Northern Star and Southern Kamikaze: Tan Kah-kee Transformed

THE deportation of Hau Say-huan and further British tightening of political control had the effect of forcing the various relief fund committees throughout Malaya to take stock. Many were forced to review and abolish their collections and propaganda methods to which the government had taken exception, including the use of tar by some of their members against shops suspected of selling Japanese goods. There was a purge of another kind. As was to be expected, ‘Committee members known to be connected with the Anti-Enemy Backing-up Society (AEBUS) were removed from office and most of the Committees have shown themselves anxious to end their relations with it’.¹ There was also the reorganization of the various fund-raising committees. One of the victims of this restructuring was the propaganda department which was abolished because it was regarded by the British authorities as ‘the root of the most of its evil’.² In Singapore, it was reported that some of the sub-branches of the fund which had been opened by Hau Say-huan or were discovered to be dominated by the AEBUS were closed down.³ In addition, the government enforced its ban on propaganda shows, dramatic performances and singing parties and re stricted the committee’s flag days to three a year as a fund-raising device.⁴ In short, the government succeeded in limiting and hampering the fund-raising efforts of the various committees in Malaya, thus ushering an era of steady decline in fund-raising activities among the relief fund committees…