A Painter in Penang: A Gripping Story of the Malayan Emergency

by Clare Flynn

  ‘Can I ask you something, Mummy?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Since this is our last night on the ship, do you mind if I sit between you and that grumpy man next to you. Only…I can’t bear to sit beside ghastly Lieutenant Ellis and Howard says he wants to sit next to me. Please, Mummy. I want you for myself since we’ve so little time left together.’

  ‘Of course, my darling. If that’s what you want.’ Evie reached back into the jewellery box and pulled out a pearl ring. Taking Jasmine’s hand in hers she said, ‘Let’s try this on you and see if it fits.’

  Jasmine’s eyes widened. ‘It’s beautiful. Exquisite.’ She slipped it on.

  ‘Perfect!’ Evie looked at her daughter, her heart twisting in a mixture of love and loss. ‘I’ve always intended for you to have it. It was given to me by your father. He told me it belonged to your grandmother. She died when he was a small boy. Take care of it, my love, it’s very precious.’

  Jasmine stretched her hand out in front of her to admire the ring. ‘I absolutely adore it, Mummy. Thank you so much. I will take such great care of it. I promise you.’ She flung her arms around her mother’s neck.

  ‘Come on then or we’ll be late for dinner.’

  7

  When the Rosebery arrived in George Town, Evie couldn’t help wishing the ship could turn around with her and Jasmine on it and sail straight back to Africa. Now they had reached their destination, the pain of their impending separation was biting.

  Crowds were gathered on the quayside: people there to meet returning family and friends, uniformed soldiers, policemen, traders, hawkers, drivers, porters, rickshaw men. Evie had told Mary there was no need to come to meet the ship as she and Jasmine intended to spend several days in George Town before she brought Jasmine up to Mary and Reggie’s house up in the hills. But as her eye drifted over the throngs of people, she saw Mary standing amid the crowd, waving her hand, trying to catch Evie’s attention.

  ‘How could I possibly have waited?’ said Mary, when they met on the quay. ‘As soon as I knew you were coming, I began counting the days.’ She turned to Jasmine, took a step back, then moved forward and flung her arms around the young woman. ‘And Jasmine! What can I say?’

  ‘I’m so happy to see you, Miss Helston,’ said Jasmine, her eyes shining. ‘I mean Mrs Hyde-Underwood.’

  ‘You’re not in my class anymore, Jasmine, so why don’t you call me Mary.’ She hugged her again.

  ‘Let’s make it Aunty Mary,’ said Evie. ‘You’re still only sixteen, Jasmine.’

  Mary gave Jasmine a conspiratorial smile, winked and wrinkled her nose.

  There was an artificial cough behind them. Evie turned round and found Howard Baxter standing there. His eyes darted between Mary and Evie, his expression expectant.

  Evie, irritated at the intrusion, said, ‘Mary, this is Howard Baxter. He’s going to be an assistant manager at Batu Lembah for Guthrie’s. Howard, this is Mrs Hyde-Underwood, my dearest friend.’

  Mary shook hands with the young man.

  Jasmine had turned away, before she could be drawn into the conversation. She stepped aside from their group as Evie made the introductions, in order to say goodbye to Mrs Clark, who was continuing her journey to Kuala Lumpur by rail. Evie knew her daughter was deliberately avoiding Howard, as she had barely spoken to Mrs Clark when they were on the ship.

  ‘I have a plan.’ Mary linked her arm through Evie’s. ‘As today is a rare day of freedom for me – I’m not teaching and our amah is looking after Frances – I thought we could have lunch and a swim over at Tanjong Bungah.’ She pointed at a motorcar parked at the dockside. ‘Bintang will drop us over at the Penang Swimming Club and come back here to pick up your luggage and take it to the E&O. Later, he’ll drop you back at the hotel and drive me home.’ She touched Evie’s arm. ‘I hope you don’t mind me organising you? After this afternoon I’ll leave you two alone to enjoy yourselves until you come up to Bella Vista next week. We thought – Reggie and I – that you could have your last night with us before you sail home, Evie.’

  Evie hugged her friend. ‘How perfect. What do you think, Jasmine?’

  Jasmine was beaming happily. ‘I think it’s a marvellous plan. I can’t think of anything better than spending our first afternoon at the Penang Swimming Club.’

