One of the most dramatic incidents of General Templer's proconsulship occurred in 1952, which had the makings of a serious misunderstanding between the Malayan people and the British colonial Government. It brought into question various aspects of the legal system under the Emergency Regulations which were in force during General Templer's proconsulship that were of serious concern to the general public. It involved the trial, which was given wide publicity, of Lee Tien Tai (usually known as Lee Meng), an attractive twenty-six-year-old Chinese (Cantonese) woman senior cadre of the Communist Party of Malaya, running the important Communist courier link between Chin Peng's CPM Central Committee in south Thailand and Singapore, who was arrested and sentenced to death in 1952 for being in possession of a hand grenade contrary to Regulation 4(1)(b) of the Emergency Regulations 1948.

The case received considerable publicity at the time in the Malayan, Singapore and the international press, as it brought to light several disturbing features about the Malayan legal system, which attracted considerable public criticism during General Templer's proconsulship that will be discussed in due course in this chapter. It eventually involved not only the Malayan Government but also the British and Hungarian Governments. Several other prominent persons became involved too, such as the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; Malcolm MacDonald; P.G. Lim; Tan Cheng Lock; Tunku Abdul Rahman; and the Sultan of Perak, Sir Yussuf 'Izzudin Shah.

The Lee Meng's case is still remembered by the Malayan Chinese community. As recently as 21 February 2014, Dato Seri Ong Ka Chuan, Secretary General of the Malayan Chinese Association, referred to it in an interview he gave to The Star Online in which he recollected the important part played by the MCA's first President, Tan Cheng Lock, in drawing up a petition to seek clemency from the Sultan of Perak for Lee Meng who had been sentenced to death. Dato Seri Ong said the way in which her case was handled by the British colonial authorities came in for considerable criticism at the time and that the Chinese community was angry at what they perceived as “blatant persecution” on the part of the British colonial officials to ensure that she was convicted.