SELANGOR - MORIB BEACH MEMORIAL : A MONUMENT TO INDIAN-MALAY RELATIONS DURING WORLD WAR II.

SOURCE: BRITISH MALAYA

The war memorial situated on Morib Beach, Selangor, on the west coast of Malaysia, 60 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur, commemorates the contribution made by Indian troops to the liberation of Malaya from Japanese occupation during World War Two.

On 9 September 2014, on a visit to the site, the High Commissioner of India said the monument was a testimony to the shared military history and events between India and Malaysia, and commemorates the valour and sacrifices of the Indian and Malay soldiers who fought side by side to defend Malaya, many of whom lost their lives.

The erection of the monument, instigated by the late Jacob Mathews, a local teacher, specifically refers to the contribution made by the 46th Indian Beach Group during Operation Zipper. It is maintained by the Malaysian Armed Forces Indian Veterans Welfare Association (MAFIVWA), and the local council, and is witness to a wreath-laying ceremony every year on 9 September, the date of the landings on Morib Beach by Allied forces.

Operation Zipper was the name of the allied plan for the liberation of Malaya by the South-east Asia Command (SEAC) led by Lord Mountbatten, from the Japanese Army and involved amphibious landings at Selangor and Negeri Sembilan to establish beachheads at Morib and Port Dickson.

The plan envisaged landing two divisions on Morib Beach where there were around 1,000 Japanese troops in the vicinity, and once a bridgehead had been established, to proceed on to Kuala Lumpur.

As it transpired, the Japanese Army capitulated in late August 1945 and the invasion at Morib Beach, scheduled for 9 September, was uncontested. However, there were still pockets of resistance spread around Malaya so the landing troops needed to maintain combat readiness.

The invasion at Morib on 9 September 1945 was led by troops of the 23rd and 25th Indian Divisions, part of 34th Corps of the 14th Army. As the inscription on the memorial states, the 46th Indian Beach Group facilitated the landing. Tanks, trucks, jeeps, guns, and supplies together with the troops were loaded aboard landing craft and transported to the beach through the shallow waters. In all, according to the inscription, the amphibious landing comprised 42,651 troops, 3,968 armoured vehicles, and 11,224 tonnes of stores.

There are varying views about the execution of the landing at Morib, some saying it would have been a disaster if it had encountered Japanese resistance; John Gullick, the famous Malaya scholar and writer who served with SEAC criticised the operation stating in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (2012) that the landings at Morib Beach were “the worst shambles I ever experienced during my time in the army.” However, most other writers testify to the successful operation of the landings.

Among the men who landed on Morib Beach on 9 September 1945 was 2nd Lieutenant Zia ul Haq of the 25th Indian Division, who later became the 6th President of Pakistan. On 7 November 1982, together with government officials, he revisited the beach where he landed 37 years previously. Another soldier who landed that day was Ipoh-born Wahab Ghows who later became a judge of the Supreme Court at Singapore.

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18/1/2025: 8.41 p.m