TUTUP SAHAJA ISU CHIN PENG Mukadimah

SEJAK akhir-akhir ini isu supaya Chin Peng dibenarkan balik ke negara ini mendapat perhatian ramai. Ada sebilangan rakyat Malaysia merasakan kononnya kerajaan tidak adil kerana tidak membenarkan Chin Peng yang sudah berusia 85 tahun untuk kembali. Namun hakikatnya ramai rakyat negara ini yang enggan menerima Chin Peng kembali setelah sekian banyak kekejaman dilakukan olehnya terhadap penduduk negara ini. Bagi mendapatkan penerangan lanjut wartawan Mingguan Malaysia HAFIZAHRIL HAMID dan MOHD. KHUZAIRI ISMAIL telah mewawancara bekas Panglima Pemerintahan Medan Tentera Darat LT.JEN (B) DATUK SERI ZAINI MOHD SAID. Menurut beliau, Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) tidak pernah menyerah diri, malah merasakan mereka mesti diberi layanan berbeza, berbanding musuh yang ditewaskan. Jelasnya, ada orang yang bertanya isu mengenai Chin Peng ini telah dibangkitkan oleh pihak tertentu kerana merasakan kerajaan kita ketika ini lemah. "Kerajaan perlu memilih sama ada mementingkan d ia seorang atau rakyat negara ini secara keseluruhannya. Sama ada mahu mengotakan janji atau mengecewakan rakyat sendiri. "Saya lihat kita harus pentingkan rakyat kita. Sama ada kononnya kita mahu memberi belas kasihan kepada seorang atau mungkin juga kelu arganya atau meletakkan negara di atas keadaan yang penuh berisiko yang boleh melibatkan keamanan," ujarnya.

Lt. Jen (B) Datuk Zaini Mohd Said

Mingguan: Boleh Datuk Seri ceritakan pengalaman berhadapan dengan komunis? ZAINI: Saya memasuki tentera pada tahun 1965. Ketika itu PKM sudah berundur ke selatan Thailand, tapi saki bakinya masih beroperasi di sempadan terutamanya di Perak dan Kedah dan kita terpaksa bertindak menjalankan operasi di sana. Pada 1968, kita mendapat maklu mat PKM cuba masuk semula dan menghidupkan kembali pemberontakan bersenjata. Ketika itulah saya banyak terlibat dengan operasi lebih -lebih lagi di Perak, Pahang, Kedah sehingga ke Kelantan. Sepanjang tahun 70 -an saya banyak masuk hutan menjalankan operasi. Pada 1979 saya merupakan Pegawai Staf Utama yang merancang dan melaksanakan operasi atas arahan Panglima. Banyak operasi dijalankan terutamanya di Perak dan di sekeliling Ipoh pun ketika itu masih ada ancaman. Kejadian seperti tembakan meriam masih berlak u.

Di situlah kita nampak lebih -lebih lagi anggota yang bertugas di sempadan dan di kawasan hutan yang bergolak serta di sempadan yang mana kita mendapat kerjasama daripada Thailand yang cedera terutamanya akibat jerangkap Samar serta terbunuh. Boleh dikat akan setiap, hari kita menerima orang yang cedera dan mati di Ipoh, Kelantan dan Pulau Pinang. Kekejaman yang dilakukan oleh komunis ini sudah semestinya niat mereka adalah untuk memusnahkan negara dengan apa juga taktik. Mereka mahu mengkucar-kacirkan pasukan keselamatan kita dan menimbulkan satu suasana yang mengancam keselamatan negara. Tindak -tanduk mereka juga tidak memberi ruang untuk kita membangun dan membina negara. Selain kekejaman terhadap anggota tentera dan rakyat yang tak berdosa, kekejaman mereka juga adalah dalam bentuk menghalang pembangunan apabila banyak kawasan tidak dapat dibuka selama bertahun -tahun. Hanya selepas mereka mengaku kalah, itu pun dari sudut peletakan senjata dan tidak pernah menyebut kalah dalam perjuangan politik. Dalam p ersetujuan yang dicapai, mereka juga dilarang untuk berjuang atas platform politik. Tapi itu tidak disebut dengan persis. Yang diakui hanyalah peletakan senjata. Jadi inilah yang menimbulkan masalah, sebab dalam perjanjian mereka dibenarkan untuk pulang secara prinsipnya atas kelulusan kerajaan.
Pihak komunis mendakwa mereka juga pejuang kemerdekaan? Zaini: Selepas Jepun kalah dan mereka memerintah dua minggu mereka melaksanakan peperangan gerila. Pemberontakan mereka untuk menjatuhkan kerajaan tidak kira samasa British atau bila kita merdeka. Kerajaan kita tak pernah berhenti sebenarnya. Yang mengisytiharkan tamat darurat 1960 itu adalah kerajaan, bukannya mereka. Andai kata mereka mengatakan mereka menentang penjajah, tetapi sewaktu penaklukan Jepun misalnya, mereka tidak memerangi tentera Jepun. Sebaliknya ketika itu mereka dalam fasa membina kekuatan dan menubuhkan

pasukan. Mereka juga mendapat bekalan senjata dari luar serta melatih anggota baru. Jarang sekali mereka melawan Jepun sebab apabila mereka menyerang Jepun, askar Jepun akan bunuh masyarakat Cina menyebabkan mereka menjadi takut. Jadi mereka sebenarnya tidak terlibat dalam memerangi Jepun. Andai kata mereka mendakwa memerangi tentera Jepun seperti yang diisytiharkan, beritahu saya bila dan di mana insiden itu berlaku? Mereka sebenarnya lebih mengajar penduduk-penduduk yang terpaksa bekerjasama dengan Jepun. Sedangkan pemerintahan Jepun ketika itu sangat zalim tidak kira bangsa Melayu, Cina dan India terpaksa tunduk kepada Jepun kerana takut. Ja di orang-orang inilah yang diserang oleh mereka, sedangkan orang -orang itu sebenarnya rakyat kita dan bukannya tentera Jepun. Apabila Jepun meninggalkan Tanah Melayu selepas kekalahan dalam Perang Dunia Kedua dan British pula masih belum menduduki negara, kumpulan komunis ini bermaharajalela sebab tidak ada kerajaan ketika itu. Ramai orang dizalimi mereka, malah keluarga saya sendiri menjadi mangsa seperti yang menimpa datuk saya yang merupakan seorang bekas guru dan terpaksa bekerja membantu Jepun dalam hal-ehwal tempatan. Begitu juga dengan bapa mertua saya iaitu seorang pembantu perubatan yang hilang tanpa dapat dikesan dalam satu kejadian yang berlaku di hadapan Penjara Pudu. Ini adalah antara contoh kezaliman tanpa sebab yang dilakukan oleh komunis sema ta-mata kerana rakyat ketika itu terpaksa tunduk kepada Jepun.
Apakah wajar Chin Peng dibawa balik ke negara ini? ZAINI: Dalam isu membawa Chin Peng pulang, kita kena lihat ramai lagi tentera kita yang cacat anggota badan serta anak dan isteri bekas tente ra yang terbunuh kerana kezaliman komunis yang masih hidup. Sebagai contoh isteri saya, dia serta ahli keluarganya yang lain masih ingat tentang kejadian itu. Soal rasa marah dan benci terhadap Chin Peng dan komunis itu tidak hanya ada dalam diri bekas tentera sahaja, tetapi seluruh rakyat yang saya rasa kebanyakannya Melayu serta Cina dan India juga berkongsi perasaan tersebut.

Memang antara logik untuk membawa dia pulang sebab dia sudah tua tapi dalam hal ini ia membabitkan kekejaman dan kezaliman yang dilakukan. Malah negara juga hilang keselamatan dan keamanan yang menyebabkan berlaku ketidakadilan dalam pembahagian kedudukan kaum, perpecahan dan rasa benci serta sakit hati dengan kaum lain disebabkan Chin Peng dikaitkan dengan kaum tertentu. Maka Ching Peng bukan semata -mata dikaitkan dengan keganasan senjata tapi seorang yang betul-betul memecah-belahkan negara. Daripada komunis mula keluar dalam mana dua minggu itu mereka sudah menanamkan sifat benci dan marah terhadap kaum yang dikaitkan dengan pergerakan komunis. Bagi saya, ini adalah sebahagian daripada sebab mengapa kita berpecah belah. Ditambah dengan kemajuan yang tidak seimbang serta
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pembahagian kekayaan yang tak adil, ia menimbulkan kemarahan yang kadang kadang orang kata tidak nampak tapi masih membara. Kita perlu ingat keluarga yang menjadi mangsa kekejaman komunis ini masih ada, justeru adalah tidak wajar untuk kita membawa Chin Peng pulang.
Namun ada pihak yang berkepentingan mendesak supaya Chin Peng dimaafkan dan dibenarkan balik? ZAINI: Saya tahu ramai yang berhujah bahawa kerajaan pernah berjanji untuk membenarkan dia dibawa pulang. Memang benar tetapi kerajaan perlu memilih sama ada mementingkan dia seorang atau rakyat negara ini.secara keseluruhannya. Sama ada mahu mengotakan janji atau mengecewakan rakyat sendiri? Maka saya lihat kita harus pentingkan rakyat kita.

Apa perasaan orang yang pernah berkorban menen tang komunis ini? Saya sendiri misalnya pernah membuat operasi menyeberang sempadan semata -mata mahu menjejak Chin Peng, tetapi tidak berjaya. Banyak lagi operasi lain sama ada secara sulit atau tidak sulit oleh tentera dan pasukan kita tapi juga gagal menjejakinya. Jadi pada saya berapa tepat.
Ada pihak yang mempertikaikan terdapat mereka yang terlibat dalam kegiatan pengganas boleh dibawa balik?

ZAINI: Mungkin ada orang yang akan mempertikaikan kenapa pengganas jihad boleh dibawa pulang ke Malaysia? Kita perlu ingat, pengganas itu tidak beroperasi di negara ini. Paling utama mereka juga tidak mengagung -agungkan diri mereka sebagai seorang pejuang atau menggalakkan kelompok pengikut mereka untuk mengagungkannya. Bukankah itu sesuatu yang bahaya? Kalau Chin Peng ini mengakui kejahatan dan kesalahan dia dan berdiam diri, itu mungkin kita boleh terima. Tetapi dia sebaliknya mengagung -agungkan dirinya seolah-olah dialah pejuang negara yang sebenar. Apa yang akan terjadi kepada masyarakat kita apabila seseorang yang kita betul-betul marah tiba-tiba dibawa balik ke negara ini. Dia akan jadi ikon kepada kelompok -kelompok yang anti keamanan yang tidak lagi kisah tentang hidup dan mati.
Ada yang mahukan Chin Peng dimaafkan kerana melihat dia juga seorang pejuang negara? ZAINI: Kenapa kita perlu memaafkannya. Bagaimana boleh dikatakan dia adalah pejuang negara yang sebenar sedangkan cara perjuangan dan matlamatnya salah? Mereka bukan berjuang untuk rakyat tapi berjuang bagi menubuhkan republik dan menjatuhkan institusi raja dan kerajaan. Mereka juga tunduk kepada kerajaan komunis di China. Itu bukan perjuangan untuk rakyat Malaysia. Pada saya selagi generasi kita tidak kira waima seorang sekali pun yang ada perasaan begitu marah dan tidak melihat adanya keadilan daripa da perbuatan Chin Peng , maka selagi

itulah kita tidak boleh benarkan dia pulang. Yang rasa dizalimi itu ialah rakyat kita, sedangkan Chin Peng kita tidak, tahu kerakyatannya. Mungkin dia cakap sijil kelahirannya hilang maka tidak boleh dibuktikan dia warganegara Malaysia. Tapi persoalan di sini bukan tentang sijil kelahiran, sebaliknya semangat dia kepada negara itu yang penting. Jika dia betul merasakan sebagai seorang pejuang negara, maka kenapa ketika negara sudah merdeka sekali pun masih melancarkan serangan. Jelas dapat dilihat mereka sebenarnya mahu menghancurkan negara ini dan mahu membina apa yang dirasakan kerajaan pada ketika itu dan mu ngkin juga pada masa akan datang. Pada saya juga Chin Peng sama macam Hitler dan ketua Jepun yang zalim sehingga menyebabkan kemudaratan kepada orang yang tidak berdosa.
Bagaimanakah dengan hujah yang mengatakan kerajaan sudah berjanji untuk membenarkan dia dibawa pulang? ZAINI: Memang benar ada perjanjian di situ. Tapi bila disebut 'oleh kerajaan' itu maknanya kerajaan berhak untuk mempertimbangkan kebolehan dia untuk balik dan kerajaan mengikut keperluan kepada negara. Kalau kerajaan dapati kepulangannya mungkin menimbulkan imej tidak baik seperti orang marah, atau mungkin ada yang bertindak ke atas dirinya atau tempat persemadian atau mungkin membawa kepada kaum dia. Ini secara tidak langsung membawa kepada keadaan huru hara dalam negara kita.

Jadi banyak yang perlu difikirkan bukan setakat kerana rasa kasihan sebab dia sudah tua. Tapi kita tidak melawan balik dengan memberi hujah yang kukuh dan membiarkan isu ini berlegar -legar. Saya menjangkakan akan ada orang yang bertanya kenapa isu ini timbul ketika ini. Sebab mereka merasakan kerajaan kita ketika ini lemah. Apa jua isu yang boleh kerajaan dan yang boleh membuktikan orang Melayu dan Islam tidak adil maka akan ia akan dilontarkan. Chin Peng mungkin adalah sebahagian daripada strategi itu dan ia digunakan oleh kelompok tertentu.
Apakah cara terbaik bagi menangani isu Chin Peng selepas ini? ZAINI: Saya berpandangan isu mengenai Chin Peng tidak perlu dibangkitkan lagi. Telah terbukti kekejamankomunis sesuatu yangtidak boleh dimaafkan . Kita perlu Cutup isu inidan tidak perlu lagimelayan segala tuntutanyang sengaja dibangkitkan oleh pihak tertentu atas sebab kedudukan politik. Dia bukan pejuang kemerdekaan kerana perjuangan kemerdekaan itu bukan hanya membebaskan tanah air tetapi juga memelihara institusi -institusi yang sedia ada.

