 After the departure of the British, Lim Cheng Ean and Lim Koon Teck took on themselves the responsibility of cordoning off the main shopping and harbour districts in order to stop looting.As the Japanese army preceded by their shock troops descended on the tiny island of Penang, Lim Koon Teck and his volunteers of Company “C” were to become the accepted backbone of law and order in the tiny village of Ayer Itam on which the population of George Town had descended.On 17 December 1941 Koon-Teck organised 80 members of "D" (Chinese) Company of the 3rd Battalion, Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (Penang and Province Wellesley Volunteer Corps) to look after 80,000 evacuees who had fled to Ayer Itam from George Town.