KUALA LUMPUR – A highly controversial chapter of the nation’s history, the role of left-wing groups in driving the British colonialists out of Peninsular Malaya has often been overlooked.
According to the Malaysian Socialist Party deputy president, S. Arulchelvan, although many view Umno and the country’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, as the main forces behind Malaya’s independence, other groups had demanded a free Malaya much earlier.
One such group, Arulchelvan said, was the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM), which was formed in 1938, six years before the founding of Umno.
In a 2017 write-up by Penang Monthly, it was noted that KMM was mainly composed of journalists and college graduates with peasant backgrounds who were influenced by nationalist movements in the Middle East and Indonesia.
“Then there was also the Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (Putera) – All Malaya Council of Joint Action (AMCJA) alliance, which was very active in the mid to late 1940s and even proposed their own constitution called the Deklarasi Rakyat,” Arulchelvan told Scoop.
In 1948, following the killing of three European plantation managers in Sg Siput by suspected communists, the British declared the Malayan Emergency.
According to Arulchelvan, although the state of emergency was ostensibly declared to counter Malayan Communist Party (MCP) militants, the British also used it as a pretext to dismantle left-leaning opposition groups such as Putera-AMCJA, Angkatan Wanita Sedar, and Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API).
“In my opinion, the power of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was already waning. I believe the British were more afraid of these other leftist parties,” he added.
Arulchelvan also pointed out that this pattern was common in other nations fighting colonialism, citing India, where Mahatma Gandhi is widely regarded as the father of the country’s independence.
“Many view Gandhi as the father of independence, but it cannot be denied that nationalists like Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh accelerated India’s journey to freedom from the British.
“In fact, during his push for independence, Gandhi adopted a more radical approach, shifting from a movement of non-violence to one of non-cooperation after seeing the public support for Bhagat Singh’s armed movement,” Arulchelvan said.
A forgotten part of history
Former DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago shares the view that the Malayan left movement played a role alongside Tunku Abdul Rahman in achieving independence, but he notes that the contributions of such groups are not well documented or taught to Malaysians.
Highlighting the brutality of the British against the left, Charles said the colonialists were known to create a culture of fear by killing and imprisoning leaders who opposed them.
However, Charles pointed out that the effort to decimate the left movement in Malaya did not end with the British.
This, he says, is evident in the tools utilised by the Malayan authorities to suppress dissent, particularly the Internal Security Act, a remnant of colonial rule that was used to imprison leftist leaders.
“This mindset of trying to destroy the resistance was continued by the Alliance Party government when they took over after independence,” Charles said when contacted.
In addition to targeting leftist leaders and groups, the former Klang MP also noted that the authorities sought to suppress leftist ideas and philosophies by banning left-leaning reading materials.
This, he argues, is the reason why Malaysia no longer has a diverse array of left-leaning parties.
“If you look at history, individuals who were in unions or those who opposed the government were targeted by powers.
“Plus it wasn’t just unions, even academics who criticised the government were targeted.
“The government did play a role in curbing the resistance and the left,” Santiago added. – August 31, 2024