Ketika kita ditakluk kedudukan raja entah ke mana, begitu juga dengan kedudukan agama dan rakyat, tetapi Komunis datang bukan untuk membebaskan
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negara, malah mahu membuang institusi itu dan menjadikan negara ini sebuah republik dan tunduk kepada kerajaan komunis China. Musuh itu bukan soal siapa yang ditentang, tetapi ke mana dia mahu membawa negara ini. Komunis bukan mahu membawa kepada kemerdekaan tapi kepada perhambaan dan memusnahkan institusi sedia ada. Mingguan Malaysia, Ahad 6 Disember 2009

BERIKUT ADALAH ARTIKEL DARI THE STAR

SAME STOCK, DIFFERENT FOLK

YUM CHA By LEE YUK PENG

Despite the ethnic link to China, most Malaysian Chinese tend to favour the motherland merely for the opportunities it affords as a new economic giant.

IN the wake of Chinese President Hu Jintaos recent visit to Malaysia, how do Malaysian Chinese young and old feel about China?

"Its a winwin situation for both China and Malaysia" - LAI KUAN FOOK

An economic giant with great potential now, China used to be seen as poor, backward and closed in the past. Mired in poverty, many Chinese from the southern parts of China decided to leave their homeland back then to search for a better life. Many ended up in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and other parts of the world. Malaya and China had long interacted with one another, especially after Admiral Zheng Hes visit to the Malacca Sultanate during the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century. The relationship, however, was severed when the Communist Party took

control of China in 1949. From then on until the 1970s, there were no formal ties between the two countries. It was hard even to apply for a visa to visit China then, says Lai Kuan Fook, 70, a Chinese scholar and sinologist from Perlis. After China opened its doors in 1989, it began to emerge as a new economic giant globally. It went through rapid development, opening up business opportunities that attracted overseas Chinese, among them Malaysians, to return to China. Relations between Malaysia and China were also improved and strengthened as a result of visits by political leaders of both countries over the years, beginning with former Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Husseins trip to China in 1974 to establish diplomatic ties with the Chinese. Nowadays, many students from China are studying in private colleges and universities in Malaysia. Companies in China are also involved in various ventures in Malaysia. These will include the construction of the Second Penang Bridge and the double -tracking of the rail from Gemas to Johor Baru following the series of agreements signed when Hu visited Malaysia. Old folks are happy with the development, says Lai, referring to the older generation of Malaysian Chinese. Its a win-win situation for both China and Malaysia, to see Malaysian businessmen making their fortune in China and now China is capable of contributing to the economic development of Malaysia. During his visit here, Hu also took the opportunity to visit Malacca, the historical birthplace of Malaysia -China ties, to see the Straits of Malacca and the Baba Nyonya museum in Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. Often referred to as Straits-born Chinese, the Babas and Nyonyas have been rooted in Malaysia for many generations and they have their own unique cultural practices. For example, the Nyonyas wear kebaya sarong, an assimilation of the Chinese and Malay form of attire. They still follow traditional Chinese wedding rites with the bride wearing an elaborate headgear plus a veil covering her face while the groom is garbed in a traditional Chinese costume. Generally, however, they converse in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Hokkien. The Malaysian Chinese are no longer the same as the Chinese from China, observe Lai and former Malaysian Ambasador to China Datuk Abdul Majid Khan.

Malaysian Chinese are used to living in a multi -racial society, sending their message through the ballot box, and practising the rule of law. It will probably take China another 30 years to achieve these, says Lai. Abdul Majid says the Malaysian Chinese can be typecast according to where they were educated. Those who studied in English -medium schools are Westernised in their views while those who were educated in Chinese -medium schools have stronger cultural and historical ties with China, he says. There is also another category of Malaysian Chinese now those who were educated in both Chinese and English. Despite the ethnic link, Malaysian Chinese tend to favour China merely for the opportunities it affords as a new economic giant. Even Indians and Malays in Malaysia are interested in China, notes Majid, who is now president of the Malaysia-China Friendship Association, a non -governmental organisation set up in 1992 to enhance people and business ties with China. Abdul Majid, Malaysias ambassador to China from 1999 to 2005, is still a regular visitor to China. Chong King Lock, 34, a graduate of Jinan University in Guangzhou, says he would love to tour China every now and then but he wouldnt live there on a long -term basis. Chong, from Petaling Jaya, and his wife Heng Oon Sing spent almost two years in Guangzhou studying in the university under a twinning programme from 2000. A journalist with Guang Ming Daily, Chong is too used to having his nasi lemak, roti canai and teh tarik to want to give them up. We eat Chinese food but there is neither prawn noodle nor wantan mee there, he says. The emotional link that the older Chinese in Malaysia have with China is fading away among the younger generation of Malaysian Chinese. Chinese in China will only have one point of view and the way they look at things is also rigid. Here, there are many ways to look at things and we mingle with people from different races, Chong says. He has also noted that the Chinese in China are more aggressive and daring in their pursuits compared to Malaysian Chinese who, he says, are often gentle, mild mannered and subtle.
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For the Malaysian Chinese, Majid opines that many now regard themselves as Malaysian first and Chinese second. The Malaysianess is there, he says.
Sunday Star 22 November 2009

ITS STILL HARD TO FORGIVE

ON THE BEAT By WONG CHUN WAI

Chin Peng surfaces again as the 20th anniversary of the Hatyai Peace Accord approaches.

CHIN Peng rarely gives press interviews. He probably feels there is nothing more to say and because he loathes being misquoted or being judged by the media. But in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the Hatyai Peace Accord, the former Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leader has done a series of interviews with the media. For the first time, he has offered an apology to the families of those who were killed or seriously injured in the CPMs reign of terror during the Emergency. The victims of the CPMs acts of violence and bloodshed covered all races Malay soldiers, Chinese policemen, Indian estate workers and government servants. The CPM did not pick their victims according to the colour of their skin. I was told a story of how the pregnant wife of a Special Branch officer was gunned down in Jalan Imbi. Well into the late 1970s, the police and the CPM were still having gun battles even in the suburbs of Petaling Jaya.
Lost cause

But last month, for the first time, the former CPM secretary -general took full respon sibility for the killing of thousands of people. To be exact, it has taken him 50 years to come up with this apology. I take full responsibility for my comrades actions. (But) in war, we cannot differentiate the innocent from the non -innocent, he told The Star in an interview in Bangkok. This is indeed a drastic change in his stance. In his book, Chin Peng: My Side of History, he had defiantly argued that the CPM was responsible for the killings.
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Propagandists have claimed I targeted innocent victims. Untrue, he wrote, adding that neither the CPM, central committee nor the Politburo ever adopted a programme that targeted civilians. In the foreword, Chin Peng wrote that his book is neither a boast nor an apology but an invitation to understand how beliefs were formed and how conflicts can start and run unabated. It is unlikely that the families of those killed, especially in the police and army, will accept his apology. The same sentiment can be expected from the Malay nationalists. The debate over whether Chin Peng should be allowed to come home has continued with almost predictable answers. There is no sign of reconciliation, let alone forgiveness. He has lost his case in the courts and the Malaysian government isnt likely to let him come back because he is still regarded as a politically sensitive subject. He knows that, and the outcome of his court battle surely could not have surprised him. He lost his legal battle last June when the Court of Appeal ruled he had to produce his birth certificate to prove he was born in the country. His intention of coming back is to spend his remaining years here. In his book, he wrote: It is naturally my wish to spend the last years of my life in Malaysia. It is ironic that I should be without the country for which I was more than willing to die. In that book, published in 2003, Chin Peng wrote that he wanted to visit his Sitiawan hometown, pay respects at the family graves, visit his old school, trace familiar routes and rejuvenate friendships. Last month when reporters from The Star met him, he made known that his obsession to return to Malaysia remains, that even if he was dead, he would be back. He is said to be making arrangements for friends to bring back his remains for burial in Sitiawan. Among the younger generation, Chin Peng has little relevance to them. Communism is long dead. Even in China, the ideology exists only to protect the political leadership structure. Apart from that, China has long since embraced capitalism. At the Friendship Villages along the Malaysian -Thai border where the former communist veterans and their families now live, many have become businessmen, an occupation that would have been frowned upon, if not unimaginable, during their jungle days.

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Few Malaysians are probably aware, nor care, that Dec 3, 2009, would be the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Hatyai Peace Accord, after which the communists formally laid down their arms to end a long -fought war. Chin Peng, to young Malaysians, is a man of another era. Few of us would argue that he lived in another world, as he himself admitted. Neither do they care whe ther he was a freedom fighter or communist terrorist. Most universities no longer teach communism in their political science departments, preferring to look at al-Qaeda and Islamic radicalism as part of their courses on security. But like his memory which, as Chin Peng says, has become spotty, the baggage of history could perhaps become lighter one day. Perhaps he would then be seen in a different light but time is not on his side.
Sunday Star, 22 November 2009 HISTORY IN THE MAKING
By ROZAID A. RAHMAN

Our writer had a ringside seat to the historic signing of the Peace Accord in Hatyai on Dec 2, 1989.

NOV 30, 1989, 8pm. There he was, in front of the 20-odd Malaysian journalists, looking in the pinkest of health, fair and plump a stark contrast to his image as a fearsome guerrilla fighter. I had seen Chin Peng before, but only in history books and newspapers. But I was here to witness and report on the Peace Accord between the Malaysian Government and the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) in Hatyai one of the greatest highlights of my career as a journalist. I was covering the event for Utusan Melayu.

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Where it happened: The Lee Gardens Hotel in Hatyai, Thailand, venue of the tripartitie signing on Dec 2, 1989.

Chin Pengs appearence in public was much awaited it would be his first in 34 years, the last time being Dec 29, 1955. He was neatly dressed, cheerful yet reserved. His first words to us: Ive waited for this moment for a long time. The brief press conference saw Chin Peng describing his fight for the CPM. a He spoke in Malay, Mandarin, English and Thai. Even after the dissolution of the CPMs army, we will never abolish the party, he said. He declined to comment when asked on his future plans after the treaty was signed. He did say then that he had not decided whether to return to Malaysia. He also took the opportunity to acknowledge the Thai Governments role in bringing about the peace agreement.
Prelude

In the run-up to that meeting, almost 200 journalists, photographers, security officials, soldiers, senior government officials from both Malaysian and Thai Governments, National Security Council delegates and Special Branch officials had gathered in Hatyai in anticipation of the historic event. The whereabouts of the CPM leaders were kept secret but the locals seemed to know where Chin Peng and CPMs10th Regiment chief Rashid Maidin were. A taxi driver claimed to know where Chin Peng was and was willing to disclose his location if the price was right.

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Both sides were to meet at the Siam Conference Room of Lee Gardens Hotel. (The name of the ballroom has since been changed to Peace Room.)
Meeting No. 2

It was midnight, Dec 1, 1989, and I was in the coffeehouse of the JB Hotel in downtown Hatyai with two Star reporters. Suddenly, we realised that Rashid, CPM chairman Abdullah CD and 12th Regiment chief Wu Yi Sek (better known as Ah Sek) were also there. We were caught by surprise because nobody had noticed them. That was something I admired as it showed how they could move around so quietly and covertly that they avoided attracting attention, a skill that must have been honed by many years of guerrilla warfare. It was Rashid, Abdullah and Ah Seks turn to come out from hiding, albeit without a press conference. Maybe they meant to make it casual, enjoying the calm before the agreement kicked in. But their efforts to stay under the radar were ruined by the arrival of us inquisitive journalists. Rather awed by his reputation, I hesitated to approach him but finally gathered courage to do so. He was 73 then, but seemed fit and spritely. He was reserved and responded to my questions with brief answers. He showed little reaction when I told him that the media had located his family in Perak. Probably to avoid further probing he and the others soo n made their exit.
December 2

The day came, and it was unlike how I expected it to be. I thought it would be a solemn and dignified ceremony. Instead it was chaos as photographers fought for good positions to frame their shots of the signing ceremony. Efforts by the emcee, a young Thai army officer, to control the eager crowd were in vain. It didnt help that his command of the English language was shaky and that he spoke with a strong Thai accent. He tried to be stern but had the crowd in stitches instead, when he shouted: Please sit down! Thank you for everybody! It seeemed rather ironic a peace signing agreement taking place in a chaotic place that was anything but peaceful and orderly.

