RETIRED police commissioner Tan Sri John Joe Raj Jr is just shy of turning a perfect 100.
He took the name J.J. Raj Jr as his late brother, who was 10 years his senior, also carried the same name — but as Datuk J.J. Raj Sr.
Both siblings served the police force — Raj Sr retiring as federal criminal investigations department director and Raj Jr as management director. The junior Raj, who turned 98 on July 27, has seen and done it all.
“I have lived through World War 2, witnessed the Japanese Occupation (of Malaya) and their surrender, the British reoccupation, the uneasy period of the Malayan Union and the formation of the Federation of Malaya.
“I saw the rebellion of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and how close they were in realising the establishment of the Communist Republic of Malaya. Then, there was the struggle for Malayan independence and the subsequent formation of Malaysia,” said Raj, at the “Malaya at War” conference held at the Royale Chulan Hotel in Jalan Conlay recently.
In his 30-year police career, one incident is firmly etched in his mind — the massacre of 23 policemen and their families after a three-hour standoff at the Bukit Kepong police station on Feb 23, 1950.
It still remains today one of the most painful memories for Raj, who described it as one of the darkest days for the police force.
“The carnage before our eyes was indescribable. We were overcome with emotion at the sight of a burning police station, bodies of dead policemen in flames, and wives and children wailing.
“There was a mixed feeling of extreme anger and profound sadness,” said Raj, who was the then district police chief of Pagoh, Johor, where the Bukit Kepong police station was situated.
“With great difficulty, we located four severely wounded constables and sent them to Muar Hospital by police boat.
“As for the dead, we had to wait till nightfall for the burning embers to simmer, before pulling out the bodies to accord them a burial the next morning.”
Raj said it was impossible to fathom what had gone through the minds of his men during the battle.
“The opportunity to surrender was open to them. But when their country was threatened and even their families were in great danger, there was no turning back for these ferocious warriors.
“They fought and died almost to the last man.”
Raj recounted how the Special Branch got wind of an impending sneak attack in Pagoh days earlier.
The intelligence report was relayed to H.W. Strathairn, who was the officer supervising a police circle (responsible for the police districts of Pagoh, Muar and Tangkak), who alerted the charges under him.
Raj took the warning seriously and planned on inspecting the police stations under his jurisdiction, beginning with Bukit Kepong, the very next day.
“When we arrived in Bukit Kepong, we were greeted by the station chief, Sergeant Jamil Mohd Shah, the village penghulu Ali Mustapha, police families and the villagers.
“After inspecting the station’s defence and security, I handed extra firearms to Jamil, along with a reinforcement of 10 fresh jungle squad constables who were well armed with rifles, Sten guns and Bren guns.
Raj said after lunch, he joined his men for a patrol of the surrounding area before returning to the Pagoh police headquarters at 7pm.
“I would normally spend a night at Bukit Kepong, but there were urgent calls for me to be at the other police stations in my district.”
Before bidding farewell and boarding the boat at the Bukit Kepong wharf, he had advised Jamil to be extra cautious: “Hey, Toh Jamil, berjaga-jagalah! (Please be careful Toh Jamil)”.
Jamil stood at attention, gave Raj a salute and responded with: “Jangan bimbang tuan OCPD, biar putih tulang jangan putih mata! (Do not worry district police chief, sir. There will be death before dishonour).
Raj and his company then made their way back to the Pagoh district police headquarters, reaching there later in the night.
Gleaning information from survivors, Raj said just after midnight, under the cover of darkness, 180 heavily armed communist terrorists took forward attack positions around the Bukit Kepong police station.
“It was all quiet and eerie. The police sentries were wide awake and keeping guard,” said Raj.
Suddenly, the communist terrorists began their attack from the Bukit Kepong jetty about 4.30am.
However, alert police sentries noticed the enemy’s movement and challenged them: “Halt! Who is there? Identify yourselves.”
There was no response, so the sentries opened fire and killed two prowlers. The terrorists returned fire and severely wounded a constable before setting fire to the marine boat.
The enemy then sounded the bugle for a full-scale onslaught, as the outnumbered policemen defended bravely.
“The ferocious battle of Bukit Kepong began, with heavy gun-fire from both sides, lasting about three hours,” said Raj.
“When there was heavy casualty among the policemen, their wives took over the firearms from their dead husbands. Many of the wives were also killed or wounded.”
At 7.30am, the terrorists sounded the bugle to signal a ceasefire.
He said one of the terrorists, Mat Indera, used a loud hailer, calling on survivors to surrender.
“Surrender. You are surrounded. Surrender and you will not be killed.”
To this, Jamil said: “We will never surrender. We will fight to the death.”
Constable Othman Yusof and his surviving colleagues also echoed Jamil: “We will never surrender.”
The communist leader then withdrew and the terrorists sounded the bugle the third time to recommence firing.
The terrorists also resorted to a desperate, but despicable tactic.
“Molotov cocktails were thrown into the wooden structure police station. The building caught fire easily and the scampering policemen were sitting ducks, as they were shot mercilessly.
“More shockingly, the terrorists caught the seriously wounded policemen and threw them into the raging fire,” said Raj.
