Description
A few years ago I was requested by INTAN (the National Institute of Public Administration) to write my memoirs on my experiences during my service with the Government. INTAN thought it would be useful to put on record the experiences of senior civil servants who had retired especially in the case of those who served during the period of change from British Colonial/Protectorate Government, Japanese Occupation, British Military Government, British Civil Administration to Independent Malaysia.
The changes I went through especially during the early years of my service with Government were rapid and revolutionary. Before that, for years everything was calm and attention was devoted to collection of revenue and preservation of law and order. That was what the British Government wanted in Malaya at that time to enable the British to get on with planting rubber and mining tin for export to Britain to be used as raw materials for manufacturing. The Malay Peninsula at that time comprised the Federated Malay States of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang, the Unfederated States of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Johore and Trengganu, and the Straits Settlements of Penang, Melaka and Singapore. The Federated Malay States and the Unfederated Malay States were Protectorate States of Britain and the Straits Settlements were Crown Colonies. Effectively, however, they were under almost complete control of the British.
All these came to an end in 1941 when the Japanese invaded the country. It was a lightning attack by the Japanese and within a couple of months the British capitulated. Four years later, the Japanese surrendered as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima when atom bombs were used.
-Abdul Aziz Bin Zakaria
ISBN: 9679933024