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Then it was Chin Pengs turn to give his speech. He pledged his a llegiance to the Yang diPertuan Agong and the country and said the accord was in line with CPMs intention to make peace. We hope that this agreement will mark a new point in the nations history to bring a new era of peace and prosperity, he added. He concluded his speech and all parties signed the landmark agreement. However, unfazed by his earlier fumbles, the Thai emcee went on to say, Yes Mr Chin Peng, you can now officially sign on the dotting line.... It was a hilarious moment which has stuck in my memory of this significant event. And so the countrys long standing conflict with communism drew to a close when representatives of the two governments and the CPM finally signed the document signalling the end to a long -drawn conflict. The Malaysian Government was represented by Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Haji Wan Sidek Wan Abdul Rahman, Chief of the Defence Forces Jen Tan Sri Hashim Mohd Ali and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri (now Tun) Hanif Omar. Thai Armed Forces Chief General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Police-General Sawaeng Therasawat, Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Anek Sithiprasasana and Regional Internal Security Operations Command Director Lt Gen Yodhana Yamphundu signed on hehalf of their government. On the CPM side were Chin Peng, Abdullah and Rashid. In retrospect, the security of the event was questionable. There were no security checks and entry passes to the ceremony on the 12th floor of the hotel were easily available at the lobby.
My encounter

With the agreement formalised, many members of the media took the opportunity to pose for pictures at the venue. Unfortunately, I didnt. Perhaps I was over-awed by what I had witnessed but I did make an effort to take back a piece of history. Along with hundreds of other reporters, I thronged the table where Chin Peng sat as it was announced that he was to hold a press conference. We were interested in what he wanted to say but we were also interested in getting his autograph. After he concluded his press conference, it was every man f or himself. As Chin Peng reached for my souvenir book, he asked me:
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Saudara dari mana? (Where are you from?). Utusan Melayu, I answered. Saya baca Utusan Melayu... (I read your paper). Using the same fountain pen he used to sign the agreement papers, he swiftly penned his signature and handed the book back to me. I was indeed fortunate as not everyone managed to get to him. Many went to the extent of offering money for his autograph.
The day after

They had fought for 41 years before finally laying dow n their arms. At the height of the communist insurgency, nobody would have imagined that there would ever come a day when Malaysian Government representatives and CPM heads could cordially have dinner together. This was exactly what happened the day after the signing. It was the doing of Chavalit who had Wan Sidek, Special Branch director Tan Sri Rahim Noor and his deputy, Tan Sri Norian Mai (who both served as IGP), Chin Peng, Rashid, Abdullah and Ah Sek eating in the same hall where the agreemen twas sealed. The once sworn enemies of the state were seen chatting and posing for pictures with the Malaysian Government officials. A new era had begun for Malaysia. This account by Rozaid A. Rahman, associate editor for mStar, The Stars Malay news portal, was translated by JOSHUA FOONG. You can read the full length Bahasa Malaysia version on www.mstar.com.my.
FROM LETTER TO TREATY
By ROZAID A. RAHMAN

It took several meetings carried out over a year and the intervention of a Thai general to work out the terms of the Peace Accord.

IT started with a letter. Abdullah CD, the Communist Party of Malaya chairman, decided to send his congratulations to his old friend, Tun Ghafar Baba, when the latter was appointed Deputy Prime Minister. Abdullah and Ghafar had been members of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), a largely leftist Malay nationalist movement, in the 1940s.

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Major-General Kitty Ratanajaya from the Thai Armed Forces (centre) introducing Chin Peng (left) to Rahim Nor, then PDRM director of Special Branch, during a final secret meeting in Phuket before the signing of the Peace Accord later in Hatyai. Photo courtesy of Utusan Melayu

In the letter dated June 25, 1986, Abdullah also asked Ghafar if th e Malaysian Government was interested in a peace settlement. Ghafar replied on Sept 7, 1987, indicating interest in a meeting. He then sent an unofficial delegation to meet with Abdullahs side in May 1988 and subsequently in August and October of that yea r. Meanwhile, by coincidence, Thai Major -General Kitty Ratanajaya who was the commander of the 4th Army in control of south Thailand, decided to send out feelers to Rashid Maidin, the head of CPMs 10th Regiment that was hiding in the area, about seeking an end to the conflict. When Rashid sent back word that the CPM was interested, Kitty contacted (now Tan Sri) Rahim Nor, the Special Branch director of the Malaysian Police. After that, secret negotiations among the three parties began in Phuket. The Malaysian delegation comprised Rahim, his deputy (now Tan Sri) Norian Mai and other Special Branch officers Datuk Henry Chin, Zulkifli Abdul Rahman, Foong Yee Kai, You Kong Yew, Rahmat Ahmad, Khao Miang Hua, Michael Khor and Wong Nam Fei. The Thai team, led by Kitty, comprised high-ranking army officers while the CPM was represented by Rashid, Chang Ling Yun, Wu Yi Sek (aka Ah Sek), Zainun or Ah Yen, Huang Seng and Iskandar. The first meeting took place on Feb 2 -3, 1989, followed by four more in March, May, October and November.

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After the May meeting, negotiations broke down because Rashid rejected the condition set by the Malaysian Government that all CPM members had to be detained under the Internal Security Act and undergo rehabiliation before they could be considered for release back to civilian life. The stalemate was broken after Kitty stepped in and persuaded the Malaysian Government to drop the condition. CPM secretary-general Chin Peng, who was in China, finally made an appearance at the last meeting held on Nov 2-4, where the date for the signing of the Peace Accord was set for Dec 2, 1989, in Hatyai. The Sunday Star, 29 November 2009
HE LEFT IT TOO LATE
By ROZAID A. RAHMAN

CHIN Peng waited too long and now its too late for the former Communist Party of Malaysia (CPM) head to return to Malaysia said former Inspector -General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai. He did not express to me his intention to return to Malaysia when I met him during my trips to Hat Yai in the three years after the peace accord, Noriansaid in an interview.

Tan Sri Norian Mai

Norian had made follow-up trips to Thailand to check on how CPM members werecoping with civilian life. He also said there were two things that Chin Peng shouldnt have done.

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Firstly, he should have not requ ested for a heros welcome. Secondly he was wrong in wanting to bring his case to court, he said. If he hadnt done so, there might be a possibility that his last request to be buried in Sitiawan beside his father be realised. Norian was part of the Mal aysian delegation that was involved in five high level confidential negotiations with the CPM and the Thai Government between February and November 1989 in Phuket to pave the way for a peace accord and the laying down of arms by the CPM forces. At that time, Norian was the Special Branch deputy director. His superior Tan Sri Rahim Noor, who was director. He added, unlike Chin Peng, CPM central committee member Rashid Maidin was contented to remain in Thailand after the peace agreement. During the secret negotiations, Norian often teased Rashid as he was too serious and hardly smiled. After enduring a few sessions of negotiations, finally loosened up and responded to my jokes, he said. Norian added he visited Rashid frequently in the village prepared by the Thai Government for the former CPM members after the agreement was signed. The Sunday Star, 29 November 2009

INSIDE THE CPM HIDEOUT

By ROZAID A. RAHMAN

WITH the communist insurgency over and the Peace Accord signed, I was given the opprtunity to be the first Malaysian civilian to visit the tunnel used by the communists in south Thailand. Now named Piyamit Tunnel, it has been refurbished and made suitable for tourists to visit. But 20 years ago, after the surrender, the multi -level underground complex had an eerie feel to it as all around were signs of human use. To reach it, I had to cross a river to the foot of a hill where the tunnel starts.

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A storage area used by CPM guerrillas inside a tunnel at the Piyamit 1 camp in Betong, Thailand. LEW YONG KAN / The Star

The 1.5km tunnel is 15m below surface. It was built in seven years by more than 200 communists from the 8th Regiment of the Communist Party of Malaya Armed Forces. There are four entrances that leads to the operation rooms of the 8th Regiment. Each opening is wide enough for two persons to enter at the same time. When I visited, the air inside was chilly. The three -storey complex had been used as storage facilities for food, weapons and explosives. The tunnel system was built in a circular structure with interconnected lanes. This was the nerve centre where the communists planned their ambushes and attacks on their enemies.
Sunday Star, 29 November 2009

AT PEACE IN THEIR VILLAGE

By MARTIN VENGADESAN

After years of waging war, the ex-communist guerrillas finally found a place to call home where they have quietly built new lives for themselves and their families.

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ONE of the most powerful and ultimately destructive forces of the 20th century was the ideology of communism. Purportedly based on the ideals of equality and justice, virtually every communist regime became a dictatorial police state in which people suffered even more than they had done before. Our nations flirtation with communism came towards the end of World War II, a time when the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) had been at the forefront of resistance against the Japanese. Fired by revolutionary independence movements in Indonesia and Vietnam, Malaysias communists were a major presence in the immediate post-War scenario but were eventually outmanoeuvred by the returning British. The CPM was banned, and a bloody conflict (known euphemistically as the Emergency) that claimed the lives of an estimated 13,000 Malayans from both sides (and the civilian population) raged from 1948 to 1960 . Despite some renewed activity in the mid 1970s, however, the CPM was essentially a spent force by the time its guerrillas agreed to lay down their arms on Dec 2, 1989. Now, 20 years after the historic Peace Accord signed in Hatyai, Thailand, many of the principal actors in Malaysias communist story have passed on. Those remaining are elderly and largely in declining health.

Abdullah CD third from left in a group photo with Chin Peng (centre) and members of the CPMs 10th Regiment (from left) his wife Suriani, Rashid Maidin, Abu Samah Mohd Kassim, Ibrahim Chik and Abdullah Sudin.

While much of the spotlight has been on the legal battle waged by former CPM secretary-general Chin Peng for the right to come home to Malaysia to die, hundreds of his former comrades are seeing out their twilight years in a handful of Peace Villages located in the south of Thailand. With that in mind, we set out for Kampung Chulabhorn 12, an hour away from the town of Sukhirin in Thailands southernmost of province of Narath iwat. The village is home to Abdullah CD, former CPM chairman, and his veteran cadres from the 10th
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regiment that he once led. Our brief was to gather as many of their testimonies as we could. The journey itself proved a tricky one the Sungai Golok borde r was flooded, both before and after we crossed. At the border we were met by Abdullahs assistant, Yaakob Ibrahim, 47, himself a former CPM cadre. A two -hour drive through approximately a dozen military checkpoints (the south of Thailand has fallen prey t o separatist violence over the last decade) led us to an isolated but idyllic village deep in the heart of the jungle.
Joining the struggle (1945 -1948)

Waiting to greet us was Abdullah, 86. He is in good physical shape and is very jovial, but, sadly, his memory is slipping and he frequently retells the same story in answer to different questions. Abdullahs wife, Suriani Abdullah (formerly Eng Ming Ching), was one of the CPMs most prominent leaders, but is now wheelchair-bound and barely able to speak. Fortunately, other veterans were able to fill us in on the initial period of activity. Former company chief Awang Ismail (also known as Shukor), 81, took up the story:

Abdullah CD, today at 86.

I was born in Temerloh, Pahang, which was famous as a stronghold of Malay nationalism. At first, I was just a farmer but after the British came back after the war, I resented it. After all, we were the ones who had endured Japanese rule. Awang was introduced to the nationalist youth movement, Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API), by the late Kamarulzaman Teh, a one-time CPM operative who served 15 years in prison and returned to party politics through Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia in the 1970s and 1980s. I was fired up by the spirit of independence but it was tough. API was banned, many members were killed or thrown in prison, so, partly because we felt we had no other choice, we decided to go into the jungle to fight for our cause. Indeed, in the period after World War II, many left -leaning organisations rallied together to push for the establishment of an independent republic.
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Abdullah was one of the leaders of the Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM) in the 1940s and he found himself working with the CPM. The PKMM, a largely leftist Malay nationalist movement, an d its affiliated youth and womens wings (API and Awas Angkatan Wanita Sedar respectively) were breeding grounds of leaders who eventually became prominent figures in Umno (Tun Ghafar Baba, Tun Sardon Jubir and Tan Sri Dr Aishah Ghani), PAS (Dr Burhanu ddin Helmi and Asri Muda), Parti Rakyat Malaysia (Ahmad Boestamam), the Labour Party of Malaya (Ishak Haji Muhammad) and, of course, the CPM (in the form of Abdullah, Shamsiah Fakeh, Rashid Maidin, etc). As Abdullah put it, nationalism came first for me, and only then did Marxism follow.

Yaakob Ibrahim, 47

It is the same story for Liau Chin Sun @ Mamat Abdullah, 79, a native of Triang, Pahang, who followed his older brother into the CPM. During the Japanese Occupation, my brother joined the Malayan Peoples Anti Japanese Army (MPAJA). When the British came back, we joined in the struggle to liberate our country. When I finished school in the late 1940s, I was punished with a 40-day jail term for my involvement in the unofficial tentera tani (farmers militia). My parents bribed local officials and I fled to the jungle, joining ambush patrols on the armed forces and police, whom, we felt, had chosen to side with the British. Liau eventually joined the CPMs 6th Regiment under Chin Nam. He was shot twice by security forces and was treated by a Japanese doctor, as the CPM actually absorbed some Japanese military personnel who wished to continue their fight against the British! I eventually joined the 10th regiment (which largely comprised Malays) when a cadre mistakenly dropped me off there! I served as a bodyguard to leaders during special meetings and I also became a field medic, said Liau, who choked up when asked what happened to his olde r brother, who is believed to have been killed.

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Still, despite the horrors of war, certain aspects of normal life went on. Liau, for example, met and married an older woman of a different race. I met Siti Mariam Idris in 1963 and asked her to marry me. There was no need to ask for permission. If you liked someone you approached her, if she wanted to accept you, then you were a couple.

Siti Mariam, 83

Siti Mariam, 83, was a pioneer feminist who also hailed from Temerloh. I was 20 when I entered the jungle. I left two children behind but I was proud and happy to fight for my race, religion and my land. We were a poor family, I married at 12 and had my first child at 14. My mother encouraged me to fight for my beliefs and I left my children with her. W hen my mother was herself detained by the authorities, other relatives looked after my children. While life in the jungle may seem unimaginably tough to us modern city slickers (I found a trek to the 10th regiments abandoned jungle camp to be downright traumatic), young Siti Mariam had the time of her life. Of course the struggle was difficult, but our spirits were high, and I was not afraid, not of people nor animals. Abdullah CD was a great leader, like a father. He had to worry about food, safety, so many other things, yet he led us well. I enjoyed learning about other cultures and my political training. I learnt to read and write the Jawi script. I even found it fun to climb Cameron Highlands when we relocated there en route to Thailand! Siti Mariam recalled that the initial mood among the population was very supportive. The village people helped us. Most of them supported our fight for independence.
The losing battle (1948 -1955)

By the end of the war, the CPM was at its strongest. However, as fate would have it, the communists failed to seize power because they were betrayed by their own members in the form of triple agent Lai Tek, who worked for both the British and

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the Japanese while serving as CPM secretary -general. Former chairman Musa Ahmad is also now viewed as a traitor to the communist cause.