The battle did not go unnoticed and caught the attention of the villagers, living 1km away.
The penghulu rounded up 60 villagers, some armed with shotguns, and rushed to the scene, but the terrorists were ready for them and kept them at bay, wounding some of them.
The firefight had also caught the attention of villagers at
Durian Chondang, a riverine colony between Lenga and Bukit Kepong, 40 minutes away by boat.
The Durian Chondang penghulu also summoned his men to proceed to the battle ground.
Raj received news of the attack by telephone from Lenga at 8am.
“I raised the alarm immediately. Every man at the Pagoh police headquarters volunteered to go.
“I also alerted Assistant Superintendent Brian Edwards, the Muar police headquarters chief.”
Raj arrived with 10 jungle squad men and several Seaforth Highlander infantry troops at Lenga an hour later.
There, Edwards called Raj to say that he had conducted an aerial survey by aeroplane and saw the Bukit Kepong police station engulfed in flames.
Raj made his way to the police station with the relief force through thick jungle terrain.
“We made it to our destination by noon,” he said.
Raj paid tribute to men like Jamil and the thousands of Commonwealth Force members, whose brave acts put Chin Peng’s dream of a Communist Republic of Malaya to an end.
“These unsung heroes should never be forgotten.
“I commend the work of the Special Branch in collecting and gathering vital intelligence on the terrorists’ activities.
“We could not have defeated the terrorists without them.”
He recounted how between 1945 and 1948, the Chin Peng-led CPM had become active in promoting trade unions unrest, strikes and public disorder nationwide.
By June 1948, CPM’s armed wing, the Malayan National Liberation Army, having the upper hand following the civil disturbance it orchestrated, began a full-scale war.
“They launched their revolt with murders and arsons at rubber estates, factories and tin mines. There were more than 400 communist terrorist attacks at these places a month,” said Raj.
However, help came in the form of Commonwealth forces, who assisted Malayan and British troops.
Troops came from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), India and in particular the Gurkhas from Nepal.
“They collectively launched an offensive against the communist terrorists who suffered severe setbacks and low morale.
“To boost their sagging morale, the communist terrorists planned sneak attacks on soft targets like remote police stations, under the cover of darkness,” said Raj.
Raj and his only sibling were raised in Hulu Chemor, Perak, by his parents John Ravi Raj and Rosalind Raj.
After completing Senior Cambridge (Form Five) at St Michael’s Institution in Ipoh, Raj moved to Jelutong, Penang, with his mother and brother following the death of his father.
In 1939, news broke that Britain had declared war against Germany. The brutalities and hardship during World War 2 toughened Raj and his brother, who both did a variety of jobs until the Japanese Occupation ended in 1945.
After the war, he briefly joined the British Military Administration before joining the police.
Raj was in the first intake of 10 probationary police inspectors in 1947, at the advanced age of 26 and eventually became probationary inspector on Aug 1, 1948.
On his first posting as an inspector to Pagoh as the district police chief in 1950, he considered it a stepping-stone in his career.
While there, he introduced the formation of the “Tiger Squad” — comprising a sergeant, a corporal and eight constables.
Raj had a meteoric rise, serving as police chief in four states — Sarawak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang.
He also served under a number of distinguished luminaries, such as British High Commissioner and operations director General Tun Sir Gerald Templer and the last British Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Sir Claude H. Fenner.
He said during Templer’s 28-month tenure, from February 1952 to May 1954, he had accomplished an almost impossible task.
“Templer left a tremendous impact on everyone.
“Not only did he win the hearts and minds of the people, but broke the backbone of the communist terrorists with his tactics.
“He transformed gloom and despondency into action and optimism. Templer galvanised the country into a powerful fighting machine with the people on the offensive (against the communist terrorists),” said Raj, adding that Templer’s initiatives led Malaya on the road to independence.
Raj was eventually hand-picked by Fenner as commandant of the Police College, to groom more Malaysian officers to take over from the Britons.
Communist threats against him also nearly became a reality. Just before his retirement in June 1976, Raj went to officiate the opening of the Chemor police station at his hometown in Perak. In attendance was the then Perak police chief Tan Sri Yuen Yuet Ling.
“Unknown to us, the communist terrorists had planned to finish us off, just after the ceremony was over at noon. They had planned to ambush us as our vehicles drove a short distance away, at 12.10pm that day,” said Raj.
However, Yuen had smelt a rat and forced Raj to make a detour to purportedly visit his old family house nearby.
They were all dressed in ceremonial uniform, complete with swords, and despite the sweltering sun, Yuen insisted on spending some 30 minutes at the old family house.
“We were all drenched in sweat. But that 30-minute delay saved all our lives!” said Raj, as they later learnt from intelligence that the assassination attempt was called off due to their diversion.
Upon retirement, Raj was appointed as a member of the Federal Pardons Board, which reviews cases of inmates appealing for release from prison.
The nonagenarian has the rare honour of serving the board continuously for more than 30 years under eight kings and four prime ministers (including twice under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad).
Raj’s wife, Puan Sri Irene Raj, died in 2007. He has a son, John Ravi Raj, and daughters Indrani, Rohini and Shantinee.