The Jungle Cops
Today, young men seeking adventure go backpacking in Thailand or India. Fifty years ago, Roy Follows went deep into the jungles of Malaysia to fight terrorists. Today, highly trained specialist soldiers are sent to fight terrorists in hostile territories. Fifty years ago, Roy was greener than the Green Hell into which he was sent. “I had absolutely no experience of warfare, let alone the very specialised kind of warfare that was being waged against the terrorists of the Malaysian Communist Party,” he says.
Today, he is one of three former Malaysian police officers returning to the jungle for the documentary series The Soldier's Tale. A colleague, David Brent, surprisingly took over his first district command of over 500 personnel in a very dangerous area, accompanied by his pretty 17-year-old wife!
Roy hasn’t been back to the jungle for 50 years. It’s going to be a very emotional return visit. He will meet the Malay policeman who helped him “go native overnight”. Sgt Shaffie and Roy will retrace their footsteps in the jungle and tell stories of stampeding elephants, swarming ants and prowling tigers which competed with the terrorists for their lives. Roy will also return the 7ft blowpipe he was given (as a mark of respect) to the aboriginals who helped to save his life on numerous occasions. Another colleague, Leon Comber, will confront a senior Communist Terrorist (CT). They will compare ambush tactics, surviving the jungle and Britain’s successful ‘hearts and minds’ campaign. The CTs had survived the Japanese occupation of Malaysia during World War Two and  thought they would quickly wear out the British army.  They were wrong.  The Malaysian Emergency lasted 12 years, from 1948-60, and it was the Communists who were defeated.
The conflict was termed an “Emergency” because to call it a “war” would have invalidated all insurance on the twin industries driving Malaysia’s economic growth: tin and rubber. As a civil emergency, a large part of the responsibility for aggressive counter-attacks and search and destroy tactics fell onto the shoulders of the colonial police force. This campaign was the last of the colonial conflicts in which local indigenous forces, commanded by Brits, pursued the communist enemy. The campaign was also a rare victory for the West over Communism in the East. But there was a cost: 1,346 of Roy’s colleagues and 519 military personnel were killed during 8,742 “contacts” which left 6,710 Communist Terrorists dead.