This book by "Tiny" Lewis is compulsive reading and should be read by all those
who served Malaysia in the Colonial Service, and by other officers of the Colonial
Service who were in other Territories overseas.
Historically it is the complete answer to those left wing intellectuals, Armchair
critics, political commentators and even some politicians in our Country who assert
that the British people had no right to be anywhere than in their own island, and be
responsible for other people as we were in former times. These critics, to seek some
obscure political advantage, assert that we were up to no good and they debase by
implication the character of the Colonial Officer which shines through in its
magnificence in Tiny's book and is about a splendid Overseas Service of men who
triumphed over adversity.
Ninety per cent of the total numbers incarcerated in Changi were members of the
Colonial Overseas Service who maintained an honourable calling, that if one was no
longer able to govern a people for whom one had been responsible one had a duty to
stay behind and share their sufferings during the Japanese occupation. Finally, I am
delighted that "Tiny" in the day to day diary he maintained, at great risk to himself,
has revealed the courage of the average Colonial officer and the spirit of those days
which enabled them to survive against cruelty and torture, and the brave Colonial
officers who before the fall of Singapore worked behind enemy lines assisting our
fighting Forces with information. And need I record that the writer of this Book,
"Tiny" Lewis, was one of these men.
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