Liau Chin Sun, 79

While most of its members made many sacrifices, the sheer bloodiness of the conflict meant that the CPM was gradually losing its appeal among the population, and when British Director of Operations in Malaya Sir Harold Briggs came up with an anti-CPM strategy in 1950, it resulted in many CPM supporters being herded into controlled areas known as New Villages. This seriously affected CPM supply lines. Eventually, the party found itse lf being defeated militarily and being literally driven out of many areas in Peninsular Malaysia. Under Abdullah, the 10th Regiment made the difficult decision to flee Pahang for southern Thailand. Ironically, the CPM (or at least its Malay -majority 10th Regiment) found more support among the people of southern Thailand than the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) did. The latter concentrated on their base in the north -east of Thailand, leaving the CPM to build in southern Thailand! The CPT was very strong once, but they had to give up their struggle eventually, Liau recalled. They were our brothers, our comrades. This place used to belong to them, but they werent as popular with the local people, because the CPM, especially the 10th Regiment, was closer to the local people. The CPT supplied us with manpower, equipment and even gave us children to look after. Ramasamy Letchumanan, 69, a native of Sungai Siput, Perak, was a child when he joined the party in 1952. I was just 12. I joined a pasukan India (Indian company) that was operating in the Tambun area in Perak. Back then, the estate Indians strongly supported the CPM. The company chief saw how small I was and took me as an adopted son. In the late 1950s, I moved with the party to Thailand.

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Ramasamy Letchumanan, 69

Post-Baling (1955-1968)

By 1955, Malaya had held its first federal elections and the communist threat had vastly receded. Still, the government under Tunku Abdul Rahman decided to hold high-profile peace talks with Chin Peng. The talks ended fruitlessly with neither side prepared to budge. Awang Yaakob (better known as Hatta), 70, is another one of the Termerloh gang. After the failed Baling Talks (in Kedah) in 1955, we knew we couldnt win militarily. We didnt want to fight but we did nt want to surrender we had sacrificed a lot for our struggle so we were at an impasse. In 1960, three years after Malaya was granted its independence, the Emergency was officially declared over. A religious man, Awang said he never saw a conflict bet ween his faith and Marxist doctrine. I was strongly motivated to join because of the anti -British factor. The CPM never went against religion. We could always practise our religion, according to our personal choice. No religious view was ever forced on us.
Internal turmoil (1968-1974)

It is not widely known that the CPM itself underwent a number of splits. Inspired in part by events in China where the Cultural Revolution (1966 -1976) saw the condemnation and death of major figures such as President Liu S hiaqui, who was accused of being a counter-revolutionary, the CPM turned on itself.

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Awang Ismail, 81

At some point the CPM central committee ordered the killing of certain leaders, alleging that they were spies. Some regiments resisted this, said Liau. This resulted in the 8th Regiment splitting in 1970 and becoming the CPM (Revolutionary Faction) under E Chiang (also known as Huang Yijang) while the 12th Regiment became the CPM (Marxist-Leninist) under Chang Chung Minh. These two factions eventually merged in 1983 and laid down their arms in April 1987, before the main CPM did. Ironically, while the CPM was experiencing a downturn, the rest of South -East Asia was falling like dominoes to communist insurgents. As such, Chin Peng was ordered by his backers in Chinas Communist Party to renew efforts at an armed struggle, which led to the assassination of then Inspector -General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Hashim on June 7, 1974. However, by this point, the CPM had long lost the battle for the hearts an d minds of most Malaysian civilians. Still, Abdullahs assistant, Yaakob, was one who chose to join the party during this time. I originally came from a village in the Pasir Puteh district of Kelantan. The people there were very poor, and they are still p oor. At first I was just curious about these people fighting in the jungle for a better life. The Malaysian Governments anti communist propaganda was very strong but I wasnt that happy with what I learnt in school. Then when I joined them, I found that I could accept their ideas and their way of life. I was trained to survive in the jungle, to use arms and certain martial arts tactics. Sometimes we fought for self -defence, sometimes we had to create trouble to maintain a presence in the area. There was no room for sentiment in those days, he added. There were hantu (spies) who informed on us and led many cadres to their death. If we found out who they were, we killed them.
Winding down (1974-1989)
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Eventually the CPM struggle came to a long drawn -out halt, as the foreign policy of China changed and its regime became more friendly with the Malaysian Government. By the last few years, we were at an impasse with the Thai army and we stopped shooting at each other. Whereas once we had to disguise ourselves to move about in the local towns, we were practically out in the open before the ceasefire, explained Yaakob. Eventually even though most of us were Malaysian, we had been residing in Thailand for so long that it was the Thai Government and army who wer e keen to see our situation resolved once and for all. To that end, they were prepared to furnish us with houses and land. Current village headman Droman Binza, 52, is a Thai who chose to join the CPM in the 1970s. Instead of fighting, however, he found h imself involved in peace negotiations and eventually played a part in the Hatyai peace accord. I felt that this was my struggle too, to improve the lives of the common people. I had three brothers who joined before me. I have stayed with Abdullah CD most of my life. He is a very intelligent, fair and honest leader and I try to emulate him.

The people who live in idylic Kampung Chulabhorn 12 used to fight a war when they were members of the Communist Party of Malaya. Photos by MARTIN VENGADESAN and SYAWALLUDIN ZAIN / The Star

Building new lives (1989 -2009)

Now in their twilight years, most of the guerrillas are philosophical about their once violent lives.

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I feel satisfied in playing a role in bringing more independence into womens lives. My granddaugther told me that it is because of our fight that modern women can work in office jobs and rise to great heights, said Siti Mariam. Said Liau: The Chinese say if you drink water, you must remember where its source is from. Today, the Malaysian Government says they achieved independence through peaceful means. I think thats wrong. Our people held strikes, we rioted and we spilt blood. Awang (Ismail) was a little more sanguine: I think of it like this ... during the difficult times we were on the frontlines, but now there is peace and prosperity, it is my turn to be at the back. When you enter a war, you expect to die, but I didnt die. Instead I will die from old age. Ramasamy, who now spends his days tending to his rubber and fruits trees, is proud of the progress of modern Malaysia. We wanted to fight the British to set up a democratic republic, but even though we failed, Malaysia has done well. In the last 20 years I have travelled to many countries in South-East Asia and I believe Malaysia is the most developed. I am proud of that. He is aware that the present generation may not understand what prompted him to choose the path he did. Things evolve, ideas evolve. Karl Marx, Chairman Mao they all lived a long time ago. Some of their ideas can work, some not. Communist regimes did evil things despite having an original good intention of creating a society where all are equal. But I dont regret the struggle.
Looking ahead (2009 - )

In the two decades since the Peace Accord was signed, most guerril las have chosen to stay in Thailand and accept the favourable terms there. Their beautiful village appears to be run like a harmonious community that provides them with livelihoods. Indeed, the village appears to be prospering under Dromans stewardship. I t has its own primary school, Sekolah Rendah Chulabhorn 12, which has about 100 pupils and six teachers. On weekends, the children attend classes on Islam and the Malay language and culture. The village clinic is currently being expanded into a regional medical centre. My job is to solve the problems of daily life and co -ordinate with various government agencies. I also head the village committee of 15 people. But, actually, we have had no major problems in the last 20 years. Nobody comes to disturb us, s aid Droman. He is optimistic about the future.

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We are not just a village of old fighters. We have around 200 young children here. Once they are old enough, say 15, we tell them about the struggle that led to the establishment of this village. Many like to stay here, but there are some who go and study elsewhere. People seek jobs in the towns, but even those who go, help the village so I believe we will survive and prosper. The warriors of Kampung Chulabhorn may not have succeeded in creating a Marxist paradise in Malaysia, but they have built a life and even a future from the ashes of their broken dream. In StarTwo tomorrow: New Villages legacy of the Emergency Sunday Star, 29 November 2009

Rise and fall of communism in Malaya

Compiled by ANDREW SIA 1930: Formation of Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). 1930s: CPM inspires labour unrest. In March 1937, miners declare independence and take over the Batu Arang coal mine in Selangor for 24 hours. December 1941: World War II reaches Malaya. The British accept the CPMs offer to cooperate to fight the Japanese invaders. The CPM forms the Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA). Aug 16, 1945: The Japanese surrender. In the five weeks before the British resume control of Malaya, the MPAJA emerges as the de facto authority in the country. December 1945: MPAJA is disbanded after the CPM is directed by its secretarygeneral, Lai Tek (who was also a double agent for the British), to accept the return of British colonial rule and adopt a moderate open and legal struggle for its ideological goals. Jan 6, 1946: The British give various CPM leaders, including Chin Peng, medals for fighting the Japanese. 19451948: The CPM infiltrates some trade unions and help organise strikes to demand better pay and working conditions. The British respond by tightening laws. March 1947: Lai Tek absconds with several million straits dollars of CPM funds. Chin Peng, 26, is appointed CPM secretary -general.

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March 1948: The CPMs Fourth Plenum (meeting) formally abandons Lai Teks moderate strategy in favour of a peoples revolutionary war. June 16, 1948: Three European planters are killed in Sungai Siput, Perak. A State of Emergency is declared within nearby parts of Perak, spreading to the whole country by June 23. Emergency regulations include the mandatory carrying of identity cards and the death penalty for unlicensed possession of guns. JuneDecember 1948: Large scale CPM attacks in Kulai (Johor), Jerantut (Pahang) and Batu Arang fail to establish Mao Zedong -style liberated areas. April 1949: Communist fi ghters retreat into deep jungle camps for retraining. By years end, there are increased guerrilla attacks on rubber estates, tin mines, transportation routes and government offi cials. December 1949: A Scots Guards patrol shoots dead 25 Chinese farmers in Batang Kali, Selangor. It was hailed as the biggest success of the Emergency but in later years was described as a massacre of innocents. Feb 23, 1950: Twenty-fi ve people die defending the police station in Bukit Kepong, Johor, against the communists. March 22, 1950 : Lt Gen Sir Harold Briggs becomes the Director of Operations in Malaya. He formulates the Briggs Plan to (forcibly) resettle 500,000 Chinese farmers into new villages surrounded by barbed wire and government soldiers to deny the communists food and other support. September 1950: As part of the governments anti-communist strategy to improve the socio- economic status of rural people, the Rural and Industrial Develo pment Authority (Rida) is set up. Later, it becomes Majlis Amanah Rakyat, or Mara. 1951: Communist strength reaches over 7,000 fi ghters from about 2,300 fi ghters in 1948. June 1951: Briggs launches Operation Starvation. Movement of food throughout the country is controlled to force the communists out of the jungle to forage for food, thus allowing them to be ambushed and killed. Oct 6, 1951: British High Commissioner Sir Henry Gurney is ambushed and killed by the communists while en route to Frasers Hill . Feb 7, 1952: General Sir Gerald Templer becomes the new High Commissioner and Director of Operations. All intelligence and spying operations are integrated into the Special Branch of the police.

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MarchApril 1952: A 22-hour curfew is imposed on Tanjung Malim, Perak, after a communist attack. Such collective punishments induce people to inform on the communists. 1952: Discouraged by waning public support, a result of the Briggs plan, the CPM stops activities that may cause loss of life or inconvenience to t he public, such as attacks on trains. May 1, 1952: The Government offers $250,000 for the capture of Chin Peng. September 1952: Citizenship given to all, regardless of race, who are born in Malaya; this removed one of the reasons for the war waged by the C PM. 1953: The Briggs Plan and military attacks bite. Chin Peng and his headquarters staff retreat from the jungles near Bentong, Pahang, via Cameron Highlands, to Betong in South Thailand. 1953: As part of Templers winning hearts and minds strategy, local elections are held for town and city councils. Areas free from communists are declared white areas and various restrictions there are lifted.

June 1954: Templer leaves. The tide has turned against the communists. In the latter half of the 1950s, the killing, capture and betrayal of some communist leaders lead to even more white areas.
July 31, 1955: The Alliance Party scores a huge victory in the countrys fi rst federal election and Tunku Abdul Rahman becomes Chief Minister. Its manifesto includes granting amnesty to the communists to reduce the loss of lives. Sept 1955: Chin Peng offers to negotiate with Tunku. Dec 28-29, 1955: The talks in Baling, Kedah, are deadlocked. Chin Peng asks th at the CPM be legalised and allowed to contest elections but Tunku cannot agree and wants the CPM to surrender. Aug 31, 1957: Independence for Malaya and the communists lose one reason for their war of colonial liberation. Sept 9, 1957: Merdeka Amnesty announced. Up to 500 communist fi ghters urrender in the next 12 months. July 31, 1960: The Malayan Government declares the end of the State of mergency. 1967-1989: Despite severe setbacks, Chin Peng begins the Communist Insurgency War, unoffi cially known as the second Emergency, urged on by Chinas Communist Party and the growing success of communist insurgencies in the region. 1969: Infi ghting among CPM members living in Thailand lead to major splits.
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June 7, 1974: Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Hashim is assassinated on Chin Pengs orders a last gasp effort that does nothing to help the CPMs cause. Dec 2, 1989: The Malaysian Government and the CPM sign the Peace Accord in Hatyai, Thailand, and the CPM lays down its arms.

Sources: The Malayan Emergency Revisited: 1948 1960 by Lt Col (R) Mohd Azzam and Wikipedia.

Red star over Malaya

By CHEAH BOON KHENG

A look at how communism took root in Malaya.

COMMUNISM made its way into Peninsular Malaysia in the 1920s through the efforts of Indonesian agents, such as Tan Malaka, Alimin and Musso. Its ideas were first formally introduced in Asia in 1914, in Dutch -ruled Indonesia, with the founding of the Indies Social Democratic Association (ISDA), led by the Dutch Marxist and trade unionist, Hendricus Sneevliet. The association later became the Perserikataan Komunist Indonesia, or Indonesian Communist Party, on May 23, 1920 the first communist party in Asia.

