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Immediately after the defeat of the Axis Power in World War Two, the Soviet Union and many communist or communist-led resistance movements, like the Malayan, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, French and Greek emerged from their illegal existence and activities with unprecedented popularity and prestige among their compatriots.

After all, the Soviet Union sacrificed 20 million lives in its resistance against the Nazis and the Chinese Communist Party also fought the Japanese with acknowledged valour, determination and heroism for eight years.

In Peninsula Malaya and Singapore, Communist Party of Malaya leaders and the Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) emerged from the jungles after the Japanese surrender to impose ad hoc law and order as well as to punish traitors and collaborators.

Period of anarchy

Before the Japanese surrender on Aug15, 1945 and the return of the British on Sept 5, there was a period of anarchy and power vacuum of about 20 days, now known by historians as The Interregnum.

There are many Chinese-language articles, books and monographs detailing the social, political and economic conditions of The Interregnum, but the best and most concise English-language account is provided by Cambridge historian TN Harper in his 1999 book, The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999).

In Indonesia and Vietnam, similar situations existed and prevailed, and the resistance movements led respectively by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, and Ho Chi Minh seized the opportunities and declared independence for Indonesia and Vietnam.

However, it did not happen in Malaya despite the fact that CPM and MPAJA were relatively in much stronger positions. There were several reasons that account for that inaction.

First, the overwhelming presence of the Chinese-predominated CPM and MPAJA in the absence of the British frightened many ordinary Malays and Muslims who, rightly or wrongly, thought that their land was going to be ruled by atheists and aliens.

Moreover, many of the recipients of military justice meted out by the Chinese-dominated MPAJA were Malay policemen, detectives and local government administrators who worked for the Japanese during the Occupation, and that was perceived as Chinese oppressing Malays.

The Interregnum was therefore characterised and preoccupied by many incidents of inter-ethnic clashes, especially in some parts of Johor, like Muar and Parit Sulong. To be sure, the clashes were exacerbated by the activities of criminal elements as well as the agitations of Japanese and possibly pro-British agents provocateurs.

Caught by surprise

Second, as CPM and MPAJA were made up of young and politically inexperienced leaders and cadres, they were simply caught by surprise at the sudden surrender of the Japanese and did not really know what to do.

Chin Peng, in his meeting with this writer in Bangkok in 1998, admitted rather honestly that the party and MPAJA expected an invasion of Malaya by the Allied Forces from India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and the contingent plan was to assist the invasion forces from behind the enemys line.

The Japanese surrender caused by the unexpected dropping of the atomic bombs by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki derailed the plan.

However, the most critical and crucial factor was the role played by the then CPM secretary-general, Loi Tak@ Lye Tek @ Wright @ Lloyd, who was not only the top political and military commander of the party and MPAJA at that time, but was also admired and respected as the Lenin of Malaya by other much younger party leaders.

According to Chin Peng, while some sections of CPM and MPAJA suggested to take over state power by the force of arms during the The Interregnum, Loi Tak disagreed and convinced them that it was now possible for CPM to win powers through the democratic channels.

Loi Tak, who hailed from Vietnam, suggested that since the Soviet Union was now a superpower and a prestigious founding member of the United Nations, CPM could expect to obtain concessions and legalisations from its ally, namely the British.

Moreover, according to Loi Tak, there were many political forces in London, like the ascending British Labour Party, the British Communist Party and other influential left-wing groups that supported, or least favoured, national independence and liberation in Malaya.

All the younger leaders of CPM and MPAJA were convinced by the force of logic of Loi Taks argument in favour of peaceful, constitutional and legal struggle in the post-war Malaya.

British secret agent

Little did they know that Loi Tak, their Lenin of Malaya, was in fact a British secret agent since 1934. His intention or assignment was to strategically mislead the party from within to serve the strategic interests of his paymaster and, as we shall see later, paymasters.

Indeed, the issue involving the 10th secretary-general of CPM was so scandalous that his former comrades in Thailand and China (not Chin Peng) decided to liquidate him in late 1947.

From established accounts, it has now been clear that Loi Tak was a conscious British secret agent inserted into the rank-and-file of the fledging CPM in mid-1930s. He was protected by the British colonial authorities which continue to detain, jail or deport other communists so that he could rise in the hierarchy of the party due to the leadership vacuum.

In modern-day terminology of intelligence studies, Loi Tak was a classic agent-in-place or sleeper, to be activated only at critical times. Otherwise, he was allowed to be as communist as others or even be more anti-British than others. He had, however, to continue to provide the British security services inside information about the party and the identities of his subordinates.

Serving the British secret service was not the first and only job of Loi Tak.

According to two French researchers, Roger Faligot and Remi Kauffer in The Chinese Secret Service (translated from French into English by Christine Donougher; London, Headline, 1989) , before he worked for the British, Loi Tak had already been a secret agent of the French polices intelligence organisation in Indochina, Surete , for a few years.

Only after his cover was blown in Indochina that he was lent by the French to the British because he was an expert in communism and communist movements.

CPM leader absconded

There were also evidence that Loi Tak also worked for the Japanese during the Occupation, selling out not only his own communist comrades but also British friends to the Japanese. The process of exposing Loi Tak by CPM and Chin Peng was long, winding and psychologically tortuous.

Chin Pengs own memoirs to be released later this year should have more personal accounts of that process of discovery of a traitor who was once trusted as the great leader, dear comrade and Lenin of Malaya.

Asked why the CPM and himself was deceived by Loi Tak for so long, Chin Peng told this writer in 1998 that while he looked mature and experienced, the rest, including Chin Peng himself, was young, inexperienced and less exposed to world affairs.

We just trusted him since he was already in his late 30s, while we were only teens. Moreover, he claimed himself to be an agent sent by Moscow.

After sensing that he had been suspected by his own comrades in early 1947, Loi Tak escaped and absconded with a huge amount of partys funds to Hong Kong. Chin Peng was appointed by the shocked and incensed CPM central committee to head a commission of inquiry, which took Chin Peng to Hong Kong, China and Thailand to unearth Loi Taks real identity.

According to Chin Peng, Loi Tak later went to Bangkok in late 1947, possibly for another mission, but he was detected by a group of Chinese and Thai communists who were informed of his treachery in Malaya. They strangled him to death in a hotel in Bangkok.

Despite the death of Loi Tak in late 1947, his ghost lingered on. His scandal had created a psyche of insecurity and distrust among the Malayan communists that lasted even until the late 1960s when rival factions accused each other of being Loi Taks and infiltrators.

In any case, the years between late 1945 to mid-1948 saw CPM operating rather openly in one of the most critical period of Malaysian history and process of struggling for independence.

The party opened its offices in major towns like Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Penang, Johor Baru and Singapore. It also published newspapers in all languages, and supported liberal and left-wing organisations and personalities, including progressive Malay nationalists and English-educated non-Malay liberals, in a broad-based and multi-ethnic united front for independence.

This is the sixth of a seven-part series on the Life and times of Chin Peng, exclusively for Malaysiakini subscribers. For more on CPM during World War Two, see TN Harpers The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya and Cheah Boon Khengs The Masked Comrades: A Study of the Communist United Front in Malaya, 1945-1948 (Singapore, Times Books International, 1979). Khong Kim Hoong also wrote a very perspective doctoral dissertation for the University of Pittsburgh in the United States in 1975, on the political history of that period. It was later published by the Institute of Social Analysis (Insan) in Kuala Lumpur in 1984 as Merdeka! British Rule and the Struggle for Independence in Malaya, 1945-1957 .

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