Editing Perak (section)

=== Second World War ===
{{main|Malayan Campaign|Battle of Kampar|Battle of Slim River|Japanese occupation of Malaya}}
[[File:1942 Japanese World War II Map of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore - Geographicus - Kamatchka-japanese-1940.jpg|thumb|left|[[Japanese characters]] map of Malaya under the [[Japanese occupation of Malaya|occupation]] of the [[Empire of Japan]], {{circa|1942}}]]

There had been a [[Overseas Japanese|Japanese community]] in Perak since 1893, managing the bus service between the town of [[Ipoh]] and [[Batu Gajah]], and running [[brothel]]s in [[Kinta District|Kinta]].<ref name="KhooLubis2005" /> There were a number of other Japanese-run businesses in Ipoh, including [[dentist]]s, [[photo studio]]s, [[laundry|laundries]], [[tailor]]s, [[barber]]s, and hotels. Activity increased as a result of the close relationship created by the [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance]].<ref name="KhooLubis2005" />

[[File:Japanese Type 97 Te-Ke tanks during the Battle of Kampar, 1941.jpg|thumb|right|Japanese [[Type 97 Te-Ke tankette|Type 97 Te-Ke]] tanks, followed by their [[bicycle infantry]], advancing during the [[Battle of Kampar]], December 1941]]

Early in July 1941, a [[Sri Lankan Malays|Ceylonese Malay]] policeman serving under the British administration in Perak raised an alert after a Japanese business owner living in the same building told him that [[Armed Forces of the Empire of Japan|Japanese troops]] were on their way, approaching not around Singapore from the sea, as expected by the British, but from [[Kota Bharu]] in Kelantan, with [[bicycle infantry]] and [[rubber boat]]s.<ref name="KhooLubis2005" /> The policeman informed the British Chief Police Officer in Ipoh, but his claim was laughed off.<ref name="KhooLubis2005" /> By 26 December 1941, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] (IJA) had arrived in Ipoh, the capital, moving southwards from Thailand. The following day they went on to [[Taiping, Perak|Taiping]], leaving destruction and heavy casualties in their wake.<ref name="Kennedy1987">{{cite book|author=Joseph Kennedy|title=British Civilians and the Japanese War in Malaya and Singapore, 1941-45|url=https://archive.org/details/britishcivilians0000kenn|url-access=registration|date=18 June 1987|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-1-349-08691-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/britishcivilians0000kenn/page/26 26]–28}}</ref> The British forces, retreating from the north of the Malay Peninsula under Lieutenant-General [[Lewis Heath]], had moved a further {{convert|80|-|100|mi}} to the Perak River (Sungai Perak), damaging the route behind them to slow the Japanese advance.<ref name="Kennedy1987" /> With the approval of Lieutenant-General [[Arthur Percival]], the British mounted a defensive stand near the river mouth and in [[Kampar, Perak|Kampar]], leaving the towns of Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar and Taiping unguarded.<ref name="Kennedy1987" />

[[File:Residents of Penang at Ipoh Station, Perak having refreshments from local residents, WWII (23916855204).jpg|thumb|right|European administrator civilians from Penang having their break in Ipoh Station before proceeding south to Singapore during the war, {{circa|1941}}]]

Most civil administrations were closed down, since the European administrators and civilians evacuated south.<ref name="Kennedy1987" /> By mid-December, the Japanese had reached [[Kroh]] in the interior of Perak, moving in from Kota Bharu in Kelantan. The Japanese arrived both from the east and by boat along the western coast.<ref name="Kennedy1987" /> Within 16 days of their first landings, they had captured the entire northern part of the Malay Peninsula. The British were left trying to blockade the main road heading south from Ipoh. While the defending troops briefly slowed the Japanese at the [[Battle of Kampar]] and at the mouth of the Perak River, the Japanese advance along the trunk road, followed up with bombing and water-borne incursions, forced the British to retreat further south.<ref name="Kennedy1987" /><ref>{{cite book|title=Japanese Land Operations (from Japanese Sources), December 8, 1941, to June 8, 1942|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TX2FRHU6BYgC&q=Although+this+attack+was+itself+a+failure%2C+it+did+succeed+in+ultimately+getting+the+Japanese+across+the+Perak+River|year=1942|publisher=Military Intelligence Service, War Department|pages=31–}}</ref>