A 1980 communist propaganda poster extolling the Communist Party of Malayas 50-year struggle. File photo

The China Communist Party (CCP) was not founded until May 1921 and the Indian Communist Party, not until December 1925. Of the Indonesian agents, Tan Malaka was the most outstanding and impressive. He was the South-East Asian representative of the Moscow -based Communist International (Comintern), and operated widely in Bangkok, Manila, Penang and Singapore. As he successfully evaded arrest, his secret activities won the respect
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and admiration of Western intelligence officials who described him in their reports as, The Scarlet Pimpernel. Tan Malakas dismal assessment of communisms future in Malaya, in a coded message dated Nov 25, 1925, which was intercepted by British Special Branch, said the agents work so far had not be en successful among Malays and Indians, and any success could only come from the Chinese whatever sort of movement it may be. On his recommendation, CCP agents were invited over to Malaya to win over Chinese workers and to address Chinese schools and nig ht classes. In 1925 they succeeded in forming an overseas branch of the CCP, which later became the Nanyang (South Seas) Communist Party under the leadership of Fu Ta Ching. It was around this time, too, that CCP agents arrived as teachers and spread the ir wings in Chinese schools in Sarawak, which joined Malaysia in 1963, and where a Chinese-led communist movement grew but was never acknowledged by the Comintern as being in Malaya. (An amorphous body, the Sarawak Communist Organisation, emerged in the 19 60s, launched an uprising in 1962 but disbanded itself in 1972-73.) The Nanyang Communist Party was the forerunner of the Communist Party of Malaya, which was established in 1930 by the Vietnamese Nguyen Ai Quoc (better known as Ho Chi Minh), who had replaced Tan Malaka as the Comintern representative in South -East Asia. Ho reportedly criticised the poor record of CCP agents in Malaya, especially their failure to make headway in recruiting Malays and Indians, and urged the CPM to resolve the racial question . Not a registered body, the CPM worked underground. It was constantly harassed by the British police, which raided its meeting places and printing presses and carried out arrests, detentions and banishments (of those who were Chinese nationals) to disrupt their activities. The party established new cells in both urban and rural areas, but its support never extended into the Malay and Indian population, making more headway among Chinese workers and their trade unions. Its documents were usually issued in Chinese. According to British intelligence, its membership for the period 1934 -1940 remained around 1,500 to 1,700 owing to its own stringent conditions. This was the same even for the post-World War II period when membership rose slightly. The ratio of Chin ese to Malays in communist-front organisations was said to be 15:1 and as high as 50:1 in the CPM itself.

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In 1932 and again in 1935, the CPM suffered schisms, which led to purges. This gave the police an opportunity to plant Lai Tek, a British agent, in th e party. A Chinese-speaking Vietnamese, he was passed on to the British Special Branch from the French Surete in Saigon and worked his way up to become secretary -general by a claim of Ho Chi Minhs friendship and support after the latters arrest in Hong K ong in 1932. Lai Tek secretly passed on information to the police, which allowed them to disrupt the organisation. His collaboration continued until the outbreak of war, when he was captured by the Japanese Army and he collaborated with them as well. Before Malaya fell, he concluded an anti -Japanese front with the British authorities, under which CPM members were trained, armed and sent out to conduct guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines in the last few weeks of the war. Fortuitously, the CPM thereby acquired a 7,000-strong guerrilla force, the Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), during the Japanese Occupation as well as British official recognition of the party. Although Lai Tek collaborated with the Japanese in an extensive destruction of the CPM, he kept the MPAJA intact to assist the British Army. He was keeping his options open. After the war the party disbanded the MPAJA, but did not relinquish all its arms, adopted a moderate policy of cooperation with the British, scaled down its goal of a Malayan Peoples Republic to self -government, and, not surprisingly, did not demand independence due to Lai Teks continuing role as British agent. But in 1947, he was unmasked and ousted. He managed to escape with the partys funds to Hong Kong, but it eventually tracked him down and he was killed. Post-war industrial unrest, caused by unemployment, low wages, employers intransigence and trade union militancy in which communists were involved, culminated in a series of murders of employers and plantation managers, which were blamed on the CPM. The British administration, unable to control the situation, declared a State Of Emergency, closed down communist-dominated trade unions and arrested their leaders. The CPMs rank-and-file scattered underground, and the party issued a call to them and to former MPAJA comrades to take up arms again and flee to the hills and jungles. Clearly taken by surprise, the CPMs decision to revolt was made in panic, accelerated by and partly in response to the severit y of government action. A month later, the CPM was proscribed.
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The declaration of the State of Emergency had far -reaching unintended consequences. It led to draconian Emergency laws, the rise of communalism, and an initial military regime (under General Si r Gerald Templer) to combat communist subversion and terrorism, ethnic urbanisation, the end of colonial rule and the birth and building of a new nation. But, until it laid down its arms in 1989, the CPM had by -passed the mainstream of politics, nation-building and major developments in Malaysia. It failed to stop the formation of Malaysia, her rapid social and economic development since the May 13, 1969, riots, and Malaysias turn to a non -aligned and neutral foreign policy and rapprochement with Soviet Russia and Communist China, which undermined their support of the CPMs struggle and which led to its isolation and final disarmament and dissolution. The writer was professor of history at Universiti Sains Malaysia until his retirement, and until recently was a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. He has written several books, including The Masked Comrades: A Study of the Communist United Front in Malaya (1979) and Red Star Over Malaya: Resistance and Social Conflict During and Afte r the Japanese Occupation, 1941 -1946 (1983). Sunday Star, 29 November 2009

LAPORAN KHAS: Sempena Ulang Tahun Ke-20 Perjanjian Damai Kerajaan Malaysia dan PKM (Bahagian Pertama)

Oleh ROZAID A. RAHMAN (Menjelang Rabu ini, genaplah 20 tahun Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) menamatkan perjuangan bersenjata mereka ke atas Kerajaan Malaysia apabila mereka menandatangani Perjanjian Damai yang bersejarah pada 2 Disember 1989 di Hadyai Thailand. Pengarang Bersekutu mStar, ROZAID A. RAHMAN yang ketika itu berkhidmat sebagai wartawan di Utusan Malaysia adalah sebahagian daripada mereka yang berpeluang menyaksikan peristiwa bersejarah itu. Beliau mengimbau kembali setiap detik menuju ke jalan damai itu bersama kita dala m siri Laporan Khas ini.)

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Pegawai tentera British John Davis (dua dari kiri) mengiringi Setiausaha Agung Parti Komunis Malaya, Chin Peng (kiri), bersama Chin Tian dan Rashid Maidin. Mereka berjalan menuju ke sebuah bangunan sekolah di Baling pada tahun 1955 untuk berunding dengan Tunku Abdul Rahman dan Ketua Menteri Singapura David Marshall. - Foto Ehsan UTUSAN MALAYSIA

HARI SAYA BERTEMU CHIN PENG & RASHID MAIDIN... MALAM 30 NOVEMBER 1989 adalah malam yang tidak dapat dilupakan oleh para wartawan Malaysia yang dihantar ke Hadyai untuk membuat liputan Majlis Menandatangani Perjanjian Damai di antara Kerajaan Malaysia dan Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM).

Malam itu, buat pertama kalinya dalam tempoh 34 tahun iaitu sejak 29 Disember 1955, manusia yang paling digeruni di tanahair, Chin Peng @ Ong Boon Hua muncul di khalayak ramai. Setiausaha Agung PKM itu kelihatan gemuk dan sihat dengan wajah yang putih kemerah-merahan - tidak sama sekali mengambarkan yang beliau menjalani kehidupan sebagai seorang gerila di dalam hutan. Tiada siapa yang tahu bagaimana Chin Peng yang pada mulanya memberikan pra syarat yang beliau hanya akan hadir pada majlis perdamaian itu (yang dijadualkan pada 2 Disember) jika beliau tidak ditemubual oleh media tiba -tiba mengubah fikiran dan memanggil satu sidang akhbar di sebuah kem tentera di Hadyai.

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Malah Chin Peng dikatakan tidak mahu pihak media menyaksikan upacara perjanjian damai itu dan beliau juga tidak mahu gambarnya diamb il semasa beliau menurunkan tandatangannya di atas kertas perjanjian damai. Nampaknya beliau sudah berubah fikiran dengan memberikan sidang akhbar lebih awal iaitu sehari sebelum berlangsungnya perjanjian damai. Sebaik sahaja bertemu dengan wartawan, perka taan pertama yang disebut Chin Peng ialah, Sudah lama saya menanti saat ini... Chin Peng yang berpakaian kemas seperti seorang ahli perniagaan juga kelihatan riang tetapi ada sedikit reservation setiap kali ditanya soalan berkaitan masa depannya dan rancangannya selepas selesai perjanjian damai dengan Kerajaan Malaysia. Bagaimanapun beliau berkata; Saya belum membuat keputusan sama ada hendak pulang ke Malaysia... (Hakikatnya ialah 20 tahun selepas itu, beliau masih tidak dapat menjejakkan kakinya di Malaysia). Dalam sidang akhbar ringkas itu yang diadakan pada jam 8 malam, Chin Peng bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, Inggeris dan bahasa Thai tentang perjuangannya dalam PKM di masa silam dan betapa dia memerlukan masa untuk memikirkan apa yang hendak dibuatnya selepas itu. Walaupun kami akan membubarkan tentera kami (PKM) kami tidak akan sekali -kali membubarkan Parti Komunis Malaya, katanya.

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Gambar terbaru Chin Peng yang dirakam pada bulan Oktober 2009. -Foto THE STAR oleh FOONG THIM LENG

Chin Peng juga tidak ketinggalan memberi pengiktirafan kepada daya usaha yang dilakukan oleh Kerajaan Thailand sehingga termeterainya perjanjian damai ini. Sedang Chin Peng menunggu tibanya jam 10.30 pagi, 2 Disember 1989 di mana akan berlangsungnya majlis bersejarah itu, iaitu perjanjian damai yang dinanti nantikan oleh seluruh dunia, pesawat yang membawa para perwakilan Malaysia yang terdiri daripada Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Dalam Negeri, Datuk Wan Sidek Wan Abdul Rahman dan Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Haniff Omar telah mendarat di Hadyai. Seorang lagi perwakilan Malaysia, Panglima Angkatan Tentera Diraja Malaysia, Tan Sri Hashim Mohd Ali telah tiba lebih awal di Hadyai. Para wartawan yang berjumlah hampir 200 orang, siang -siang lagi telah berkampung di bandar Selatan Thai ini. Semua hotel besar di Hadyai bukan sahaja dipenuhi oleh para wartawan dan jurugambar tetapi juga anggota -anggota keselamatan, polis, askar, pegawai tinggi kerajaan daripada kedua -dua buah negara

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iaitu Malaysia dan Thailand, anggota -anggota Majlis Keselamatan Negara apatah lagi pegawai-pegawai dari Cawangan Khas (Special Branch). Dan sungguhpun kehadiran para pemimpin utama PKM ini cuba dirahsiakan, tetapi penduduk tempatan seperti menyedari bahawa Chin Peng dan Rashid Maidin, pemimpin Regimen Ke-10 PKM sudah berada di pekan ini. Seorang pemandu teksi mendakwa dia tahu di mana Chin Peng tinggal malah sedia memberikan nombor bilik penginapan sekiranya mendapat bayaran yang betul. Perjanjian bersejarah yang akan ditandatangi oleh Chin Peng dan wakil-wakil Kerajaan Malaysia dan Thailand itu akan berlangsung di sebuah ballroom bernama Siam Conference Room di Hotel Lee Garden. Dan sebaik sahaja selesainya proses perdamaian itu, nama ballroom tersebut akan ditukar kepada The Peace Hall. **** Hampir tengah malam 1 Disember 1989, tidak sampai pun 24 jam lagi sebelum termeterainya perjanjian damai antara Malaysia dan PKM, tiba -tiba Rashid Maidin, Komander Regimen ke-10 PKM dan Pengerusi PKM, Abdullah CD dan Ah Sek, Komander Regimen Ke-12 PKM muncul di coffee house JB Hotel Hadyai di hadapan wartawan-wartawan Utusan yang terdiri daripada Ketua Pengarangnya, Zainuddin Maidin dan Pengarang Berita, Khalid Mohd dan saya sendiri serta V.K Chin dari akhbar The Star yang secara kebetulan berada di tempat yang sama. (Zainuddin Maidin, kini Tan Sri kemudiannya menjadi Menteri Penerangan Malaysia dan Khalid Mohd., sekarang Datuk, kemudiannya menjadi Ketua Pengarang Kumpulan Utusan dan kini berkhidmat di sebuah Yayasan di Petronas ). Bagaimanapun kehadiran t iga orang utama PKM itu serta isteri Abdullah dan Ah Sek tidak disedari langsung oleh pengunjung -pengunjung yang lain. Mereka tidak diperdulikan sehinggalah diganggu oleh wartawan Utusan yang memberanikan diri bangun lalu berjalan menuju ke arah Rashid d an Abdullah sambil memperkenalkan dirinya. Cara Rashid, Abdullah dan Ah Sek menyusup masuk di celah -celah orang-ramai tanpa menarik perhatian umum sangatlah mengkagumkan. Ia umpama satu seni yang telah mereka pelajari dan adaptasikan dengan cemerlang sekali di sepanjang penyamaran mereka di dalam hutan. Sepertimana Chin Peng pada malam sebelumnya, ini juga adalah kemunculan pertama Rashid dan Abdullah secara terang -terangan di hadapan khalayak ramai setidak-tidaknya itulah yang telah disaksikan oleh wartawan-wartawan Utusan dan The Star pada malam itu.

