Danish planters of Sungei Palas

Danish planters of Sungei Palas
Sunday September 9, 2007

POINT OF VIEW

The article ‘Heavenly Highlands’ in Sunday Metro (Aug 26) was most interesting, but the writer has been misinformed that Sungei Palas was planted by J.A. Russell in the 1920s. He planted Boh Estate near Ringlet but not Sungei Palas, which is close to Gunong Brinchang.

Sungei Palas was planted, mainly in the 30s, by two Danes who worked in Singapore, named Anker and Hindhede. The latter had a quarry, which still bore his name after the war.

In the 50s, while serving in the Malayan Police, I lived in a house on Sungei Palas and it still had the old visitors’ book for the estate. It showed how the two owners used to visit on public holidays, etc, and recorded progress such as “another five acres planted in November.” In the 50s, the property was still owned by the Danes.

During the Japanese occupation, apparently Japan was not at war with Denmark, so Danish planters from elsewhere in Malaya were allowed to live freely in Camerons. Among them were one or two British, pretending to be Danish. Mr Anker had a Japanese wife but she never let the secret out!

Richard Jones
Penang