  Another cough from Howard Baxter. ‘I have to get on that truck over there.’ As he spoke, the horn tooted and the young men who were crowded into the open back catcalled and whistled at him. Howard waved them away with an impatient gesture. He turned first to Evie. ‘Mrs Leighton, it has been an absolute pleasure. I hope this is the beginning of a long and lasting friendship.’ He tilted his head slightly in the direction of Jasmine. ‘As you know, I intend to spend as much time as possible getting to know Jasmine better.’ He turned to Mary. ‘Mrs Hyde-Underwood, is there anywhere in George Town or Butterworth where one can buy gramophone records?’

  Mary looked nonplussed. ‘I’m sure there must be. I imagine you can buy them at Whiteaway’s.’

  ‘And do you have a gramophone that Jasmine can use?’

  ‘Yes, we do. Of course.’ She looked puzzled.

  Jasmine looked pained. Evie sent a silent message to her friend that she’d explain later.

  Howard looked over his shoulder as the parked truck sounded its horn again. ‘Goodbye.’ He looked at Jasmine. ‘I’ll be working on not being corny. But judging by the expression on your face I have a long way to go.’ He turned and walked briskly to the waiting truck.

  Jasmine rolled her eyes and gave a long sigh. ‘Thank goodness he’s gone. Now let’s get away from these crowds. I can’t wait to have a swim.’

  * * *

  Evie and Mary sipped watermelon juice, sitting under sun umbrellas by the side of the pool as Jasmine swam up and down. A soft cooling breeze off the Straits wafted over them, easing the sticky heat. Evie sighed with contentment as she looked at her daughter, cutting through the water, swimming like a dolphin up and down the otherwise empty pool.

  ‘She’s burning off her excess energy.’ Evie smiled at her old friend. ‘The pool on the ship was barely big enough to get wet in.’ She looked around at the well-clipped lawns and the neat plantings of scarlet zinnias. ‘This place hasn’t changed at all.’

  ‘You should have seen it after the war. The gardens were ruined. Tank tracks all over the lawns. Anti-aircraft guns on the roof of the clubhouse. But they’ve done a good job bringing it back to its former state.’ Mary dipped her head in Jasmine’s direction. ‘Are you going to tell me who that extremely handsome young man was and why he wants to buy gramophone records for Jasmine.’

  ‘I haven’t a clue about the gramophone records, but the poor fellow believes he has met the love of his life in Jasmine.’ Evie raised her eyebrows. ‘Unfortunately – or possibly fortunately – she doesn’t happen to agree.’

  ‘Ah! I thought that might be the case.’

  ‘I have to admit to being relieved. She’s still so young, and I hate to think of her growing up and our growing apart.’

  ‘You won’t ever grow apart, Evie. Jasmine adores you.’ Mary turned her head in Jasmine’s direction. ‘I wonder why she’s taken against him. He seems a nice enough fellow – and he’s certainly got the film star good looks.’ She smiled. ‘Not that looks are what counts.’

  Evie stretched her legs out. ‘He’s a charming man. Polite, respectful, full of energy. I do think he’s too old for her though. At Jasmine’s age nine years is quite a gap. But I’ve no idea why she’s taken against him, but it’s her affair and I’m certainly not going to plead his case.’

  ‘He’ll no doubt forget all about her as soon as he starts work. He won’t know what’s hit him once he gets to Batu Lembah.’ Mary swatted at a fly.

  ‘You’re probably right. Shall we take a walk on the beach?’ Evie bobbed down by the side of the pool to tell her daughter to come and find them when she was ready, then she and Mary scrambled over the rocks and onto the beach
below.

  They walked along, side-by-side, comfortable with each other. Evie was happy that there was no strain in their relationship despite their very different wartime experiences. She knew the war was a closed subject to Mary and hated to imagine what her friend must have gone through during the long years she had been held as a prisoner of the Japanese.

  It was quiet on the sandy beach, away from the voices and laughter around the swimming pool. It had been on this same stretch of sand that Arthur Leighton had kissed her for the first time, and she’d realised that she had fallen in love with him. A love that, at the time, she believed had no future as they were both married.