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Dan malang sungguh bagi Rashid, Abdullah dan Ah Sek kerana kehadiran mereka untuk bersantai di coffee house itu akhirnya telah terganggu oleh kedatangan wartawan ini. Rashid yang memesan secawan kopi sambil menghisap paip kelihatan tidak senang apabila kehadiran mereka telah dikesan wartawan. Malah tidak lama selepas itu beliau telah berkali -kali meminta rakan-rakannya yang lain supaya segera menghabiskan minuman masing -masing bagi membolehkan mereka beredar dari situ. Berpeluang buat pertama kalinya untuk menatap wajah Rashid dari dekat, tidak dapat dinafikan, walaupun berusia 73 tahun ketika itu, Rashid bukan sahaja kelihatan sihat tetapi tegap dan gagah seperti seorang yang bersedia untuk ke medan perang. Beliau sentiasa kelihatan serius sepanjang berada di coffee house itu. Walaupun beberapa kali diajak berbual, Rashid memperlihatkan gerak badan yang keras dan kekok. Rashid berulang kali berkata, beliau tidak berhasrat untuk bercakap dengan seorang wartawan. Yang lebih mengejutkan ialah Rashid langsung tidak menunjukkan sebarang reaksi apabila wartawan Utusan memberitahu bahawa pihak media telah menemui keluarganya di Perak. Bagaimanapun di sebalik keseriusan wajahnya itu, Rashid akhirnya ketawa kecil apabila diberitahu betapa pihak media begitu mengidam untuk merakamkan wajahnya yang terbaru.
mStar Online, Monday November 30, 2009

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LAPORAN KHAS: Sempena Ulang Tahun Ke-20 Perjanjian Damai Kerajaan Malaysia dan PKM (Bahagian Kedua)
Oleh ROZAID A. RAHMAN

Satu Detik Bersejarah Yang Bertukar Menjadi Detik Yang Melucukan...

Perjanjian bersejarah... (dari kanan) Abdullah C.D. dan Chin Peng menandatangani perjanjian damai dengan Jeneral Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Panglima Angkatan Tentera Thailand dan wakil Malaysia, Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Dalam Negeri, Datuk Wan Sidek Wan Abdul Rahman di Haadyai pada 2 Disember 1989. -Foto THE STAR oleh ROHAIZAT

SABTU, 2 DISEMBER 1989; Jam hampir 10.30 pagi dan Hotel Lee Garden di mana berlangsungnya majlis mena ndatangani perjanjian damai di antara Kerajaan Malaysia-Thailand dan PKM telah dipenuhi oleh wartawan dan orang kenamaan yang ingin menyaksikan satu detik bersejarah - sesuatu yang gagal disaksikan pada 28 dan 29 Disember 1955.

Tolong duduk! Tolong Duduk. ...Jika tuan-tuan tidak duduk, bagaimana kita hendak memulakan majlis kita yang bersejarah ini...orang belakang pun nak tengok juga, demikian kata-kata awal yang keluar dari mulut juruacara pada hari itu, seorang pegawai muda dari angkatan bersenjata Thai land yang bertutur dalam bahasa Inggeris yang kadang-kadang kedengaran sangat melucukan. Hakikatnya, beliau sedang berhadapan dengan satu tugasan yang sangat berat dan besar pada hari itu - bagaimana untuk mengawal situasi yang kelihatan kelam -kabut kerana para jurugambar yang telahpun memenuhi barisan hadapan di antara pentas utama dan kerusi para tetamu enggan memberi kerjasama kepadanya.

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Berkali-kali juruacara itu merayu kepada para jurugambar supaya memberi ruang kepada para tetamu menyaksikan majlis itu dengan sempurna tetapi rayuannya itu tidak diperdulikan. Mereka tidak mahu melepaskan peluang untuk merakam gambar mugshot Chin Peng, Rashid Maidin, Abdullah CD dan Ah Sek. Suasana kelam kabut itu menjadikan majlis yang sepatutnya serius dan penuh bersej arah itu tidak ubah seperti kaunter pasaran saham dengan bunyi bising para jurugambar berasak -asak untuk menuju ke hadapan seboleh mungkin. Dalam keadaan yang berasak -asak ini salah seorang daripada jurugambar telah terjatuh di atas jambakan bunga yang men ghiasi meja di mana kesemua wakil kerajaan Malaysia-Thailand dan PKM akan menandatangani perjanjian damai mereka. Manakala jurugambar yang berada di belakang pula sama ada memanjat belakang rakan jurugambar yang lain atau berdiri di atas kerusi yang disediakan untuk tetamu tetamu VIP di barisan hadapan sekali. Dari belakang, kami hanya dapat menyaksikan badan para jurugambar. Mereka yang akan menandatangani perjanjian damai itu sudah tidak kelihatan lagi. Dalam suasana hiruk pikuk inilah wakil-wakil Kerajaan Malaysia-Thailand dan PKM menurunkan tandatangan mereka di atas kertas perjanjian damai yang bersejarah itu bagi menamatkan perjuangan bersenjata PKM ke atas Kerajaan Malaysia selama lebih 41 tahun.
****

Bila dikenang kembali, peristiwa bersejarah itu sesungguhnya melucukan terutama sekali apabila teringatkan suara juruacara yang terus menerus merayu dengan kata kata thank you for your corporation dan kemudian diikuti dengan thank your for everybody... Ramai di kalangan wartawan ketawa setiap ka li mendengar juruacara itu mengulangi ayat thank your for everybody... dan tertanya-tanya perlukah dia mengakhiri kata katanya itu dengan thank your for everybody... Dari belakang, juruacara berkenaan seolah -olah tenggelam di tengah-tengah riuh rendah jurugambar yang menjerit-jerit nama Chin Peng dan Rashid Maidin supaya memberikan pos yang istimewa di hadapan lensa. Yang kelihatan hanyalah tangannya yang diangkat tinggi meminta semua orang bersabar dan duduk. Hakikatnya tidak ada siapapun yang memperdu likan rayuannya lagi. Majlis itu bukan sahaja berlangsung dengan begitu pantas sekali dan singkat, malah kawalan keselamatan pihak penganjur di sepanjang berlangsungnya majlis itu juga sangat menghairankan.

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Hotel Lee Garden di mana berlangsungnya majlis menandatangani perjanjian damai di antara Kerajaan Malaysia-Thailand dan PKM.

Tidak ada seorang pun dikenakan pemeriksaan keselamatan untuk menuju ke tingkat 12 Hotel Lee Garden di mana majlis ini berlangsung. Malah pas masuk yang tertulis dalam bahasa Thai boleh diperolehi dengan mudah di lobi hotel berkenaan. Di sekitar kawasan lobi dan di luar hotel juga, tidak ada kawalan keselamatan yang ketat dilakukan walaupun mereka yang berpakaian seragam berwarna coklat (polis) dan celoreng tentera memenuhi kaw asan berkenaan. Apabila melihat keadaan sudah tidak terkawal lagi, juruacara majlis itu dengan tergesa-gesa memulakan majlis dengan mengalu-alukan kedatangan semua tetamu sebaik sahaja Chin Peng dan rombongannya yang sedang berdiri sambil melambai lambai tangan ke arah para jurugambar melabuhkan punggung mereka ke atas kerusi. Jeneral Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Panglima Angkatan Tentera Thailand adalah yang pertama yang dijemput untuk menyampaikan ucapan. Beliau menyampaikan ucapannya yang ringkas dalam bahasa Thai yang kemudiannya diterjemahkan oleh juruacara itu. Apa yang anda saksikan hari ini akhirnya membuktikan bahawa perbezaan pendapat dan masalah tidak boleh diselesaikan dengan cara kekerasan, kata Chavalit. Selepas Chavalit, wakil Malaysia, Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Dalam Negeri, Datuk Wan Sidek Wan Abdul Rahman pula dijemput berucap. Beliau berkata, perjanjian hari ini akan membuka jalan kepada pembangunan sosio ekonomi yang lebih baik dan teratur untuk kemakmuran rakyat Malaysia.
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Dengan tamatnya kegiatan persenjataan komunis, lebih banyak rancangan pembangunan dapat dibawa ke kawasan -kawasan sempadan dan ini termasuklah kepada negara jiran, Thailand, katanya sambil merakamkan penghargaan kepada Kerajaan Thailand di atas kerjasama yang ia beri kan sehingga terhasilnya perjanjian damai ini. Lima minit kemudian, tibalah giliran Chin Peng. Beliau memulakan ucapannya dengan mengucapkan terima kasih kepada semua pihak terutamanya Cawangan Khas PDRM dan juga Komander Wilayah 4 Tentera Thai yang telah mengaturkan pertemuan dan rundingan dengan pihak PKM. Chin Peng berkata, apa yang telah dipersetujui hari ini adalah selaras dengan dasar PKM untuk mewujudkan perdamaian. Ia juga adalah selaras dengan arus masa kini di mana rakyat di seluruh dunia memperjuangkan perdamaian dan demokrasi serta selaras dengan kepentingan rakyat kedua-dua negara Malaysia dan Thailand. Kami yakin bahawa penandatanganan persetujuan damai ini akan mencatat satu lembaran baru dalam sejarah tanahair kami dan akan memberikan sumba ngan penting ke arah mewujudkan kemakmuran dan kestabilan di Malaysia serta di kawasan sempadan, kata Chin Peng. Beliau mengakhiri ucapannya dengan melafazkan ikrar taat setia kepada Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong selaku ketua negara dan juga ikrar taat setia kepada negara. Sebaik sahaja Chin Peng selesai menyampaikan ucapannya yang penuh dramatik itu dan belum pun sempat beliau duduk semula, juruacara terus merampas semula mikrofon dan mengumumkan; Yes Mr Chin Peng, you can now officially sign on the dotting line... katanya dalam bahasa Inggeris yang sangat melucukan. Mendengar kata-kata itu, Chin Peng pun sambil tersenyum dan tanpa melengahkan masa lagi terus menandatangani perjanjian itu dan kemudiannya diikuti serentak oleh Pengerusi CPM, Abdullah CD dan Rashid Maidin. Sejurus selepas wakil-wakil Kerajaan Malaysia dan Thailand menurunkan tandatangan masing-masing, juruacara itu dengan selamba berkata; All of you can continue to exchange the document if you wish to do so... Kata-katanya yang ringkas dan bersahaja pada satu majlis yang besar dan penuh bersejarah itu sekali lagi mencuit hati para wartawan dan tetamu yang hadir sehingga mengundang gelak ketawa.
****

Pada masa ketiga-tiga pihak yang menandatangani perjanjian damai itu menukar nukar dokumen, kelihatan para wartawan dan jurugambar mundar -mandir ke sana kemari mengambil gambar di sekitar dewan itu sebagai kenang -kenangan. Malah ramai yang ingin bergambar dengan isteri Komander Regimen Ke -12 PKM, Ah Sek iaitu Zainon Chan dan isteri A bdullah CD, Suriani Abdullah.
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Saya tidak mengambil walau sekeping foto pun. Mungkin kerana asyik memerhati apa yang sedang berlaku dan juga mungkin kerana terlalu teruja dengan peristiwa bersejarah ini. Tetapi suasana yang relaks itu kembali menjadi kelam -kabut apabila para wartawan berpusu-pusu kembali ke meja hadapan sebaik sahaja juruacara mengumumkan bahawa Chin Peng akan memberikan sidang akhbarnya. Dan keadaan kemudiannya menjadi seperti tidak terkawal lagi apabila beratus wartawan yang menduduki kerusi tetamu di barisan belakang menyerbu serentak ke meja hadapan sambil berlari merempuh tetamu -tetamu VIP setelah menyedari Chin Peng tanpa membuang masa terus memulakan sidang akhbarnya. Yang menyulitkan keadaan ialah apabila para wartawan terpaksa berasa k-asak untuk ke meja hadapan di mana Chin Peng berada bersama -sama beratus jurugambar yang tidak mahu berganjak langsung dari tempat di mana mereka berdiri. Suasana yang penuh kelam kabut itu berterusan sebaik sahaja Chin Peng selesai mengadakan sidang akhbarnya kerana selepas itu para wartawan pula yang menyerbu Chin Peng untuk mendapatkan tandatangannya dan saya adalah salah seorang daripadanya. Bila saya menghulurkan buku cenderamata majlis untuk beliau tandatangani, Chin Peng menoleh kearah saya dan bertanya; Saudara dari mana? Saya menjawab Utusan Melayu. Dan Chin Peng sambil tersenyum berkata; Saya baca Utusan Melayu.... Beliau kemudian menurunkan tandatangannya di atas buku cenderamata itu. Tandatangannya bersih dan kemas membuatkan anda boleh m engeja namanya dengan jelas. Tetapi ada yang menghulur wang kertas Ringgit Malaysia dan Thai Bath untuk Chin Peng tandatangani. Beliau tersenyum dan turuti kehendak tuan yang punya wang. Dan begitulah majlis yang disusun dan diatur rapi untuk menjadi satu majlis yang penuh bersejarah akhirnya berakhir dalam suasana yang sungguh melucukan.
mStar Online, Tuesday Disember 1, 2009

LAPORAN KHAS: Sempena Ulang Tahun Ke-20 Perjanjian Damai Kerajaan Malaysia dan PKM (Bahagian Ketiga)
Oleh ROZAID A. RAHMAN

Hari Ini Mereka Bertemu di Meja Makan... 3 DISEMBER 1989: Sehari selepas majlis menandatangani perjanjian damai wakil wakil Malaysia, Thailand dan PKM menenangkan fikiran dalam satu majlis jamuan makan malam yang dianjurkan oleh Angkatan Tentera Thailand yang diterajui oleh Jeneral Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.
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Chin Peng (kanan) bersama Jeneral Chavalit Yangchaiyuth pada 2 Disember 1989.

Jeneral Chavalit adalah seorang negotiator yang handal. Saya mempunyai hubungan yang rapat dengannya hasil daripada temuramah eksklusif yang pernah beliau berikan kepada saya setahun sebelum itu. Pada tahun 1988, beliau telah berjaya membawa keamanan di empat Wilayah Selatan Thai, yang didominasi oleh masyarakat Melayu iaitu Yala, Narathiwat, Songkla dan Pattani dengan memperkenalkan satu program yang beliau sendiri namakan dalam bahasa Melayu iaitu HARAPAN BARU. Dalam hal perjanjian damai ini juga, Chavalit telah sekali lagi membuktikan kemampuannya sebagai seorang negotiator. Beliau dibantu oleh orang kepercayaannya, Komander Wilayah 4 yang berpangkalan di Selatan Thai. Beliau ialah M ajor Jeneral Kitty Ratanajaya. Kitty lah yang menjadi tulang belakang Chavalit sepanjang rundingan damai dengan PKM dan Kerajaan Malaysia. Malam itu, Kitty bertindak sebagai host bersesuaian dengan peranannya dalam rundingan damai tersebut. Jamuan itu diadakan di Dewan Berdansa Lee Gardens Hotel berlangsungnya upacara perjanjian damai sehari sebelum itu. - tempat

Wakil utama Malaysia, Datuk Wan Sidek dan General Hashim Mohd Ali duduk di meja utama. Turut hadir ialah mereka yang memainkan peranan penting seb agai negotiator di pihak Malaysia iaitu Pengarah Cawangan Khas, Rahim Noor dan Timbalannya, Norian Mai. Kedua -dua mereka kemudiannya menjadi Ketua Polis Negara.

