Introduction to Dr Collin Abraham’s encyclopedia entry – by Editor, CPI
This week marks 20 years of the signing of the Haadyai Treaty. The agreement signed on Dec 2, 1989 ended the armed conflict between the Malaysian government and the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
A deal is a deal. Malaysia would do well to honour the commitments it makes.
Under the Haadyai Treaty, the communists agreed to end hostilities, disarm and disband. They have upheld their end of the bargain.
In return, the government agreed to let the communists come back to the homeland. And they have – Abdullah C.D., Shamsiah Fakeh, Rashid Mydin and hundreds of others. Yet Chin Peng’s request to return to his hometown Setiawan has been refused even though the letter and spirit of the peace accord allows for a rapprochement.
Dr Collin Abraham who has written his main book about the Emergency and the communist movement in this country entitled ‘The Finest Hour: Malaysian-MCP Peace Accord in Perspective’ (2006) has told the CPI that “[I]t is ironical that Chin Peng should be denied a return to the country he fought for, and for which he was prepared to die.???
While we understand the reservations of those who suffered personal losses during the communist insurgency, many Malaysians have already shown that they are willing to move on and not hold fast to vendettas that are best let go.
The Government itself had in fact warmly welcomed Emperor Akihito of Japan when he visited here even though the Japanese – under a war waged by his late father Emperor Hirohito – occupied the country and committed numerous unspeakable atrocities against the local populace.
Honest reading of history
History is often written by the winners to put their own selves in the best light. Politicians are especially adept at positioning themselves as the ones with the right judgment or making the correct call. We are all aware that politicians seek to gain for themselves political mileage and advantage.
In Chin Peng’s case, it is clear that the Malaysian authorities have consigned certain important facts and salient aspects of our history into a black hole as evidenced in the way the Communist Party and its leaders have been treated in textbooks, school syllabi, and popular presentation to the general public of pivotal events in the nation.
This has caused the true significance and meaning of CPM’s struggle and its impact to be lost on Malaysians whose exposure to an honest and truthful appreciation of what happened in our past has been limited by the official censorship and propaganda. At the same time, our constrained public domain does not permit wide dissemination of contesting views or alternative interpretations.
It is only coincidentally analogous that Dr Abraham argues how, mainly because there was no alternative means of articulating opposition to the inherent social injustices and exploitation of the British colonial regime, that Chin Peng and the CPM had little recourse but to rally to the communist cause and militancy.
“In fact, a careful reading of the Insertion [in the Blackwell encyclopedia, or see ‘Communist (2)’ in this website] will reveal that Chin Peng was effectively the coordinator in bringing together a truly Malaysian independence movement, including not only the Malay left and Islamic parties, but also the Indian trades unions and above all the non-Malay MDU and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce,??? says Dr Abraham.
Historical effect of colonialism
Malaya was the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the British empire with earnings from tin and rubber exceeding the revenue of all the other colonies in the Commonwealth put together.
Clearly the colonial imperialism did not benefit all segments of society. The workforce of the tin and rubber industries comprising Chinese and Indian immigrants, and the indigenous Malays confined to the subsistence agricultural sector were all part of the subject class.
In cahoots with the British was the local ruling class. A situation then arose in which political power was devolved to a consortium of elitist groups within a race-based political system anxious to protect and perpetuate their common vested interests.
Together they made “a formidable repressive force??? that resisted progressive change which would have benefitted society at large. It was a domination that managed successfully to suppress protests through the policy of divide and rule.
Fighting the colonial power
Protest movements spearheading the ideology of anti-colonialism developed in the political arena based on new social formations of the working classes and the peasantry coalescing in democratic participation and advocacy. But these nascent efforts were stymied by the British and their local allies.
“… these movements themselves were forced to adopt militant strategies to fight back and achieve their objectives that ultimately resulted in having to fight for political independence itself. Certain other movements, such as political parties of the left, also gradually came under the influence of the ideologically committed leadership of the Malayan Communist Party,??? explains Dr Abraham.
The British were seriously threatened when for the first time, the negative implications for the political economy became evident during a nationwide work protest – hartal. The total work stoppage on the day of Hartal rattled the colonial administrators.
“In the light of widespread industrial unrest, and the accompanying retaliation against the provisions for colonial law and order, the government declared a state of emergency …???
The rationale provided by the British for imposing the Emergency (1948-1960) – a taking up of arms characterized by the opposing side as the ‘Anti-British National Liberation War’ – was that the CPM had initiated complete disruption of the economy.
“In this connection it was also submitted that the political parties of the left were legitimate targets to maintain law and order, and accordingly the British implemented widespread repressive measures, many of which violated basic human rights,??? writes Dr Abraham.
The British were by no means angels and the communists were not the unmitigated devils that the British and Malaysian governments have painted them to be.
Giving due recognition to the communist movement in our history for their resistance aimed at uplifting the working classes and freeing all Malaysians from the colonial yoke is nothing more than acknowledging the facts of what really happened in this important part of our past history.
