histr62.htm

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History

Controlling societies

Philip Hoalim Sr

Philip Hoalim Sr, chairman of the Malayan Democratic Union, on the introduction of the control of societies by the British after the Japanese surrender.

THE REGISTRAR was given extremely wide powers. He was able to call on anyone to give him information on any society. If the registrar is dissatisfied with the answers he received, he was empowered to take the fingerprints and of the person he was questioning and his photograph.

He also had the power to enter forcibly into any premises of a society if he had the reason to believe that it was used for purposes ôprejudicial to public peaceö.

We regarded the British move as another step forward in the conversion of Singapore and Malaya into a police state.

I announced publicly that the MDU would oppose this law to the bitter end, and that even if, as its Chairman, I was thrown into gaol for opposing it, I was willing to make the sacrifice.

We then convened a meeting of all the political parties with which were allied in the Pan-Malayan Council of Joint Action and Pusat Tenaga Ra'ayat - about twelve of them all told, if I remember correctly.

They fully agreed with our stand and it was unanimously decided that we send a joint petition to the Secretary of State for the Colonies to repeal the proposed legislation.

In less that 2 weeks, the Government capitulated, not by repealing the Ordinance as we had demanded - it had to save face after all - but by amending the Bill.

Under the amendment, the Governor-in-Council was given the power to exclude from the definition of "society" contained in the Ordinance, any organizations which had been formed as political bodies. The effect of this was to give official recognition to existing political parties without requiring them to apply for registration or exemption under the Ordinance.

Looking back at that exciting period, I feel I can claim it was a great victory for us. We had won the right to organize politically without any interference from the governing bureaucracy. If the MDU had not taken such a strong stand from the outset, and stuck firmly to it, the battle might well have been lost.#

from Philip Hoalim Senior (1972). The Malayan Democratic Union û SingaporeÆs First Democratic Political Party. Oral History Pilot Study No. 1, ISEAS. p. 7-9

Worth Looking At

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INDEX

Point to the article that you want to read, and CLICK

Index page Animal & Insect Act Book review Calvin Chua 'Clare Street' on 'Gold in the South' Control of societies

Food guide Gold in the South (5) J B Jeyaratnam Lau Tat Hong Penang ABC Redressing imbalance Samad Ismail

Unknown history - exhibition

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The Penang File Issue 62

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