Whenever I travel, my style is to bring and read books related to my sojourn in situ.
These are two classic books on Malaya written by Mat Sallehs. The Jungle is Neutral is a classic. Written by a British colonel who was trained in Spore just before the Japanese invasion for operating behind enemy lines, he was sent to penetrate Perak into Japanese – held Malaya.
Field Marshal Earl Wavell wrote the foreword. He was slightly unkind. While complimenting Chapman on his memoirs, he slighted him by comparing his writing adversely to TE Lawrence ‘s Seven Pillars, literary- wise.
And right immediately after he had ironically warned himself ” As Dogberry said, comparisons are odorous.” {page viii, my 1969 reprint of the 1949 edition}. This edition owned by me is slightly abridged.
William Shakespeare had his character Dogberry made the comment in Much Ado About Nothing. It’s a deliberate misquote by WS to reflect the foolery in Dogberry. The original quote is ” Comparisons are odious”.
Poser- Spencer Chapman DSO escaped Malaya via Emerald Bay of Pangkor Laut Island by boarding a…?
