00:00During my father's jungle squad days, there were all razors in the jungle squad team.
00:15And the leader of my father's team was Mr Pritam Singh, who really inspired all his
00:22members to take care of the safety of the community and to watch out for the enemies.
00:33Everybody watched each other's back, regardless of race or religion.
00:39So it was really, really mohibah at that time.
00:43My late father, Mr Pritam Singh Gorewal, was serving in Central Police Station, Ipoh, before
00:50the Second World War.
00:53And after the World War, he was posted to Stevan from 1946 to 1957.
01:01From there, he rose and became a Chief Sub-Inspector.
01:04When my father was serving in Stevan, there was a lot of terrorist companies around in
01:11the villages and quite close to the town.
01:15And so what they did, they formed a jungle squad.
01:19And my father, the late Mr Pritam Singh, was the leader.
01:24During Malaysia's path to independence, police officers also played important roles in the
01:28struggle, especially during the Malayan Emergency.
01:32I can recall my late father telling us that during his school days at Nan Hua School,
01:40Setiawan, one of his classmates was Ong Boon Hwa, Elias Chin Peng, the most famous communist
01:48leader in Malaysia.
01:52And what happened was, a lot of the students were intimidated and bullied by Ong Chin Peng
02:03to join the communist guerrillas.
02:07A lot joined him, but my father refused.
02:10He didn't believe in communism.
02:13So in order to avoid Chin Peng, he actually left school after that.
02:18He never continued his studies, and he joined the jungle forces.
02:24My father and all his squad in the jungle squad, they used to go to the jungle, deep
02:29in the jungle.
02:31Sometimes they would go for a week or two weeks, sometimes longer period, and it was
02:35a very tough time for them to go through.
02:38And there were a lot of problems also, but whatever it is, they all will be there serving
02:47the country.
02:48So the day they were coming back, there was so much of excitement, and everyone was waiting
02:55to see the father.
02:56Some fathers, some people came back alive, but some, so sorry, some of them didn't come
03:03back.
03:04When I see my father coming down, I'll be so happy, I'll run to him.
03:09Then there were so many other ladies who were crying.
03:13Both Ching Chee Ming and Pritam Singh Grewal made significant contributions in combating
03:18insurgents together, supporting the independence movement.
03:21My father was in a special branch, a very secretive part of the police force.
03:28He was in plain clothes throughout his career, and I remembered he also recruited students
03:39from Chinese schools to be his informers as to whether there are any communist activities
03:44going on in the schools.
03:47He also recruited hawkers who come to the house late at night to have private discussions
03:53with him on the goings-ons in the town.
03:58It was a very, very difficult time at that time.
04:02It was not an easy time for the families, and the main part was they were happy because
04:07they were serving the country.
04:09My late father, Pritam Singh, dedicated his whole life to the country.
04:18He was so patriotic in everything he did, and he was well-respected, and for all his
04:24good services and honesty, he was awarded, the British awarded him with a medal.
04:33In 1957, he was awarded AMN by the First Agho of Malaysia, and that was the Merdeka, the
04:40first Merdeka of 1957.
04:43The struggle for independence saw soldiers and fighters from different racial and ethnic
04:47backgrounds coming together for one purpose, Merdeka.
04:51By looking at my father's old photographs, his service in the police, I could see that
04:57there was no racism there.
05:00Everyone was like a family.
05:02There were Chinese who were mostly detectives, there were the Punjabis, there were the Malays,
05:06and South Indians.
05:08Everything was done together, more of a family than anything else.
05:13In 1957, the concept of Muhyibah was crucial in the context of Malaysia's transition to
05:19independence from British colonial rule.
05:22The spirit of Muhyibah at that time, when the word Muhyibah wasn't even coined yet,
05:28was so strong among all Malaysians, Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikhs.
05:34And I really felt that when I was staying in the police barracks in Telintan.
05:39We would celebrate each community's festivals, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali.
05:45It was really, really fun.
05:47It was a wonderful childhood for me.
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