The other side of HIS-story!

My Side of History (@Chin Peng; 2003)

A few years ago when Chin Peng's application to return to Malaysia appeared in the local newspapers, I remember discussing with a close friend about the subject. Being a learnt chap who was fair and aged as he was, I was taken aback by his reaction. Hailing from the district of Tanjung Malim, an area listed as a red light for communists activities, he was quite emotional that Chin Peng should not be allowed back at any cost. He had first hand experience of experiencing the violence and atrocities at the hands of people who looked at communism as the saviour of our nation to escape colonisation of their European masters.
Now, the question is whether CP was a liberator or a CT (communist terrorist). The question is who decides which, is it the victors of ideology or the historians. The fall of communism just convinced the victors that they were right all along. As in all human endeavours, the fallen would always be suppressed by the strong and mighty. Like they say, when caught in a strong current, always hold on to the strong roots by the bank of the river not the dangling branches.

A War Hero

From our childhood, we had been inundated with the idea that communism is some kind of evil teaching that is out to pulverise all kind of successes and liberty that mankind had attained since the time of Adam and Eve. So when I saw it this book at the local shelf in 2009, I grabbed a copy but only got to read it of late.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Too much information can sometimes lead to more questions and confusions. This is what happened to a young Ong Boon Hua (a.k.a. Chin Peng), a veracious reader. At time when the feudal system was meeting its coup de grâce through much human suffering and rising of the workers' class, elitists and intellectuals tried to stir human emotions on equality and humanity. These ideas fascinated many young minds of the mid thirties in the hope of creating an utopia on Earth.
The 1937 Rape of Nanking by the Japanese soldiers left a deep scar on many Chinese all over the world including the first generation migrants. It was only natural that when the Japanese reached our shores in early 40sduring WW2, the Chinese here took up arms against their Eastern intruders. WW2, in a way, woke Malayans from their slumber of nationalistic apathy. The people were also divided into two factions; one who went underground to resist the invaders from the Land of the Rising Sun (MPAJA) and the other who were cooperative and gained from the cycling Hirakiri advocating invaders.

Public Enemy No. 1

The bumbling British tried to make a comeback with help of the underground army. This cooperation between Force 136 and MPAJA later won many praises when the war was over. The Communist Party which was hoping to liberate Malaya from their colonial masters were taken for a ride. The newer batch of English officers were gung ho and set to reap maximum benefits for their motherland which was in dire straits after the war.
On the Malayan side, poverty was the order of the day. All the three years hard earned savings through the war years came to naught when the returning masters deemed the banana currency non legal tender. The new changes in the British administration and the economy malaise added by hungry mouths became fertile ground for fascination with socialistic and communistic ideologies. These ideologies infiltrated trade unions.
After the war, many MPAJA soldiers were decorated. Chin Peng himself was conferred 2 honorary medals and OBE. Ironically, less than two years later, he became Public Enemy No. 1 with a price on his head!
Post World War 2 era marked the begin of the Cold War and both divides were not giving their territories to the other side so easily, hence the change of heart.
The frustrated guerrillas took matters to their own hands. With the dearth of communication means, the leaders of CPM never could hold a tight rein on their subordinates. On top of that all, it was rife with internal problems. Its early leader, Lai Te, turned out to be a turncoat who sold his comrades to the Japanese and also to the British! He later absconded with a princely sum of money.
Interestingly, CPM received support from sympathetic Malayans and through capitalistic means!
Subsequent shrewd planning and propaganda use of the media on the part of the British crippled CPM.
The crimes of the communists were highlighted making it justified in the public eyes for them to be labelled as 'terrorist'. On the other hand, nefarious acts by the armed forces were muffled. A picture of a British soldier holding 2 'trophy' heads of Chinese communists made it way to the Daily Mail in the UK. It earned a bad reputation for the Brits. The authorities justified their action by the need of identification and census. They argued that they did not have to follow the international set of rules of treating captives as the Emergency period (1948-1960) was not a war! Then there is the Batang Kali massacre where the accusing fingers still point to the English.
This book gives a deep insight into the happenings during the 1955 Baling talk like never seen before in any history textbook. Chin Peng and his men, by then weary of the jungle, wanted to come into the mainstream. They wanted recognition as an entity which fought for the nation and be allowed to operate as a political party. David Marshall, a roaring lawyer from Singapore with his own political ambitions, is seen here a loud steamrolling one sided negotiator who wrecked the peace talk. Tan Cheng Lock, is painted as a true capitalist who seem more interested in loss of business opportunities and monetary wastage rather than liberty and social justice. Political wrangling by the powers of the day forced them to go underground again.
Once again, as world reeled from the post war slump and economy was booming, communist sympathy dwindled. At the end of the day, it is money that talks - a hungry stomach raises the sickle but when hunger is fulfilled, he yearns for peace.
In its early days, CPM seem like a groping organization with no recognition from its well established peers like in Australia and India. It was not even invited for the Communist World Summit in 1960. The Australian delegate who was passing through filled in on the details and suggested the idea of killing strike breakers and traitors.
The damage of public property was supposed to hurt the colonial masters. The first brutal killing of a British planter in Sungai Siput over wage dispute herald the beginning of the Emergency period. Renegade members of CPM killed here and there without the blessings of the Central Committee, allegedly. The assassination of Sir Henry Gurney was apparently a wild shot, unplanned. Guerrillas who wanted food and money hijacked a VIP car by chance. Sir Gurney happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Grinning Royal Marine with his "trophies".

Briggs' plan of creating new villages overnight by forcibly mass transporting villagers unannounced and rationing their food supply may appear inhumane but it helped to fade the sympathy of the Malayan people. This, with the euphoria of a new independent nation and burgeoning prices of raw material in the world market sent the revolutionary ideas further back into the back burner.
A disappointed Chin Peng went into exile in the background, He was a guest of Thailand, Vietnam and China. He received financial support for China and telecommunication aid to transmit communist ideas to Malaysia.
Chin Peng's love affair with communism met more resistance as the days went by. Malaysia started diplomatic relationship with China. CPM in turn had to comply with certain requests made by Malaysia via China. Difference in thinking amongst the Soviet, the Chinese and true Marxists created various factions within CPM with many backstabbing with money as the primary gain. The tired old man called truce in the 80s with the then Inspector General of Police but failed to make it even as to the motherland that he fought for. Ironically, his last breath was on the day sanctioned as Malaysia Day, 16th September 2013 at the age of 88.