We've tried to ensure the information displayed here is as accurate as possible. Should there be any inaccuracies, we would be grateful if you could let us know at info@ipohworld.org . All images and content are copyright.
(Please click on the thumbnail for a bigger image.)
Superintendent Mohd Pilus Bin Yusoh – Officer Commanding Police Circle Batu Gajah
Superintendent Mohd Pilus' term of office, from 1955 to 1957 brought to an end the reign of Mah Chee Wah and the Tronoh gang of communist terrorists (CTs). This band of villains had, for years, committed every crime in the book without exception. Murder and extortion were particularly popular pastimes for them. For protection they depended on the extremely efficient Min Yuen organization based in the new villages of Bemban, Bali and Chendrong, which surrounded the Changkat Chermin Reserve.
This reserve was an area of unbelievably unkempt rubber plantation providing funk holes by the score. For almost five years before Dato’ Pilus arrived there were no security force successes in the area, but he changed that situation for good. His tactics were simple; where regular patrolling by Police Area Security Units and sweeps by the armed forces had proved unsuccessful, he introduced small scouting parties of no more than three men. Using these tactics it took three months for a small clearing to be chosen as the most likely spot for a CT rendezvous. A month later the choice was proved correct.
A party comprising two Police Lieutenants (Tom Turnbull plus one) and a Corporal from 3 Malayan Regiment (3MR), on a routine inspection of the site were delighted to see their efforts had come to fruition. Ten of the scoundrels were at home. The old element of surprise is heartwarming on these occasions and as the comparative numbers were so imbalanced on that day it helped those three to keep body and soul together. Mr Browning’s shotgun worked like a charm!
Rewards payable to informers for three dead CTs would have been substantial and Special Branch soon had the word out just how much. It caught the imagination and appealed to the entrepreneurial instincts of some of the Min Yuen. They could smell blood money! Within the month, David Hood, 3 MR, acting on information received, bagged Mah Chee Wah and three of his henchmen in the jungle at the back of Tronoh. A further six met sticky ends over the following seven months in the Chermin.
The photographs show, from left to right, top to bottom:
Datin Freida Pilus is today a passionate educationalist who after 13 years in trhe Civil Service started her first Sri Cempaka School in Kuala Lumpur. To date (1999) some 30,000 students have passed through her schools.
Dato Pilus has written his memoirs, "A Policeman's Story".
To read more about Sir Donald MacGillivray, click here.
To see pictures of the unkempt rubber plantation cited above, click here
To read more about Tom Turnbull, click here
To read more about Tom Turnbull's Browning Automatic Shotgun, click here