear of the complex through the torching of both the launch (which sank) and the married quarters - with the reported wife Saadiah and daughter Simah still alive inside and refusing to come out - and throwing the executed woman’s body into the flames as well. Also about this time, the villagers of Durian Chondong a riverine kampong to the west, dispatched a boat down to Lenga to inform the police of the attack.

MM 7493 Mohamad Jaafar

MM Abu Bakar Daud

0800 hrs

Full daylight and with the rear of the compound ablaze, the CTs execute a determined grenade ‘pincer’ attack against the C/R and are finally successful. Setting it ablaze as well. Then picking off both male and female survivors attempting to get out with rifle shots - some seen with their clothing fully on fire at this point - and capturing Hassan bin Abu Bakar the young son of badly wounded MP Constable Abu Bakar in the process. Hassan was caught in the vicinity of the silenced Bren guns, with some believing that he was the last person seen standing or perhaps even attempting to fire, one of the weapon at this duty station. Perhaps he was just too shocked to leave his comatose father nearby or his dead mother Fatimah’s funeral pyre. But either way! The brave lad was thrown live into the raging flames of the C/R along with all the dead and wounded police defenders including Sgt Jamil. Also about this time, news of the attack is relayed to Police District HQ at Pagoh, and a relief force of Jungle Squad and Seaforth Highlanders is prepared for a forced march to BK.

0930 hrs

Mat Indra finally declares the objective taken - five hours after the commencement of what had been considered a simple action - and stating that they the MRLA ‘had dealt a glorious blow against the Imperialists and for the Liberation of the Oppressed People’ (he would later be KIA in an ambush)- infact Mat Indra was captured and later hanged in Perak Priosn, Taiping if i am not mistaken. Also around this time, a boatful of villagers from Durian Chondong and coming to investigate and to assist, are also engaged by the CT force as they pull out.

0940 hrs

A spotter aircraft also sent out to investigate, calls back to base that there is nothing but a charred ruin - ‘with no signs of life in evidence’.

1030 hrs

The exhausted relief force from Pagoh led by OC JJ Raj Jr, finally arives to take charge and is greeted by scenes of massive devastation. But the refurbishment of the BK station area, at times a slow refurbishment, does now begin.

12 Regular Police, two Special Constables, all of the four Auxiliary Police and four dependants, a total of 22, fought to the death at the Battle of Bukit Kepong. AP Constable Ali Akop bin Ahmad, who had earlier been cited for a Colonial Police Medal for Gallantry for a previous action, and once out of rounds, was last seen charging the barbed wire with his parang as example. A further four constables were found severely wounded within the compound. Of these survivors, as apart from the women and children who had managed to slip out much earlier, only PC Yusof Rono and well in his seventies now, is still alive today. A further two APs were also KIA and a number of locals WIA during the relief actions as mentioned. The CTs would only ever admit to around 10 casualties, but a quadruple of this would be very much closer to the mark. From the outset, the garrison had been outnumbered ten to one yet it never slackened in its resolve to do its duty. Even after the death of Sgt Jamil, and who is credited with the setting of the tone of the resistance, no one nor at anytime, appeared to consider the numerous offers of surrender or ‘safe conduct’ held out to them by the CT. Bukit Kepong was also the first real indicator for the MRLA, that the affable layback Malay, might just not be the easy mark that had been estimated. And that they would clearly constitute an additional factor in their the MCP’s, over simplistic overview of Red independence and rule in Malaya. It was also noted how quickly the humble kampong Malays, reverted to the fatalistic strength of their Muslim faith when cornered. In the final analysis, the words of an SEP who was one of the attacking force expresses it all - ‘I admired them at the time, and admire them to this very day’. 

