The multiethnic struggle for Malaysia's independence and nation-building has been a multifaceted process, not a simple or static point.

It has also taken place in a highly internationalised environment where external ideas, events and personalities often influence domestic development, both directly and indirectly. The impacts of international influences can be both negative and positive.

In this light, the date Aug 31, 1957 can only be seen as a culmination of a preceding process, comprising of many ideas, events and personalities.

These include the formation of the Communist Party of Malaya in April 1930 as the first recognisable modern and organised political party that vowed to expel British colonialism. Also, the emergence in the 1920s and 1930s of Malay, Chinese and Indian ethno- nationalisms that were inspired by happenings in the Middle East, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), China and British India.

All these developments were subsequently interrupted by the outbreak of the Pacific War that lasted from 1941 to 1945. The Japanese invasion and occupation of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, while brutal and barbaric, served to effectively destroy the myth of the invincibility and credibility of almost all existing power structures Malayans had known before the war.

It accelerated and intensified the general demand for independence immediately after the war ended in 1945, although there were different specific versions of it.

Post-independence

The process of the struggle for Malaysia's independence did not end at Aug 31, 1957 because, first and foremost, Singapore was not included in independent Malaya. Later in 1963, it joined the enlarged Malaysia which also included Sabah and Sarawak. However, only after two years in 1965, Singapore was again separated and transformed into an independent country.

Even the 1963 formation of Malaysia was bedeviled by Cold War complications, as Indonesia saw it as a grand western design to establish a 'neo-colonial' position in the Southeast Asian region.

A low-intensity armed conflict, known as the confrontation, ensued between Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as their respective international allies. It lasted until 1966, after the Sukarno presidency was effectively overthrown in an alleged coup and counter-coup.

Then, there is still the question of nation building in what is effectively a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural Malaysia, even though its territory has been stabilised since 1966 and the armed conflicts between the government of Malaysia and the Communist Party of Malaya also ended by virtue of the 1989 Peace Accord signed in Haadyai, Thailand.

To stimulate deeper reflection and introspection on the multifaceted process of Malaysia's struggle for independence and nation-building, malaysiakini interviewed, via email, veteran Malaysian historian Professor Cheah Boon Kheng.

Cheah Boon Kheng is currently visiting professor at the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang. He was professor of history USM until his retirement in 1994. Since then, he has held visiting fellowships at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore and at the Australian National University in Canberra.

His research interests are in social and political history. He is the author of several books including Red Star Over Malaya (1983), The Peasant Robbers of Kedah (1988) and Malaysia: The Making of a Nation (2002).

Professor Cheah Boon Kheng was also one of the participants of the 1999 Canberra Dialogue with Chin Peng, the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Malaya.

Reproduced below is the three-part series of the interview between Professor Cheah Boon Kheng and malaysiakini:

Q: A most commonly shared and expressed observation by historians, east and west, as well as nationalist and communist thinkers, is that the modern idea of national independence in Southeast Asia originated from the breakdown of British, French and Dutch colonial rule in the Pacific War and the widespread perception or feeling that colonial powers could no longer, or were too self-centered to, protect their subjects.

Yet, while we in Malaysia celebrate independence every year, our history books and public discourses in the media seem to intentionally downplay the period between 1941 and 1945 and its real happenings or treat them as being almost non-existent. Why?

A: Imperialism was the cause of two World Wars in the 20th century. It was called 'New Imperialism' driven by monopoly capitalism in late 19th century in a mad scramble for colonies.

However, these European imperialist rivalries and wars weakened their own national economies and they in turn disrupted the world economies and world political systems, forcing these to be
restructured later on.

Colonialism was no longer economically viable. Indigenous nationalism and resistance in the colonies hastened its end. When the British, French and Dutch colonial empires in South-East Asia came under attack from the Japanese during the Pacific War, the war proved hugely disruptive.

Nationalist and resistance forces grew stronger and finally achieved national liberation.

The significance of the 1941-1945 war period has not been played down in our history books and public discourses. What is missing is the different ethnic perspectives and interpretations on that period.

For instance, during independence celebrations, the media gives prominence to the dominant Malay perspective, say, on the role of Malay nationalism during the war, but hardly any to the nationalistic contributions of other ethnic and cultural groups.

The other communities need also to speak up and claim their contributions. Each community must write its own history. No one else will do it for them.

(Part 2 to follow)

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia. He is a former DAP member of parliament for Kampar (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily). He read political science and economics at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.