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| Malaya Tribune 4th March 1947 |
The Malaya Tribune dated 4 March 1947 reported :
1. Labourers from Bukit Sembilan Estate who have been on strike resisted a police party who came to the estate to execute a warrant of arrest against a person, leading a clash resulted in 20 strikers being injured.
2. The strikers attached the police with pepper powder, stones, boiling water and sticks.
3. A.C Maxwell the Chief Police Officer who led the search was injured in the head and had te be treated in hospital with three other police personnel.
4. The CPO warned the crowd to disperse before final order was given to use force.
5. Steel-helmeted police armed with truncheons first advanced while those armed with guns remained behind. 20 twenty labourers were injured.
6. Sixty seven men and four women had been arrested. Two had fractured bones.
7. President of Labour Union in Sungai Petani, Govindarajoo, told the Tribune that 250 labourers in Bukit Sembilan Estate - all Indians - were still on strike.
8. Sanitation on the estate was poor and frequent sickness had broken the strikers morale. He wondered if a settlement could be reached unless the conductors and other members of the estate staff were dismissed.
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| Indian Daily Mail - 5th March 1947 |
On the next day, The Indian Daily Mail reported 62 Estate "Rioters" Jailed
1. The Bukit Sembilan Estate rioters appeared in the District Court in Sungai Petani. 17 pleaded guilty.
2. 59 men were each sentenced to 6 months' rigorous imprisonment and three women to 1 month rigorous imprisonment and two women was fined 50 dollars (or in default one month rigorous imprisonment).
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| Indian Daily Mail - 4th March 1947 |
The Indian Daily Mail dated 4th March reported:
1. CPO A.C Maxwell, 3 police constables and 20 labourers injured in a clash between 200 labourers and 100 police personnel in Bukit Sembilan Estate on the morning of 3rd of March.
2. 66 labourers were arrested including those who have injured after the police quelled the rioting following a half hour battle.
3. The clash occurred when the police arrived in 5 loads of trucks with an order to arrest a Indian man (I am just wondering why they need 100 police personnel to arrest a man?)
4. The police mustered outside the labourers' quarters. Labourers started to resist and obstructing the police.
5. Nearby estate labourers also took part in supportive of Bukit Sembilan Estate labourers.
6. The clash in Bukit Sembilan Estate is the second clash three weeks.
(Author's note: The man whom the police looking for was a Dresser (more like a Hospital Assistant, Balaiah @ Palliah who hijacked a lorry carrying clean water to the Manager's resident to labourer 'line'. For months the labourers in Bukit Sembilan Estate was suffering diseases out of drinking dirty and polluted rain water and water from ponds used for animal)
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The estate management regarded the labourers as the estate property (just like the herds) which need to find their food and water on their own.
"On the 28th February 1947, a crowd of a thousand or so Thondar Padai descended on Bedong, only to be confronted by police. A labourer came forward: We are not anti government,' he cried, 'we are only against the drinking of toddy." He was clubbed to the ground and later died in hospital. The coroner recorded a death of 'justifiable homicide.' A series of protest strikes erupted in the area. At Bukit Sembilan estate on 3rd March trouble was triggered by dismissal of a woman activist, and police faced orchestrated resistance."Women were to be forefront armed with pepper." it was reported; "boiling water was kept ready; men were to be armed with sticks, stones and bottle full of sand, trees were to be cut down make road blocks." Sixty-six people were arrested, and all but of them sent to hail after a trial that lasted only a day. Fearing a rescue attempt, the police closed hearing to public. An investigation by the Malayan Indian Congress revealed collusion and premeditation on the part of local planters and police, S.K Chettur claimed that women were beaten and there were allegations that two young girls were raped in custody. Condition at Bukit Sembilan estate were particularly dire: the only supply of water came from ravines and labourers shared it with their cattle; the manager has their water brought from town lorry. The strikers' demand focused on wages and family needs, such as creches (day care centres), better housing and equal pay for women. But the real source of anger was the summary dismissal of workers: "Managers feel that because we reside on the estate we are as much as their property as rubber tress."
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| A, Munusamy @ A,M Samy - Organizer of Thondar Padai |
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