Informers' Last Chance

The simplest way to get information about Malaya's Communist guerrillas, decided High Commissioner Sir Gerald Templer, was to pay for it. His idea paid off. Among the top Communists killed through informers: Manap ("The Jap") Jepun, commander of a Communist guerrilla regiment, and Cheung Kit ("The Ape") Ming, Malacca state committeeman of the Communist Party. Rewards of about $25,000 were paid in each case. Last July, a good month for informers, the Malayan government paid out $75,000 in rewards, based on a rate of $825 for a common, or jungle variety Communist. By year's end the Communists had lost 1,058 killed, 604 wounded, 122 captured and 253 surrendered. In January 1952, the month before General Templer arrived, 76,000 rubber trees had been slashed; this January the figure was 98. It was the most successful year since the fighting began in 1948, but war expenses still cost $55 million.

Last week General Templer decided that the war was going well enough for him to cancel all standing information rewards. The decision, explained the government, was influenced by "a desire to return to normal." There is still a chance to earn some $80,000 by capturing No. 1 Malayan Communist Leader Chin Peng before the March 1 deadline; after that an informer will have to consider duty its own reward.

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