Tapak Balai Polis Yang Tinggal Selepas Serangan

Gambar Kenangan Parajurit-Parajurit

Balai Polis Bukit Kepong

Anggota Balai Polis Bukit Kepong dan Anggota Home Guards

Anggota Polis/Keluarga 

Yang Dibakar Hidup-Hidup atau Dibakar Setelah Mati 

REAKSI PEMIMPIN PEMBANGKANG DAN BEKAS PERAJURIT & MANGSA PKM

1. Ketua Dewan Pemuda Pas Pusat, Salahuddin Ayub

“Tidak salah sekiranya Chin Peng dibenarkan kembali ke tanah air asalkan bekas pemimpin PKM itu tidak menjadikan komunis sebagai ideologinya. "Saya syorkan kerajaan menemui Chin Peng dan membuat penilaian secara menyeluruh bagi menentukan sama ada dia masih komunis atau tidak. "Jika Chin Peng tidak lagi mengamalkan ideologi ini saya tidak nampak perlunya kerajaan menghalang beliau daripada kembali ke tanah air. Chin Peng wajar dibenarkan kembali ke Malaysia sekiranya dia meninggalkan doktrin komunis," katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia di sini hari ini.

2. Naib Presiden Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Mustafa Kamil Ayub

“Tidak ada salahnya untuk Chin Peng kembali ke Malaysia asalkan beliau sudah berubah dan bersedia mendokong perlembagaan. Jika mahu dipertimbangkan dari segi sejarah, Jepun dan British sebelum ini turut pernah menjajah Malaya dan melakukan kekejaman di negara ini."

"Di kala ini, ramai orang Jepun dan British yang melabur di Malaysia. Mereka juga dahulu pernah menjajah dan menzalimi rakyat di negara ini.

"Justeru, apabila era sudah berlalu, penilaian semula boleh dibuat. Sejarah lalu tidak bermakna kita perlu memutuskan hubungan dengan Jepun dan British. Hal ini sama juga dengan isu Chin Peng."

3. Timbalan Presiden DAP, Dr Tan Seng Giaw

“Walaupun banyak pihak termasuk beliau pernah merasai penderitaan akibat kekejaman komunis, kerajaan boleh memaafkan Chin Peng sekali gus membenarkan bekas pemimpin komunis itu pulang ke Malaysia."

"Walaupun kekejaman komunis meninggalkan kesan mendalam kepada banyak pihak termasuk saya apabila pengetua sekolah dibunuh pada 1950-an, Chin Peng sudah tua dan wajar diberi peluang kedua."

4. Pengerusi Gerakan Pulau Pinang, Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan

“Meminta kerajaan membenarkan Chin Peng kembali ke Malaysia atas sebab kemanusiaan. Bagaimanapun, hasrat Chin Peng itu ditentang pelbagai pihak."

5. Ketua Penerangan PKR, Tian Chua

Secara peribadi beliau mengharapkan hasrat Chin Peng itu dapat dipenuhi kerajaan atas dasar kemanusiaan kerana sesiapapun layak mendapat peluang kedua.

"Adakah kedatangan orang Jepun akan membangkitkan kemarahan masyarakat yang menderita ketika penjajahan negara Matahari Terbit itu atau adakah kedatangan rakyat British akan mengembalikan penjajahan oleh negara berkenaan "

6. Ahli Jawatankuasa DAP Pusat, Ronnie Liu

“Chin Peng perlu dibenarkan menziarahi ahli keluarga terlebih dulu yang menjadi tradisi kaum Cina sebelum dibenarkan menetap di Malaysia."

"Kita tidak perlu bimbang kehadirannya di negara ini kononnya akan membangkitkan semula fahaman komunis kerana masyarakat sudah menolak ideologi itu dan menerima sepenuhnya prinsip demokrasi negara, malah ideologi itu sudah lama mati."

7. Veteran Perang (ATM), Onjinin Christopher Jopinol, 52

''Kepada mereka yang masih tidak faham kekejaman Chin Peng, lihatlah keadaan kaki saya."

''Selama lebih 20 tahun saya hidup tanpa sepasang kaki, gara-gara kezaliman Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) yang dipimpin oleh Chin Peng."