[[File:Sikh infantry during the Battle of Kampar, taken between 1941-1942.jpg|thumb|left|[[Sikh]] infantry of the [[Indian Army during World War II|Indian Army]] serving alongside [[British Empire in World War II|British Empire]] troops during a fierce battle against the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] (IJA) in Kampar, {{circa|1941–1942}}]]

The Japanese occupied all of Malaya and Singapore. Tokugawa Yoshichika, of the [[Tokugawa clan]] whose ancestors were [[Shogun]]s who ruled Japan from the 16th to 19th centuries, proposed a plan for reform. Under its terms, [[Johor Sultanate#Modern Johore Sultanate|Johor]], Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah-Penang, and Perlis would be restored and federated. Johor would control Perak, Selangor, [[Negeri Sembilan]], and Malacca. An {{convert|800|sqmi|adj=on}} area in southern Johor would be incorporated into [[Japanese occupation of Singapore|Singapore]] for defence purposes.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Yōji Akashi|author2=Mako Yoshimura|title=New Perspectives on the Japanese Occupation in Malaya and Singapore, 1941-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHeGUGRrdtwC&pg=PA43|date=1 December 2008|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-299-5|pages=43–}}</ref>

In the context of the military alliance between Japan and Thailand and their joint participation in the [[Burma campaign]] against the Allied forces, in 1943 the [[Empire of Japan]] gave Thailand back its former Malay tributary states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu, which had been ceded to the British under the 1909 treaty. These territories were then administered as Thailand's [[Si Rat Malai|Four Malay States]] ({{langx|th|สี่รัฐมาลัย}}), with Japanese troops maintaining a presence.<ref>{{cite book|author=United States. Army Service Forces|title=Civil Affairs Handbook: Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rIp7NV9vngC&q=japanese+northern+malay+state+thailand&pg=PA3|year=1944|publisher=Headquarters, Army Service Forces|pages=3–}}</ref><ref name="Kratoska1998">{{cite book|author=Paul H. Kratoska|title=The Japanese Occupation of Malaya: A Social and Economic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bePxcx7BFLEC&pg=PA85|year=1998|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-284-7|pages=85–299}}</ref> Perak suffered under harsh military control, restricted movement, and tight surveillance throughout the Japanese occupation until 1945.<ref name="Perak brief history" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Hong Kuan Yap|title=Perak Under the Japanese, 1942-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PuWzAQAACAAJ|year=1957|publisher=University of Malaya, Singapore}}</ref> The press in occupied Malaya, including the English-language occupation-era newspaper ''The Perak Times'', was entirely under the control of the [[Dōmei Tsushin|Dōmei News Agency]] (''Dōmei Tsushin''), publishing [[Japanese propaganda during World War II|Japanese-related war propaganda]]. The Dōmei News Agency also printed newspapers in Malay, [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], and Japanese.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2016/05/the-perak-times-a-rare-japanese-occupation-newspaper-from-malaya.html|title=The Perak Times: a rare Japanese-occupation newspaper from Malaya|author=Annabel Teh Gallop|publisher=[[British Library]]|date=13 May 2016|access-date=20 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920071906/https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2016/05/the-perak-times-a-rare-japanese-occupation-newspaper-from-malaya.html|archive-date=20 September 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The indigenous [[Orang Asli]] stayed in the interior during the occupation. Much of their community was befriended by [[Malayan Communist Party#World War II|Malayan Communist Party guerrillas]], who protected them from outsiders in return for information on the Japanese and their food supplies.<ref name="Duncan2008">{{cite book|author=Christopher R. Duncan|title=Civilizing the Margins: Southeast Asian Government Policies for the Development of Minorities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QqZYHdOMFsEC&pg=PA27|year=2008|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-418-0|pages=27–}}</ref> Strong resistance came mainly from the ethnic Chinese community, while some Malays collaborated with the Japanese through the [[Kesatuan Melayu Muda]] (KMM) movement for Malayan independence. But Malay support waned with increasingly harsh Japanese treatment of civilians during the occupation.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Paul Morris|author2=Naoko Shimazu|author3=Edward Vickers|title=Imagining Japan in Post-war East Asia: Identity Politics, Schooling and Popular Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DUsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA200|date=26 March 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-68490-8|pages=200–}}</ref> Two Chinese [[guerrilla]] organisations operated within Perak in northern Malaya. One, the Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese Army (OCAJA), was aligned with the [[Kuomintang]]. The other, the [[Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army]] (MPAJA), was closely associated with the [[Chinese Communist Party]]. Although both opposed the Japanese, there were clashes between the two groups.<ref name="Kratoska2018">{{cite book|author=Paul H. Kratoska|title=The Japanese Occupation of Malaya and Singapore, 1941-45: A Social and Economic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvlqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA299|date=30 April 2018|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-638-2|pages=299–}}</ref>

