Jim Thompson was killed by Malay communists, sources say

[webfact]

Jim Thompson was killed by Malay communists, sources say

By Barry Broman 
Special to The Nation

 

File photo

 

One of the oldest unsolved mysteries in Asia has been solved – as recorded in a documentary film that premieres tomorrow in Bangkok
 

On Easter Sunday in 1967, Jim Thompson went for an afternoon walk in the Cameron Highlands’ jungle-clad hills. The American, known as the “king of Thai silk”, was on vacation in Malaysia with friends at the Moonlight Cottage, a colonial-period villa in the old British hill station north of Kuala Lumpur.

 

Something happened during his walk. Thompson was never seen again. His disappearance has been a mystery for half a century. A huge search turned up nothing. No ransom or other note was found. Thompson had left his medications behind, which suggested foul play. Several books have been written about him, spawning an array of theories about his fate that range from tiger attack to a CIA plot.

 

First breakthrough

 

A breakthrough in the case was made in 2013 by my friend Xuwicha “Noi” Hiranpruek. He called and said, “I think I may have solved the mystery”. Noi recounted a discussion he had with a Singaporean friend, Teo Pin, who told him the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) had killed Thompson during his visit to the Cameron Highlands. This was a new theory. How did Teo Pin know this? It was a deathbed confession of his uncle, Teo Pok Hwa, who had been a senior CPM cadre for decades fighting against the British and, later, the Malaysians.

 

I met Teo Pin in Singapore. He was a pleasant, soft-spoken fellow, but reticent to speak about Thompson’s demise to a stranger. I told Teo Pin his information could be very important in explaining Thompson’s death and asked for details. He said his uncle Teo Pok Hwa told him that when Thompson arrived in the Cameron Highlands he asked to be put in contact with Chin Peng, the secretary general of the CPM and then the most wanted man in Malaysia.

 

Teo Pin said asking to contact Chin Peng aroused immediate suspicion in the Camerons, a longtime stronghold of the CPM.

 

The Moonlight Cottage, where Thompson was a guest, had at one time been a local headquarters of the CPM. Staff members were CPM sympathisers at the time he stayed there. 

 

1967 was a bad time for an ageing American with a background in intelligence gathering to seek out the most wanted man in Malaysia. The communist struggle was not over. A second “Emergency” began a year later and did not end until the Malay communists surrendered in 1989. Thompson was put under surveillance while the CPM checked his background. They learned that the American had been an intelligence officer during World War II. He was suspected of being a spy.

 

At the time, communication was difficult for the CPM. They lacked radios and relied on couriers to carry messages among disparate groups around Malaysia and their border headquarters in Betong, Thailand. Each CPM cell was pretty much on its own and handled security issues themselves. A decision was likely made locally, and Thompson killed during his Easter Day walk in 1967. The CPM made sure that no physical evidence was found.

 

I told Teo Pin his information needed corroboration. Was there anyone who could confirm Teo Pok Hwa’s story? He said no. His uncle abandoned his wife and five children to fight for the CPM and had been away for decades. I thanked Teo Pin and said we would continue to look for confirmation.

 

More than a silk tycoon

 

So, who was Jim Thompson? Much more than a silk merchant, for sure. He was a Princeton graduate from a prominent Delaware family who had served with distinction as an officer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War Two. 

 

When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, a number of OSS “stars” were shifted to the China-Burma-India theatre of operations. Jim Thompson, now a major, was one of the officers selected.

 

Journey to meet Pridi

 

In Thailand, Thompson became friends with the liberal post-war prime minister Pridi Banomyong, who had served as a leader of the anti-Japanese resistance. Unlike some OSS colleagues who shifted to the CIA when it was founded in 1947, Thompson left government service and disagreed with American foreign policy after the war. He opposed the return of Western powers to their colonies in the region. But it did not affect his friendship with people with whom he had served. One example is Willis Bird Sr, a top OSS officer who had known Mao in China during the war, and who set up businesses in Thailand, including airlines and selling weapons to the Thai government. Thompson was loyal to old friends including Pridi, who was forced from office by a coup d’état by his old nemesis Plaek Phibunsongkhram. 

 

The search for Thompson’s killers suddenly came to life in spring this year, when Noi called me again. “I have a second source,” he said. 

 

Noi had approached his old friend Willis Bird Jr, known to his friends as Billy, for information on what happened to Thompson.

 

Noi recalled, “Billy was quiet for two or three minutes... and said ‘Can I tell you something that I have never spoken to anyone about for 50 years?’ He then told me about a conversation between his father and Jim Thompson.” Both Willis Bird Sr and his friend Thompson were close to Pridi when he was prime minister in 1946. Willis told Thompson in 1966 that Pridi – who was then in exile in China – wanted Willis to come to see him. Willis thought it a bad idea. The US and Thailand were heavily involved in the Vietnam War and Laos, and Willis wanted nothing to do with Pridi, who was seen as a communist sympathiser.