"Kenapa mereka hanya memikirkan tentang nasib Chin Peng. Bagaimana dengan perasaan kami? "

"Mereka patut fikirkan juga nasib keluarga veteran perang yang terkorban dan cedera. Setiap nyawa anggota tentera yang gugur semasa melawan komunis, bermakna ada wanita yang menjadi balu dan kanak-kanak menjadi anak yatim."

8. Veteran ATM Labuan Sabah, Amid Abd. Rahman, 60

"PKM masa itu bukan sahaja berada di hutan tetapi juga di luar hutan dengan menyamar sebagai orang biasa dan terdapat juga mereka yang menjadi tali barut komunis."

9. Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Hal Ehwal Veteran ATM, Mejar Jeneral Datuk Zulkiflee Mazlan

“Ramai veteran ATM menyuarakan rasa tidak puas hati dan terkilan dengan usaha membawa pulang Chin Peng.

"Cadangan itu (memebenarkan Chin Peng pulang) amat tidak wajar dan kerajaan sepatutnya mengambil kira sensiviti ahli keluarga ATM yang terkorban ketika berjuang menentang PKM."

10. Bekas Profesor Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Dr. Haji Amat Juhari Moain

“Bapa saya kemudian hilang. Sebagai seorang naib (istilah di Johor untuk Ketua Kampung) petang itu dia dipanggil oleh sekumpulan orang untuk pergi menyelesaikan satu masalah penduduk...Itu adalah kali terakhir saya melihatnya. Mayatnya kemudian ditemui di belakang sebuah rumah di Kampung Sungai Dulang Darat, Rengit, Batu Pahat. Terlalu menyedihkan, bapa saya disembelih dan anggota badannya dikerat-kerat. Bapa saudara saya Hassan Akasah (atau juga dikenali sebagai Wak Kasah) turut dibunuh kejam."

“Siapa kata Chin Peng yang mahu pulang itu adalah seorang pejuang nasionalis?"

Matlamatnya dulu, kata Dr. Amat Juhari ialah mahu merampas tanah air ini untuk dijadikan negara komunis.

''Chin Peng ialah Setiausaha Agung Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) dan jawatan itu membolehkan dia cukup berkuasa. Dia tahu apa yang dia buat dan jika dia seorang nasionalis dia akan berjuang bersama-sama dengan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Cheng Lock dan lain-lain untuk kesejahteraan negara ini."

11. Wartawan yang membuat liputan semasa Majlis Perjanjian Damai antara Kerajaan Malaysia dengan Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) pada 1 Disember 1989 di Hatyai Thailand, berkata:

“Antara soalan yang saya masih ingat saya ajukan kepada Chin Peng ialah: 

"Apakah saudara masih seorang Marxist-Leninist?" 

Chin Peng dengan wajah yang hampir-hampir tersenyum menoleh ke arah saya dan menjawab: 

''Ya."

Chin Peng menambah: 

''Kami hanya meletakkan senjata bukan membubarkan PKM ataupun fahaman komunisme.''

12. Bekas Anggota Unit Operation Squad, Platun Ke-6, Tentera British, lenga Bekas Johar Katan, 69

''Suasana sedih menyelubungi kawasan itu. Semua orang tidak dapat berkata-kata kerana terlalu amat sedih apabila melihat keadaan mayat anggota polis dan keluarga yang dibunuh dan dibakar bersama Balai Polis itu. Tambah memilukan kami, apabila dua orang kanak-kanak perempuan adik beradik, termasuk seorang darinya dalam buaian menangis sambil memanggil emaknya yang terbakar.''

Dalam tragedi Bukit Kepong, 14 anggota polis, empat isteri polis, empat anak anggota polis dan lima anggota polis bantuan terkorban apabila balai polis tersebut terbakar akibat serangan pengganas komunis.

Sumber : Laman Web Polis Malaysia

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