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Pemimpin-pemimpin PKM, Chin Peng, Rashid Maidin, Abdullah CD dan Ah Sek meluangkan masa untuk berbual-bual dengan para tetamu yang sebahagian besar daripada mereka mengambil peluang ini untuk bergambar kenang -kenangan. Chin Peng duduk di sebelah General Hashim dan kelihatan lebih banyak mendengar percakapan general itu dengan penuh minat dan kusyuk. Perbualan mereka sudah pastinya tidak menyentuh sesuatu yang serius kerana pada kebanyakan masa mereka lebih banyak ketawa malah ketawa besar lagi. Datuk Wan Sidek pula banyak menghabiskan masa berbual dengan Abdullah CD. Yang sentiasa kelihatan serius dan sukar sekali mengukirkan senyuman ialah Rashid Maidin. Beliau juga tidak banyak bercakap dan hanya menjawab ringkas kepada sebarang pertanyaan. Bekas Ketua Polis Perak, Datuk Seri Yuen Yuet Leng turut bermesra dengan para pemimpin PKM. Beliau yang pernah berkhidmat sebagai timbalan pengarah Cawangan Khas ketika ditemui berkata, Saya tidak pernah terfikir langsung suatu hari nanti saya akan bersua muka dengan Setiausaha Agung CPM, Chin Peng dalam suasana yang sama sekali berbeza...tidak sepertimana mala m ini. Sewaktu Chin Peng keluar dari hutan sambil diiring James Davis pada 28 dan 29 Disember 1955, untuk mengadakan rundingan dengan Tunku Abdul Rahman di Baling, saya adalah pegawai Cawangan Khas di Baling, kata Yuen. Beliau menyifatkan dirinya sangat beruntung kerana berpeluang menyaksikan rundingan damai sebanyak dua kali, satu gagal dan satu lagi berjaya.

mStar Online, Tuesday Disember 1, 2009

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Barbed past
By MICHAEL CHEANG

The Emergency (1948 -1960) changed the lives of half a million Malaysian Chinese. Most have moved on and embraced the peaceful present, but the trauma of the past is ingrained in their memories.

SEPTUAGENARIAN Mong Yue Yong scoffed at recent news reports about former Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leader Chin Peng apologising for his actions. Chin Peng has a lot to answer for, especially towards the people of Malaysia, he said. There is no use apologising now it has no meaning to all those who have suffered because of him.

Old and new: Ampang New Village is a far cry from the spanking new condominiums just a stones throw away.

Mong, 74, should know. After all, he was a mere 12 -year-old when his family was arrested and jailed by the British government. Their crime? Helping CPM guerrillas during the Malayan Emergency. We had no choice but to help them, or they would not hesitate to kill us. They killed one of my uncles who refused to help them, said Mong. Twenty years after the signing of the peace treaty and the disbanding of the CPM on Dec 2, 1989, the trauma of the past was still fresh in his mind. Mong recalled how as a young child, he was forced to help the CPM to deliver messages stuffed into the hollow frame of his bicycle.

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I used to help my mum when she went rubber tapping, and she would b ring food to the estates and leave them by the trees for the guerrillas, he said. Those packets of food did her in she was detained by British enforcers after being caught smuggling a packet of pork meat (meant for the guerrillas) to the rubber estate where she worked.

Sim Chee Jia (left) and Mong Yue Yong showing a broken pillar of stone that is the last remaining evidence of the barbed wire fences that used to encircle the village.

Mong himself was arrested later, and sent to a detention centre in Kuala Lipis, Pahang. Although he was released soon after, he returned to find himself the oldest family member left, and had to take care of his baby brother and sister all by himself. Later, when my mother was released in 1955, I decided enough was enoug h, and left Karak to come to Kuala Lumpur to study, with a little more than 10 dollars in my pocket, he said. Now a retired school teacher living in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Mong will never forget the troubled times when they lived in constant fear of the communist guerrillas demands. And neither will more than 500,000 Malaysian Chinese who were forcefully removed from their homes and transplanted into almost 480 new settlements that would later come to be known as New Villages one of the most lasting and significant legacies of the British fight against the CPM.
Concentration camps

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Before they became the vibrant Chinese communities that they are today, the New Villages served a much more unpleasant purpose they were concentration camps designed to keep the Chinese people in Malaya under guard so that they would have no contact with the communists. Previously allies against the Japanese during the Occupation of Malaya, the British government and the MCP were at loggerheads almost as soon as World War I I ended in 1945.

Chong resting inside his house.

In 1948, the communists murdered three European plantation managers in Sungai Siput a deed that ignited the war between the two sides, and spurred the British into declaring a state of emergency througho ut Malaya, forcing the Chin Peng-led MCP to flee into rural jungle areas where they labelled themselves the Malayan Peoples Liberation Army (MPLA) and engaged the British using guerrilla -style tactics. I remember the day very clearly because it changed my life. After that day, we would run into the communists every other day when we went into the rubber estates, Mong recalled. Caught right smack in the middle of the struggle between these two entities, were the common people of Malaya. Both the MCP and the British wanted something from the people, said Wong Kew Lit who made the documentary My New Village Stories, which screened on Astro AEC in May this year.

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The MCP would come out of the jungle and approach the people for food, while the British wanted to stop them from helping the communists, said Wong, who is CEO of Yellow Pictures. Subsequently in 1949, General Sir Harold Briggs, the British Armys Director of Operations in Malaya at the time, set into motion the infamous Briggs Plan, which included the formation of about 480 new villages all over Peninsular Malaysia.

Inhabitants of new villages lining up for their daily ration of food given out by the British.

Retired school teacher Sim Chee Jia, 80, remembers the day his family had to move into what is now Ampang New Village. We were really innocent victims back then. The British just assumed that as long as we were Chinese, we were helping the Communists! said Sim. They came to our home and ordered us to start packing and dismantling our house . If we did not do it within a week, they would just burn it down. We had to pack up everything, including the planks and the attap; and rebuild our new house in the lot that was given to us. At the time we thought it would only be a temporary place to stay, and that we would be able to go back to our old homes once the Emergency was over. We never thought we would still be living here today! added Sim. Sims family had it good. Throughout the filming of his documentary in other parts of the country, Wong heard horror stories about villagers given 15 minutes or less to pack their belongings before the British soldiers torched their houses. How much can you take in 15 minutes? Everyone would be in a panic, and they would just grab whatever they could, said the director. Each family was then given a 40ft x 80ft (12.2m x 24.4m) piece of land within the confined area, and they had to build their own home.
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Fear and death

Life in the new villages was hard, almost akin to that of a prison, except that the villagers were not locked behind bars and were provided with electricity and water supplies. Still, these new settlements were surrounded by barbed wire, armed guards and a curfew was imposed on all its residents. Even the food that each family got was carefully rationed out according to how many people were in the family. I remember getting only one milk can full of rice per week for the three of us, recalled Mong.

Rural Chinese being moved into new village settlements by the British to cut off food supply and support for Communist insurgents.

Sim recounted how the gates into the new village would only open at 6am to allow the villagers to exit and go to work, and then come back before 6pm. When you went out, they would check your belongings. You were not allowed to bring food outside. And if they saw you outside the gates after 6pm, they would just shoot you no questions asked, said Sim, recalling instances where British soldiers would display the bodies of slain communists in public as a warning to the villagers. In the past, people only saw things from the British point of view that the communists were dangerous and were killing people, said Wong. However, the British government was just as bad in some ways, especially in their disregard for civilians. Some of their methods were quite extreme. We heard about a group of villagers in Ulu Yam who were executed for helping the communists. In Perak, an entire village was uprooted and moved to another location, just because the British suspected them of communicating with the MCP.

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The Malayan Emergency was lifted in 1960, but even then, remnants of the communist faction remained in the jungles, especially after Chin Peng resurrected the insurgency in 1967. Wong, who hails from the New Village in Raub, Pahang, has first-hand experience of how it was like in the final days of the communist insurgency in the1980s, during the years running up to the final surrender. The jungle near my new village in Raub was still designated as a black zone even in the 1980s. When I was in Form One, I used to follow my mother into the estates to tap rubber, and we could only enter the estates after 6am, he recalled. Every month, we would have to apply for a permit to enter the jungle and estates. If we were caught without the permit during the restricted times, we could be arrested or worse, shot.
A place to call home

On Dec 2, 1989, the Malaysian government and the CPM signed a peace accord in Haadyai, Thailand. However, resentful sentiments towards the CPM still remai n. Chin Peng, now 85, may have recently apologised, but after everything Mong has been through, he has no sympathy for the old man. For him, and thousands of other Malaysian-Chinese, their experiences will forever be ingrained in their memories, although most of them have already moved on and embraced the peaceful present. Out of the 480 new villages that were created as a result of those troubled times, 450 still remain, and they are all unique cultural and historical heritages in their own right. The Ampang New Village today is completely unrecognisable from the one 60 years ago, according to Sim. However, remnants of those troubled times remain. Beside a drain by the side of a busy road right at the border of the village, two broken pillars of stone lie forgotten the last remaining evidence of the barbed wire fences that used to encircle the village. And further in, lying in the shadow of a spanking new condominium building just a stones throw away, lives Chong Leong Fatt, 62, whose ramshackle little hu t made of planks and rusty zinc was one of the original houses built in the very beginning. It may be run-down and the walls may be full of holes, but Chong doesnt see the need to move out of his family home. Chong is testament to how far the new villages have come going from concentration camps, to becoming the homes of millions of Malaysian Chinese. Ive lived here for more than 50 years, since I was a small boy, he said. I see no point in moving anywhere else for me, this is home.

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The Star, 30 November 2009

Remains of the day

By S.S. YOGA

The Emergency gave rise to a number of regulations.

THE Emergency proclamation of July 13, 1948, leaves behind a string of legacies that remains to this day. In his book Document Of Destiny: The Constitution Of The Federation Of Malaysia, constitutional law expert Prof Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi notes that the Emergency established many restrictive regulations. These include preventive detention of up to two years, establishment of New Villages to supervise the rural Chinese population, imposing restrictions on citizens movements, and ordering the closure of shops and schools. The proclamation ended 12 years later on July 29, 1960. But it left behind several laws and organisations that were controversial and function beyond their original aims and purposes. Below are some of the legacies of the Emergency.
Internal Security Act (ISA)

Under the 1948 Ordinance, detention of persons was allowed for a period not exceeding one year. This was to counter acts of violence and meant to be temporary in nature. When the Emergency ended in 1960, the powers contained in that ordinance was removed as it was repealed. But the Malaysian government decided in the same year to enact a l aw that gave powers of preventive detention without recourse to trial, namely the Internal Security Act (ISA) under Article 149 of the Federal Constitution.

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Preventive detention: Persons arrested under the Internal Security Act are detained and interrogated at Kamunting Detention Centre.

A person may be held by the police for up to 60 days without trial. After the 60 days, the Home Ministry may release a detainee on restrictive orders, or order further detention without trial for a term of two years. If a two-year detention order is signed, the detainee is taken to the Kamunting Detention Centre, Perak, to serve the term. The law allows the Home Minister to renew the two -year detention indefinitely. The ISA was enacted to combat the communist threat but it has now been extended to detain just about anyone, even passport forgers. Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said in The Star, its use evolved from communists to issues of race and religion after 1969, to religious extremism after 9/11. In an interview with The Star in 2001, the drafter of the Act, Hugh Hickling, said he was instructed to do so by then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Tun Abdul Razak on behalf of the Cabinet. He said the ISA was needed then because of the remnants of communists but he never thought it would still be around more than 40 years later. The ISAs powers have been extended through 20 amendments since 1960, and includes removal of judicial review in 1989. We would never have dreamt of doing that, said Hickling. He noted that even in 1960, they thought the law needed checks and balances. With the removal of judicial review, the executive can do anything it wants. Hickling said the Act was never aimed at politicians and ordinary people. The first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had in 1987 also given an affidavit in court to this effect. Hickling had also suggested annual parliamentary review of the law. Since its inception till 2005, 10,662 people have been arrested under the ISA.
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Emergency Ordinances

Following the Emergency in 1948, all Malaysians were required to carry some form of identification for security purposes.