  ‘I’d forgotten how beautiful it is,’ said Evie at last, when they were sitting on towels under the trees. ‘It’s so calm, peaceful. Look at that view, the sunlight on the water, the hazy clouds drifting over the hills on the peninsula.’ She took a deep breath. ‘And the scent of the casuarina trees.’ She lay back on her towel and gazed up into the feathery fronds above them. ‘Beautiful,’ she said at last.

  ‘I wish you were living here.’ Mary’s voice was soft, wistful. ‘Is Africa beastly?’

  Evie turned over on her side, and propped herself on an elbow so she could see her friend’s face. ‘No! Not at all. It’s very different from here, but I absolutely love it. Yes, I miss all this.’ She waved her arm in front of her to take in the blue waters of the Straits and the distant hills. ‘I do love the sea. But there’s something majestic and moving about Kenya. The sounds you hear on the plains at night and early morning. The wild animals. The enormous skies.’ She wiped her brow. ‘And it’s a dry heat with cool nights. Not this awful humidity.’

  ‘So, you won’t be coming back?’ Mary’s eyes were sad.

  ‘I doubt it. Arthur is happy. So is Hugh. And so too, apart from missing you, am I.’ She raised herself up to a sitting position. ‘Oh, Mary, I am going to miss Jasmine so much.’

  Mary touched her arm with a comforting gesture.

  ‘Am I doing the right thing, letting her come here? I agonised over it. But she wasn’t thriving in Nairobi. Seeing my girl so unhappy was worse than the idea of being parted from her. Can you understand that?’

  Mary nodded but said nothing.

  ‘And I could only do it knowing she’s going to be with you.’ She flung her arms around Mary. ‘There’s no one else in the world I’d trust to care for her. I realise it’s a huge imposition on you, but––’

  ‘It’s no imposition. It will be a joy.’ Mary looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘But I need to make you aware of the situation here. Things aren’t the same as they were before the war.’

  Her fingers plucked at the towel she was sitting on. ‘The British Miltary Administration made a right old mess of things after the war to be honest. There was a lot of corruption in the BMA. Of course, the Japs introduced all that kind of skulduggery in the first place. It never existed in the old days. Can you imagine men like Arthur accepting bribes? It’s unthinkable, but these days it goes on and some of the army men were part of it. A surveyor we know was imprisoned in Changi during the occupation. He went back to his bungalow on the day of liberation. Everything was there exactly as he’d left it when the war started. The servants greeted him with delight and told him they’d guarded the place for him throughout the war. He had to return for a night to get his things from Changi and say goodbye to his fellow inmates. The next day he got back home to be met again by the servants, who were now weeping. A British army truck had passed by and looted the whole house.

  Evie gasped, horrified. ‘The British army?’ Then she thought of Ellis on the ship. She could well imagine him doing something like that.

  Mary looked apologetic. ‘I don’t mean everyone in government is corrupt. There are some decent enough men – but most are more concerned with lining their own pockets than doing the right thing for the country. Reggie’s always saying that the BMA was staffed with bus conductors and junior clerks sent out here and given the title of Colonel. No wonder they were drunk with power.’

  Mary sighed. ‘And then Harold MacMichael made matters worse by strong-arming the sultans into agreeing to cede power to the Malayan Union. That caused a lot of resentment.’

  ‘How did he do that?’

  ‘Threatened to expose them as collaborators with the Japanese. Some of them were, but certainly not all. Let’s hope that now we have the Malayan Federation, things will improve, but somehow I doubt it. It’s one big, fat muddle. The ethnic Malays are angry that the sultans have become powerless. The people respect them as their leaders whether we like that or not. It’s history. Who are we to uproot all that? Also, the government contradicted everything they said about granting citizenship to the Chinese and so the Chinese Malays resent that too.’ She sifted sand through her fingers. ‘And many workers are fed up that they’ve worked like stink to get tin and rubber production back to how it was and yet many of them are now earning less than they did before the war. Some of the owners are taking advantage.’

  ‘That’s dreadful.’

  ‘It’s obviously not the case at Bella Vista. Our workers are happy. Reggie pays a fair wage. Their housing is good. They’re well fed. We’ve built the school. But some of the other planters think that because the majority of the workforce are glad to be working for the British again and getting paid, rather than under the Japanese who treated them as slaves and did terrible things to people at the slightest provocation, that gives them carte blanche to underpay them.’