 

Thompson was loyal to the deposed Thai leader and said he would make the hazardous journey instead.

 

The first leg of the journey would be the Easter trip to the Cameron Highlands. Willis Sr said the Communist Party of Malaya must have killed Thompson, possibly at the behest of the Communist Party of China.

 

Noi saw Teo Pin come to the same conclusion, because of the deathbed conversation with his uncle. 

 

Willis Bird Sr had told his son the CPM had killed Thompson while he was in Malaysia where Willis thought Thompson was trying to arrange further transport to meet Pridi. 

 

My next move was to contact Neil Hollander, my partner at Adventure Film Productions. Neil and I have made about a dozen films in Thailand and Myanmar, including four for the Jim Thompson Foundation (he was director, me producer). With editor Adam J Goldstein from New York, we shot and edited a 43-minute film in Thailand and Malaysia – interviewing Xuwicha, Teo Pin and Willis Bird Jr.

 

Jim Thompson was an unwilling participant and an unlucky victim of the power struggle that gripped Southeast Asia after WWII. Xuwicha Hiranpruek found two sources of information which provided key pieces that helped solve the mystery of Jim’s untimely death. Teo Pin identified the group that killed Jim and Billy Bird provided the reason why Jim tried to visit Pridi Banomyong via the Cameron Highlands.

 

But questions still remain. Why did Thompson ask to see Chin Peng, the CPM leader? The move was bound to arouse suspicion and put his life in danger. It is ironic that Thompson, a man who had forsaken a life of clandestine adventure and turned his back on politics should be lured back into “the game” to help an old friend. His past called him back and on Easter Sunday 1967 on a jungle path not far from the Moonlight Cottage, now known as Jim Thompson Cottage, he paid the ultimate price.

 

The film will be shown in Bangkok for the first time at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand tomorrow.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30333184

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-05

[davehowden]

Plausible but no body/ grave/ watch etc?

[ezzra]

the cloak and dagger of time past is still very much alive today,

who's to say the he wasn't on a job? we will never know the real

truth... 

[greenchair]

The world is full of fools with their theories. 

A confession on a deathbed usually includes how the death occurred and where the body is buried. 

[car720]

I can say first hand though that I passed through Betong in 1970 and there was still a lot of anti communist fighting going on in that area at that time.  Many villagers were being slaughtered under various pretexts.  I remember seeing photos in a Bangkok newspaper of an entire village that had assisted me with fuel for my motorcycle being wiped out.  Damn shame.

[torrzent]

When I saw the link on the forum main page, it appeared like this?

 

Jim Thompson was killed by…

By car720

1 minute ago

 

car720, where were you 1 minute ago and where has Thompson been hiding for the last 40 years????

[torrzent]

Not buying the explanation by OP.

 

Why would JT go to China via Cameron Highlands? Also, this passage below is inconsistent

 

"Thompson was put under surveillance while the CPM checked his background. They learned that the American had been an intelligence officer during World War II. He was suspected of being a spy.

 

At the time, communication was difficult for the CPM. They lacked radios and relied on couriers to carry messages among disparate groups around Malaysia and their border headquarters in Betong, Thailand. Each CPM cell was pretty much on its own and handled security issues themselves."

 

This was pre-internet and by their own admission it would have taken weeks or months to do a background check on JT by which time he would have been long gone.  I think the guys doing this have spent too much time watching Discovery Channel!

Edited December 5, 2017 by torrzent

[zydeco]

All hype and no substance, here. Someone is trying to get PR for their shady little movie. And who is the audience for a Jim Thompson story?  He's barely a figure in Thailand anymore.  And in the US, he's not even the most famous Jim Thompson.  That title goes to the Texas writer of crime noir.

[zydeco]

Oh, my. The "filmmaker" literally works out of his bedroom. Source for below photo: https://apnews.com/86f859de8a804ffebaa8dc6a4ad947e9

[ZeVonderBearz]

Good damn commies!

[YetAnother]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

the cloak and dagger of time past is still very much alive today,

who's to say the he wasn't on a job? we will never know the real

truth... 

a 1 hour 46 minute youtube documentary , 2017, on jim thompson is sponsored by the International Spy Museum;  bet that , like the main article here, would be fun to visit

[SpokaneAl]

I have no clue nor opinion on the validity of this latest information. That said Jim Thompson was an interesting man who led a fascinating life. RIP.

[holy cow cm]

I had dinner at his restaurant in Bangkok 4 months ago. 