The Emergency was officially over in 1960. But as Prof Shad said in his book, the dark shadow of the insurgency still hung over the land while the Constitution was being drafted. For that reason, the drafters of the Constitution armed Parliament and the Executive with overriding powers to combat emergencies. This power is vested under Article 150 of the Constitution. Under it, emergency refers to threats to the security, economic life or public order of the federation or any part thereof. There need not be actual violence or breach of peace; threat or imminent danger are enough. A proclamation of emergency may be issued before the actual occurrence of the threat. The Privy Council, after a suit against the Government, broadened the concept of emergency to include wars, famines, earthquakes, floods, epidemics and collapse of civil government. Under Article 150 (1) of the Federal Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may issue a proclamation of Emergency if he is satisfied a grave emergency exists where security, economic life or public order is threatened. And under Article 150 (2B), if the two Houses of Parliament are not sitting concurrently when emergency is declared, the King may act to promulgate ordinances having the force of law. As Prof Shad notes, once promulgated, an Emergency Ordinance can continue until it is repealed by the King or annulled by Parliament but in practice, such annulments n ever take place. Article 150 has an exclusion clause where the power of Parliament and of the King under Emergency powers does not extend to matters of Islamic law, customs of the Malays, native law or customs in Sabah and Sarawak, citizenship and language . Since independence in 1957, four proclamations of emergency had been issued: the Confrontation with Indonesia (1964), the May 13 racial riots (1969), the Sarawak State Emergency (the deadlock between then state Chief Minister and the Governor in 1966), and the Kelantan State Emergency due to the collapse of the state government (1977).
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While the latter two have been revoked, the first two national emergencies were not. So technically we are still in a state of emergency! According to Prof Shad, an addition to clause 150 (2A) to the Constitution states that more than one proclamation of emergency can exist concurrently. Senior lawyer Datuk Dr Cyrus Das noted that Acts passed under Emergency power were valid even if they were inconsistent with the Fed eral Constitution. He pointed out that the whole chunk of the May 1969 emergency regulations was revalidated under the 1979 Emergency (Essential Powers) Act made by Parliament. There is no need to get a new Proclamation of Emergency because the 1979 Act gives you all the powers you would require under an emergency, said Das. And it stipulates that it is predicated on the continued existence of the proclamation of emergency. What this means is that if the 1969 Emergency rule is revoked, the 1979 Emergency (Essential Powers) Act and the platform on which it is enacted will fall and all emergency legislations made under it will cease to apply. Prof Shad added that under Article 150 (7), emergency laws would cease to operate, six months after the lifting of e mergency rule. So that perhaps answers why the Government has to date refused to revoke the proclamation of Emergency. There have been many Emergency Ordinances put in place since then. Among them are the Emergency (Public Order and Crime Prevention) Ordin ance 1969, the Essential (Community Self -Reliance) Regulation 1975 (for setting up the Rukun Tetangga), and the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 1969 (Ordinance 1) which suspended all elections to and meetings of state assemblies.
Special Branch

Before the Communist insurgency, much of the security/secret service work of the Police was undertaken by the Malayan Security Service (which was actually the Civil Security Service formed in 1919 but had a name change in 1939). According to former senior police officer Leon Comber in his book, Malaysias Secret Police 1945-60: The Role Of The Special Branch In The Malayan Emergency, there were many shortcomings in the Security Service in combating the communist threat, mainly because of the lack of Chinese -speaking staff. With the formation of the Special Branch (SB), many Chinese and Chinese -speaking officers successfully infiltrated enemy lines. Much of the success of the campaign against the Communists have been credited to the SB. They received plaudits from all over the world as being one of the most efficient intelligence units in Asia. Now the SB is the primary intelligence unit of the Royal Malaysian Police Force.
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Back to the future

Another entity that was formed in 1969 during the second communist insurgency was the elite police jungle unit called the VAT69. They are sometimes referred to as our countrys version of the British SAS (Special Air Services). In fact, they were intially trained by the SAS themselves. VAT stood for Very Able Troopers and 1969 was the year the unit was formed. On Oct 20, 1997, the proud unit of VAT69 was merged with the Special Action Unit (Unit Tindakan Khas) under the Special Operations Force of the police, which operates as an elite high-profile counter terrorism unit. We all carry our identity cards with us. And that is the one legacy of the Emergency that no citizen can escape from. As a result of the Emergency in 1948, everyone was required to have some form of identification (under the 1948 Emergency Ordinance) for security purposes. The National Registration Act 1959 was enacted for the issuance of ICs. On Aug 2, 1960, the very first IC under the Federation of Malaya was issued.
The Star, 30 November 2009

Communism today
By CHEAH BOON KHENG

SOVIET communism collapsed in 1990. Western liberal capitalism not only won a major battle but scored a victory. It brought the Cold War to an end, but 20 years on, communisms end has not materialised. In China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, India, the Philippines, Nepal, France, Japan, and even back in Russia and several other countries, the ideology lives on. Communist parties in these countries may appear to be surviving fragments of a once powerful international movement, but they now take on myr iad new roles from revolutionary and populist to liberal.

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Show of strength: Chinese soldiers marching during a military parade in Beijing to mark the countrys 60th anniversary under Communist rule. Communist China reformed its economy without liberalising its political system and succeeded in transforming itself into a strong capitalist state.

Except in the hardcore totalitarian regime of North Korea, they are now more willing to co-exist with or adopt liberal democracy and the free market econ omy that was at one time anathema to them. They are less confrontational in international affairs and appear to have the potential for re-growth and the reformulation of their ideology. Gone is the belief in a sweeping worldwide revolution. They now contes t parliamentary elections and compete with other parties for the electorates support. In India, their elected representatives joined a coalition Congress government at the centre, and secured a majority of seats in state assemblies to form their own governments in Kerala and West Bengal. Francis Fukuyama in his celebratory book The End Of History And The Last Man (1992) had declared that communisms journey was at an end and that its history was heading towards a particular destination liberal capitalism and democracy, if it had not yet reached its nemesis. Is communism really on its last legs and engaged in mopping -up operations? Or, is it making new efforts to re -invent itself?
Loyalty shift

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A statue of former leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, in Moscow. Russia transformed into a market economy after decades of autocratic rule and highly centralised planning that had been the hallmarks of communism.

Certainly at the beginning of the 21st century, communisms prospects looked bleaker than ever, as communist parties underwent a loss of historic confidence, pessimism and resignation to a world of democratic, corporate states and unconstrained international capital embodied in free market forces, while many of its citadels had fallen into the hands of its enemies. In this sense, Fukuyama is probably right that communism in its previous form after 1990 is beyond revival. Communist parties are now de-centred parties, no longer part of an international movement, paying allegiance to an ideological centre, either in Moscow or Beijing. Most communist parties have turned themselves into national parties loyal only to their own country. While most surviving communist parties inherit and incorporate their former traditions, they have decided to surpass and transcend them in a manner responsive to a radically altered economic, social and cultural universe. One path travelled saw the Soviet bloc democratised and transformed into a market economy after decades of autocratic rule and highly centralised plann ing that had been the hallmarks of communism. However, the path of transformation chosen by Russia, the worlds first communist country, and East European communist regimes was a painful one. They adopted and accelerated their political reforms faster than their economic reforms, resulting in

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severe dislocations, political instability and economic hardships, from which they are only now recovering. Communist China, on the other hand, travelled a different path. It reformed its economy, without liberalising its political system or converting to a multi -party system of democracy. It succeeded in transforming itself into a strong capitalist state by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, integrating itself within the world market economy. There was, however, no counterpart in China to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachevs political liberalisation of glasnost, and popular demand for extended liberties at Tiananman Square was brutally suppressed despite international condemnation. Chinas authoritarian leadership is under great pressure internally and externally to relax political controls and grant the people more freedom, although it has relaxed restrictions on travel, education overseas, and the use of the Internet. Former communist state Cambodia chose the Russian model of multi-party democracy and market economy, while two other South -East Asian communist states, Vietnam and Laos, prefer the alternative path adopted by China. However, in Russia and Cambodia, questions still persist about their g overnments commitment to democracy and human rights, although their peoples enjoy a less restricted lifestyle than before. North Korea remains the only hardcore one-party communist state. In communist Cuba, the retirement and ill health of its ageing revo lutionary leader Fidel Castro is ushering in an era of openness, political and economic reforms and a probable rapprochement with its powerful anti -communist neighbour, the United States. Castros Cuba still retains an aura of its romantic beginnings assoc iated with Che Guevara fighting Yankee imperialism, and wields influence on a number of nations in Latin America, which have recently elected socialist governments.
In defence of society

Although there are communist-led insurgencies in the Philippines, Ind ia and a few states in South America and Africa, they are mostly agrarian -based and rely on local and regional rural support. In Nepal, the communist party has ended its armed struggle, participated in parliamentary elections, formed a government, and then withdrawn from it to join the opposition ranks. A reformulation of communisms role and agenda is happening in France, India, Japan and Sri Lanka, where the communist party has had a long tradition as a
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constitutional party. It is increasingly re -inventing itself, adopting social democracy or socialism, as pioneered in early 20th century Britain. Communists there abjure class hatred, violence and revolution, champion immigrants, aspire to convert the working class into the middle class, and reconcile the interests of labour and capital, and create a welfare state, with social insurance, co-operative marketing, collective bargaining, and educational and cultural upliftment. This goal is no different from the creation of welfare states in Sweden and Denmark. In Malaysia, the Communist Party of Malaya and the Sarawak Communist Organisation, which had a predominantly Chinese membership, and little indigenous support, have ended their armed insurgencies, and dissolved their parties. This followed the signing of a peace agreement between the parties and the government. Although many communists have been rehabilitated back into society, and their stories and memoirs allowed to be published, films on their roles have been prohibited. There is little likelihood of a revival of communism in Malaysia, as their shooting war had created decades of divisiveness, bitterness, suffering and hardship for the people. Rather than a revival, the public would seem to be more receptive to a movement for moderate socialism, or social democracy, in the form of the newly -registered Socialist Party of Malaysia, which has its first elected member in Parliament. World capitalisms severe crisis last year may help to sustain the faith of socialists and communists as it seems to uphold t he views of Karl Marx, the founder of communism, about capitalisms own future; that it is in trouble and heading towards its unavoidable destruction. The world watched with bated breath as the G7 states and other developed countries were forced to intervene in instituting regulations, stimulus packages and bailouts to save the global banking system and their capitalist economies from collapsing. Marx had predicted that the capitalist system would continuously suffer frequent upheavals, financial cra shes and meltdowns due to the dialectics of its internal forces and contradictions, and only state control of finance and mode of production, central planning and social welfare programmes could overcome its problems and ensure not only economic stability, but economic prosperity and the well-being of the people.

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While democracies may utilise some of Marxs strategies such as state planning and state regulation as temporary solutions, the general line of the world economy spanning into the future is uncerta in, but it is clear that democracy is here to stay. Communism, despite its inadequacies and weaknesses and in many places it is in ruins has not suffered total defeat nor has it disappeared just yet. Like its historical predecessors of the 19th/20th ce ntury socialist/left-wing movement, communism has not yet given up its ghost, and whether it could begin afresh or draw new strength and rise again, in a new form of socialist movement, more gigantic, remains to be seen. That would make an end of history , of a kind. Cheah Boon Kheng was professor of history at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang until his retirement, and until recently was a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. He has written several books, including The Masked Comrades: A Study Of The Communist United Front In Malaya (1979) and Red Star Over Malaya: Resistance And Social Conflict During And After The Japanese Occupation, 1941-1946 (1983).
The Star, 30 November 2009

Lessons from history

By IAN YEE

How much do young Malaysians know about communism in our history?

ITS common knowledge that history isnt exactly the most popular subject among young people these days.

Fahmi Fadzil

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But when it comes to something as important as the history of communism in Malaysia, performer/writer Fahmi Fadzil believes young Malaysians cant afford to be ignorant. I dont think young Malaysians know what is really meant by communism, as much as they know it from whats been taught in schools and the mainstream media. (Learning about Malayan communism) is important, so that young people wont be so gullible. I think history serves as a lesson, to some extent, for the present. Young Malaysians these days are not particularly aware of politics, or at least what political ideologies are espoused by different parties, said Fahmi. Fahmi was one of those involved in organising last years multi -arts Emergency! Festival, which sought to present the 12 -year Malayan Emergency, declared by the British to counter Malayan communists, in a creative, exciting way that would get young people interested in this crucial part of our history. According to him, one of the biggest misconceptions young Malaysians have about communism is that it inherently involves terrorism. I think thats the dominant image repeated on TV and mainstream media. During the Emergency, there were atrocities on both sides. It was a war, after all. And because weve not reconciled our history like with a Truth & Reconciliation Tribunal to talk about what happened b ack then Im not sure how young people will relate to this part of our past, he said. So do young people really not care about our history? Are they really that ignorant to not be bothered about what communism is? We decided to quiz some college/university students to find out. Heres what they had to say:

Shaun Koh

I remember the communists in Malaya as people who were fighting for liberation. A lot of young people think communists are all about terrorism and dictatorships. What
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they need to understand is that when the communists were in Malaya, it was a time of war. They were trying to gather people to gain freedom, though personally, I think they did it the wrong way. But young people dont really get to learn all this in school. I had to find out myself by reading other books. Shaun Koh, 19 Young people today think communism is all about hard rule and dictatorship. I actually think communism as an ideology is really good, just that in reality, well, you can already see how it hasnt quite worked out in history. Communism would only work in a perfect world, without things like greed and other human flaws. Chong Jinn Wei, 21 To be honest, I dont really know much about it. All I know is the communists in Malaysia back then were trying to overth row the rulers. As a science student, I think its important to learn about our national identity through history, but its not quite applicable in terms of my future career. The way Malaysian history is taught in schools doesnt make it applicable to ever yone either. It was a very dry subject for me. Eric Hui, 21

Sulina Kaur

People these days are so caught up in the here and now that they lose their appreciation for the past. Im from Ipoh, and I know that there was a lot of communist activity there a few decades ago, but not many people talk about it. All I know about it is what I learned from our high school textbooks, and even then those textbooks are structured towards certain elements, and a lot of the things left out are actually what makes it more interesting. Sulina Kaur, 24

Lochna Menon

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In high school, the communists are always portrayed as bad, as going against the rulers and I just accepted it that way. My family doesnt really understand communism either. Malaysians are pretty sheltered that way from different opinions. It was only in university that the idea of communism was given a fair chance for discussion. Its actually a fair ideology that was never given the chance to mature. People have misconceptions about it because of the di ctatorships that came from communism. Lochna Menon, 20 I only know a little bit from high school, and all they said was that communism is bad. I did do a little reading on the Internet, tried to find a different point of view; but honestly, I dont really care much because at the end of the day, I think its all just a matter of perspective. What annoys me is people who are ignorant. People who just say its bad, but arent willing to give or find a proper reason to back that up. Mohammad Irfan Lukman, 19 I dont really know anything. I didnt like Sejarah (history) back in high school, and it was so long ago. I only remember reading about PKM (the Malayan Communist Party) and Chin Peng, but what it was all about, I dont know. Emily Chai, 19
The Star, 30 November 2009

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