  Further along the beach Jasmine was scrambling down the rocks from the Swimming Club. She dropped her towel onto the sand and ran straight into the sea.

  ‘Look at her!’ said Mary. ‘She’s a regular mermaid.’

  ‘Making up for lost time. But go on, tell me more about the situation here.’

  Mary explained how British trade unionists and Chinese communists had been encouraging unrest among the workforce across the country. ‘There are numerous Chinese guerrilla fighters who took on the Japs. A lot of the British, including apparently the High Commissioner, are grateful for what these men did during the war and it’s blinding them to what’s happening now. They don’t see that some of these former heroes are now working to undermine everything we’ve built here.’

  Evie was surprised. Not by what she was hearing, but at the fact that it was Mary who was saying it. Last time she had seen her friend, before she married Reggie, Mary had been vocal in her belief that Malaya must become independent.

  ‘I thought you were pro-independence?’

  ‘I am. Absolutely. But this country is made up of many nationalities. Chinese people outnumber ethnic Malays. There are still many British. I want to see a country free from colonial rule, where everyone can play a part.’ She sighed. ‘I don’t like thinking about politics too much, but I think about it enough to believe that there’s a place for us all, no matter what our skin colour or religion or language. Some of the communists, all they want is to send the white man packing and turn us into another China.’

  Evie frowned. ’But why are you worried particularly now? Has something happened?’

  ‘Oh, it’s just that one hears things. About growing pockets of trouble. Small dangerous groups intent on expelling us all and creating a communist state on Chinese lines. And they’re being aided and abetted by Mao and others. Last October a planter near Johore was robbed and killed.’

  ‘How shocking. Did you know him?’

  ‘Reggie met him once. Chap called Nicholson.’

  ‘You don’t think it will lead to a rebellion, do you?’

  ‘I certainly hope not.’ But her face telegraphed her fear.

  Evie sighed. ‘We’ve had murmurings of problems in Kenya too. The Kikuyu tribe have rebelled and withdrawn labour in the past and recently. But they’re also divided amongst themselves. The war changed everything, didn’t it? Arthur says Britain can no longer afford an empire. We’re saddled with war debt. And all those men from the colonies who fought and died for
us deserve to be rewarded for that sacrifice.’ She raked her fingers through the sand, creating patterns. ‘It’s simply a matter of time until we can ensure an orderly transition. ’

  ‘That’s it. It takes time for an orderly transition. Look at the mess they made in India by rushing it through. But some of these men aren’t prepared to wait.’ Mary stretched her arms out in front of her. ‘I truly love the Malayan people and the last thing they deserve is for their country to be plunged back into conflict. We all want to get on with rebuilding our lives and raising our families.’

  Jasmine had come ashore much further along the beach and was now a small spot in the distance.

  ‘When Jasmine comes back, we’ll go back up to the Swimming Club for lunch.’ Mary squeezed Evie’s arm gently. ‘You can’t imagine how pleased I am to be with you.’

  ‘Me too. I know a lot of people in Nairobi but there’s no one I’m as close to as you.’ She glanced in Jasmine’s direction. ‘Maybe we’d better go and fetch her. She’s talking to someone down there.’

  Mary got to her feet. ‘That’s the syce, Bintang. He also works as a kind of general factotum for Reggie, running errands, helping out in the office. As well as sorting your bags he’s been collecting some tools for Reggie from the chandler. He must have decided to come to the beach afterwards while he waits for us.’

  Evie stood up too, brushing sand off her legs. The women began waving, trying to catch Jasmine’s attention, but she appeared absorbed in conversation with the young driver. It was Bintang who saw them and pointed in their direction. Jasmine finished talking and began to run along the sand towards them. As they waited for her, Bintang disappeared behind the casuarinas where the shoreline curved away.

  When Jasmine arrived, Evie asked what they’d been talking about.

  ‘Oh, nothing really. We realised his sister was in my class at school.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Mary. ‘I’d forgotten you were around the same age.’ She turned to Evie. ‘Bintang’s sister, Siti, was one of my brightest pupils. She died during the war. Bintang and his family suffered a lot. His parents disappeared during the Japanese occupation, probably dead, so the war put an end to Bintang’s education. When Reggie was looking for a syce, we decided to give him a chance.’