[davehowden]

He also had a lot of powerful Thai enemies, but maybe that would not go down well here.

[Artisi]

Just another theory, although interesting to be added to the list, stay tuned for further updates and theories 

[Cats4ever]

Interesting that the report suggests death at the hands of the CPM was a new theory. When I was in the Cameron Highlands in 1972,  it was very much a theory then. It is still one of several theories, pending evidence.

[SiSePuede419]

I thought I smelled Old Money when touring the Thompson house in BKK.

 

Also strange was he had no girlfriend or wife.  Hmmm.

Edited December 5, 2017 by SiSePuede419
Corrected Autocorrect ?

[Tradewind777]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

[thaibook]

Actually, Jim Thompson had contacted the CPM to ask them to get clearance for him to travel to Peking (he could hardly ask the Thai Communist Party to do this without giving away Pridi).  A meeting was arranged near the villa.  Thompson expected it to be short and so went out as if for a stroll.  However the communists insisted on him leaving straight away.  They had not done their research well and did not realise he needed his medication.  He died en route and the CPM was so embarrassed by their sloppiness that they have never mentioned it and in any case to redeem their inefficiency the CPM executed the three who escorted Thompson, as a punishment and to ensure there were no witnesses.

[tonray]

Perhaps a silkworm insurrection did him in ?

[Jonmarleesco]

On 12/5/2017 at 8:47 AM, torrzent said:

When I saw the link on the forum main page, it appeared like this?

 

Jim Thompson was killed by…

By car720

1 minute ago

 

car720, where were you 1 minute ago and where has Thompson been hiding for the last 40 years????

50 years; 51, if being pedantic. 

 

And I'm not convinced. Seems to open and shut after all these years. 

[Eric Loh]

Jim Thompson was killed by Malay communists, sources say

Misleading headline. Should be killed by Malaya communists. Some said he was killed by tiger and devoured. 

[Artisi]

1 minute ago, Eric Loh said:

Jim Thompson was killed by Malay communists, sources say

Misleading headline. Should be killed by Malaya communists. Some said he was killed by tiger and devoured. 

Yada Yada Yada, the only thing you can be sure of is he disappeared, end of story. 

[Eric Loh]

19 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Yada Yada Yada, the only thing you can be sure of is he disappeared, end of story. 

What a brilliant mind. 

[Artisi]

36 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

What a brilliant mind. 

If you care do a little research on the subject, and there has been a huge amount undertaken, you might just come to the same conclusion as all the tiger, communist and Martians theories have been well investigated without any outcome. 

So just to reiterate, he disappeared.

[Jeremy50]

On 12/5/2017 at 8:58 AM, zydeco said:

All hype and no substance, here. Someone is trying to get PR for their shady little movie. And who is the audience for a Jim Thompson story?  He's barely a figure in Thailand anymore.  And in the US, he's not even the most famous Jim Thompson.  That title goes to the Texas writer of crime noir.

True. Mention Jim Thompson to even educated Thais, and you will just get a blank look of incomprehension. His is a fascinating story, well worth reading. I also think it's a shame that his house has been turned into such a shameless tourist junket, selling all manner of overpriced, and quite tasteless silk products. The man will be turning in his grave..........if he has one.

[greeneking]

1 hour ago, Jeremy50 said:

True. Mention Jim Thompson to even educated Thais, and you will just get a blank look of incomprehension. His is a fascinating story, well worth reading. I also think it's a shame that his house has been turned into such a shameless tourist junket, selling all manner of overpriced, and quite tasteless silk products. The man will be turning in his grave..........if he has one.

Maybe a little harsh.  Correct me if I am wrong, but had the Thai silk industry nearly died out but was brought back by his interest in it ?  His shops are not cheap for silk but they do market what is now an international luxury brand for those who wish to buy.  He also was one of the first to value the old teak houses collected here when others were happy to discard the past.  The café is beautiful and prices OK.   One of the few tourist attractions to charge a reasonable admission price which is for BOTH locals and tourists.  You will be shown around on a guided tour in a small group in your chosen language.

[greeneking]

1 hour ago, Jeremy50 said:

 

 

Edited February 24, 2018 by greeneking
dupicate

[AsiaHand]

On 12/5/2017 at 5:52 AM, davehowden said:

Plausible but no body/ grave/ watch etc?

The four CIA people to come here in 1954,Tony,Pat,Jack,Howard and their boss Fred? have all past away now two in Thailand and the others in The US.

[watcharacters]

On 2/24/2018 at 7:00 PM, Artisi said:

Yada Yada Yada, the only thing you can be sure of is he disappeared, end of story. 

 

I understand you may find such a story trying but there are others such as me that like mysteries solved.