[[Sybil Kathigasu]], a Eurasian nurse and member of the Perak resistance, was tortured after the Japanese ''[[Kempeitai]]'' military police discovered a clandestine [[shortwave radio]] set in her home.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2017/10/293647/forgotten-perak-town-was-backdrop-sybil-kathigasus-heroism|title=Forgotten Perak town was backdrop of Sybil Kathigasu's heroism|author=Veena Babulal|newspaper=New Straits Times|date=22 October 2017|access-date=2 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2018/07/14/memories-of-resistance-fighter-sybil-kathigasu-live-on/1652131|title=Memories of resistance fighter Sybil Kathigasu live on|author=John Bunyan|newspaper=The Malay Mail|date=14 July 2018|access-date=2 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002060643/https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2018/07/14/memories-of-resistance-fighter-sybil-kathigasu-live-on/1652131|archive-date=2 October 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> John Davis, an officer of the British commando [[Force 136]], part of the [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE), trained local guerrillas prior to the Japanese invasion at the 101 Special Training School in Singapore, where he sought Chinese recruits for their commando teams.<ref name="Operation Gustavus in Malaya">{{cite web|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_68_2005-02-02.html|title=Force 136 (Operation Gustavus in Malaya)|author=Alex Chow|publisher=National Library Board, Singapore|date=1 August 2014|access-date=2 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002065659/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_68_2005-02-02.html|archive-date=2 October 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> Under the codename Operation Gustavus, Davis and five Chinese agents landed on the Perak coast north of Pangkor Island on 24 May 1943. They established a base camp in the Segari Hills, from which they moved to the plains to set up an intelligence network in the state.<ref name="Operation Gustavus in Malaya" /> In September 1943, they met and agreed to co-operate with the MPAJA, which then provided Force 136 with support and manpower. This first intelligence network collapsed, when many of its leaders, including [[Lim Bo Seng]], were caught, tortured and killed by the ''Kempeitai'' in June 1944.<ref name="Operation Gustavus in Malaya" /> On 16 December 1944, a second intelligence network, comprising five Malay SOE agents and two British liaison officers, Major Peter G. Dobree and Captain Clifford, was [[parachute]]d into Padang Cermin, near [[Temenggor Lake]] Dam in Hulu Perak under the codename Operation Hebrides. Its main objective was to set up wireless communications between Malaya and Force 136 headquarters in [[Kandy]], [[British Ceylon]], after the MPAJA's failure to do so.<ref name="Kratoska1998" />