Chak-po LAI (aka BAAG No. 15.ii / BAAG No. 50.ii) [????- ]

To OC, BAAG, 15.10.45 – from Lai Chak Po

Dear Sir, I submit most respectfully the following for your perusal:

Before the outbreak of hostilities, I was British Government Civil servant, clerk and interpreter, Kowloon Magistracy and a member of the Hongkong Police Reserve Force.  Though I had to face all sorts of wartime difficulties, I still maintained my pride as a Chinese, so I did not work or perform any service for the enemy.

I put myself in the sphere of spy activity in August 42. Mr. David Loie, former Assistant Superintendent, Police Reserve, was our leader.  We were connected to the British in Waichow. Mr. Thomas Wong and Jacky Lau were in charge of all the members in Kowloon side.  My brother-in-law, Ip Kam Wing (spy No.14) and I (spy No.15)worked under Thomas Wong.  Ip was working in Asiatic Petroleum company before war.  Both of us had offered considerable help in our service, such as printing of labels and to make identity cards.  As a matter of fact, most of us were old members of the Hongkong police reserve, and our duty was supposed also to assist the Allied troops, if they happened to come to attack Hongkong, to protect the public and to keep order.  The identity cards, signed by Mr. David Loie, were really Police Reservists identity cards.  These cards and labels were to be used immediately after Hongkong was re-occupied by the Allied troops.

In December 1942, Thomas Wong and some other members were instructed to move to Waichow.  About a few months after their departure, our secret service was known by the Japanese, and as a result, David Loie with about thirty members were arrested.  Jacky Lau immediately fled to Waichow and we were luckily out of the mesh.  Our organisation was naturally broken up after the arrest of our leader, who committed suicide in prison.  His wife and others with the exception of one or two were tried and sent to death.

Notwithstanding that our organisation had been entirely smashed by the Japanese, I still kept on corresponding with Thomas Wong.  Our letters were written exactly like business letters so as to evade the notice of censorship.

Early in May 1944, Wong sent a man named Yeung Por to come to see me from Waichow together with a letter and some documents. I cannot remember now the exact words, but it was somewhat like the following:

“The Allied Military Headquarters in Waichow has appointed Ip Kam Wing as leader of an intelligence group with Lai Chak Po as his assistant.  Members 15. To do translation works for Major Holmes. Don’t hesitate. Work for your future. Victory is near”.

We were given new spy numbers.  Ip’s number was 49 and mine was 50.  We spoke to Yeung about the scheme of re-organisation and he left us for Waichow at the end of May.  The scheme we planned for the new organisation was somewhat like the following diagram:

12 members – Yeung Por – Ip Kam wing & Lai Chak Po – Yeung Por – Waichow. (Members were not known to each other. Yeung Por was the only one who connected each of them. Informations obtained by members were passed to Yeung Por, while he, in turn, passed to us for translation and investigation. When it was done, it was passed back to Yeung Por to be brought up to Waichow).

On 15.6.44 at about 4.30 pm, my brother-in-law was arrested and I was arrested a few hours later, though our new project was still in embryo.  Ip was arrested by several Chinese detectives. Two of them I know their names – Lau Kwing Yin & Lai Kit. The others I can only identify, and I believe that they are still in the colony.  Lau Kwing Yin is now under detention. An Indian, named Ram Paul Ghillote, whom he arrested together with us, brought the police for his arrest. Lai Kit is still at large. To the best of my knowledge he has recently joined as a Special Constable, No.420, and I request you that he should be detained right away.  The same party accompanied by a Japanese officer (characters) (English version Shum Shan Ching Hang) arrested me in my house. We were brought to Hongkong Gendarme Headquarters (Supreme Court building), where we were nearly lynched.

At the same time, the Gendarme arrested my father-in-law (Ip Shui Cheung), my brother-in-law (Ip Yiu Ting) and nearly all of my friends.  The following are the names of my friends, who were apprehended by the same party of Chinese and Japanese, though they were utterly innocent:

Ma Lung, Cheung Kam, Shum Ching Keung, D.S.Das, Ram Paul Ghillote, Lee Chung Kan.

On 1.7.44, we were brought to A Hall, Stanley Prison, where we were harshly questioned by Japanese days and nights.  We were given insufficient food, and had to tolerate a lot of severe and inhuman tortures.

On 12.9.44, our case was put on remand, and we were moved to B Hall. We were so weak then that we could hardly walk. Though we were kept in different cells each, we were brought out twice a day by Indian warders for exercise, so we had chance to see and converse with each other. Ip told me that he was tortured most by the Japanese Moriyama (characters) Inouye (characters) or Inoue (characters), Lai Kit and Lau Kwing Yin. He told me that he was given water torture many times and his back was burned with candle fire and cigarette ends. He also told me that once he was forced to drink 4 buckets of water and not given food for 2 days.  As to my part, I was questioned by the same Japanese officer Moriyama through several Formosan interpreters.  I was terribly beaten up, and on several occasions, I was given water torture by the Japanese. On account of my short-sightedness coupled with the fact that I was not allowed to wear glasses after my arrest, I could not identify the others.

On 25.10.44, my brother-in-law Ip Kam Wing died in prison, the cause of death was due obviously to internal injuries.

I was tried by martial tribunal on 7.12.44 and I was sentenced to death after two hearings. My sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on the following day, the 8^th day of December, 1944, being the third anniversary of the outbreak of East Asiatic War. I should say this was my narrowest escape in my life.

I was released from prison on 23.8.45 after the Japanese surrender. My prisoner’s number 181 is attached herewith for your reference. (Signed) Lai Chak Po.