Utusan-UKM lock horns over CPM memoirs
James Wong Wing OnPublished: Dec 1, 2004 12:32 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
Malay language daily Utusan Malaysia is locked in a passionate debate with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) academics on whether it is appropriate for the education institution to publish the memoirs of two veteran Malay leaders of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
The publication of the personal memoirs of two veteran Malay Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leaders by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia has sparked off a row between old-styled anti-communists and liberal scholars in the Malay community.
Malay language daily Utusan Malaysia is locked in a passionate debate with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) academics on whether it is appropriate for the education institution to publish the memoirs of two veteran Malay leaders of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
According to several letters published by the Umno-controlled daily in recent weeks, UKM is accused of publishing the memoirs of Shamsiah Fakeh and Ibrahim Chik. Both memoirs were written and published in Malay.
Shamsiah and Ibrahim were veterans of CPM since the late 1940s and, during the 1948-1960 'Emergency', they were members of an armed unit of the party called the10th Regiment which was predominantly Malays.
The letters also called on the university authority to investigate "the motive" behind the publication of the two memoirs.
According to a Nov 29 report in Utusan Malaysia, a five-person committee has been set up by the university 'to ascertain if the books were published with certain motives or agendas, or as references'.
The committee is reportedly headed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Professor Dr Sukiman Sarmani and it includes two former vice-chancellors.
Right to publish
When contacted, a UKM senior academic said that the university would defend its decision to publish the memoirs.
"The principle of the right to publish should not be sacrificed. I believe that the university will defend this.
"After all, the university is about seeking knowledge, creating new knowledge, documenting history and debating ideas; also, if we want to become a developed nation with integrity, these are some of the principles we must cherish and uphold," added the high-ranking academic, who declined to be named.
According to a 1997 study by Singapore-born historian CF Yong, who now resides in Australia, the CPM was officially inaugurated as the first modern anti-colonial multiethnic revolutionary party in Buloh Kesap in Johor in April 1930, the exact date not verifiable yet.
However, the party conventionally celebrates its formation on April 30, 1930 in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. Both accounts confirm that the father of Vietnamese struggle for national liberation and independence, Ho Chi Minh, then known by one of his aliases Nguyen Ai Quoc, was present in the inaugural meeting as the international representative of the Moscow-based
Communist International.
Various historical studies have also shown that there had been Malay/Muslim participation in the membership and leadership of the communist movement in British Malaya since the mid-1920s. For example, in 1936, one Sutan Jenain @ Ma Ali was known to be a central committee member of the CPM.
Now declassified colonial intelligence reports have also confirmed that Malay-speaking agents of the Communist International from the Indonesian archipelago such as Tan Melaka and Mas Alimin were instrumental in conceptualising the formation of a single CPM, unifying the scattered secret cells, study groups, labour and peasant unions and intellectual associations.
Just prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War and 44-month Japanese Occupation of Peninsular Malaya, there were also Malays who joined the party and the communist-led Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), such as Rashid Maidin, Abdullah CD, Abdullah Mahmud, Janas, Yatim and Kamarulzaman Teh. Rashid Maidin and Abdullah CD are still alive, living with their comrades, like Chin Peng, in southern Thailand.
During 1947-1948, another generation of anti-colonial Malays like Shamsiah also chose to join the armed struggle which commenced in June 1948. Shamsiah later went into exile in China until the mid-1980s when she returned to Malaysia. In December 1989, a tripartite peace treaty was signed by the CPM and the governments of both Malaysia and Thailand, ending the insurgency.
Under the provisions of the peace accord, while the CPM pledged to cease all armed activities and destroy all weapons, the government of Malaysia undertook to allow all leaders and members of the party and its former armed units, including Chin Peng, to return to live in Malaysia without investigation, detention or humiliation for their past activities. The government of Thailand also undertook to allow those who wish to stay on in Thailand to live peacefully within the kingdom's territory.
According to several letters published by the Umno-controlled daily in recent weeks, UKM is accused of publishing the memoirs of Shamsiah Fakeh and Ibrahim Chik. Both memoirs were written and published in Malay.
Shamsiah and Ibrahim were veterans of CPM since the late 1940s and, during the 1948-1960 'Emergency', they were members of an armed unit of the party called the10th Regiment which was predominantly Malays. The letters also called on the university authority to investigate "the motive" behind the publication of the two memoirs.
According to a Nov 29 report in Utusan Malaysia, a five-person committee has been set up by the university 'to ascertain if the books were published with certain motives or agendas, or as references'.
The committee is reportedly headed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Professor Dr Sukiman Sarmani and it includes two former vice-chancellors.
Right to publish
When contacted, a UKM senior academic said that the university would defend its decision to publish the memoirs.
"The principle of the right to publish should not be sacrificed. I believe that the university will defend this.
"After all, the university is about seeking knowledge, creating new knowledge, documenting history and debating ideas; also, if we want to become a developed nation with integrity, these are some of the principles we must cherish and uphold," added the high-ranking academic, who declined to be named.
According to a 1997 study by Singapore-born historian CF Yong, who now resides in Australia, the CPM was officially inaugurated as the first modern anti-colonial multiethnic revolutionary party in Buloh Kesap in Johor in April 1930, the exact date not verifiable yet.
However, the party conventionally celebrates its formation on April 30, 1930 in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. Both accounts confirm that the father of Vietnamese struggle for national liberation and independence, Ho Chi Minh, then known by one of his aliases Nguyen Ai Quoc, was present in the inaugural meeting as the international representative of the Moscow-based
Communist International.
Various historical studies have also shown that there had been Malay/Muslim participation in the membership and leadership of the communist movement in British Malaya since the mid-1920s. For example, in 1936, one Sutan Jenain @ Ma Ali was known to be a central committee member of the CPM.
Now declassified colonial intelligence reports have also confirmed that Malay-speaking agents of the Communist International from the Indonesian archipelago such as Tan Melaka and Mas Alimin were instrumental in conceptualising the formation of a single CPM, unifying the scattered secret cells, study groups, labour and peasant unions and intellectual associations.
Just prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War and 44-month Japanese Occupation of Peninsular Malaya, there were also Malays who joined the party and the communist-led Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), such as Rashid Maidin, Abdullah CD, Abdullah Mahmud, Janas, Yatim and Kamarulzaman Teh. Rashid Maidin and Abdullah CD are still alive, living with their comrades, like Chin Peng, in southern Thailand.
During 1947-1948, another generation of anti-colonial Malays like Shamsiah also chose to join the armed struggle which commenced in June 1948. Shamsiah later went into exile in China until the mid-1980s when she returned to Malaysia. In December 1989, a tripartite peace treaty was signed by the CPM and the governments of both Malaysia and Thailand, ending the insurgency.
Under the provisions of the peace accord, while the CPM pledged to cease all armed activities and destroy all weapons, the government of Malaysia undertook to allow all leaders and members of the party and its former armed units, including Chin Peng, to return to live in Malaysia without investigation, detention or humiliation for their past activities. The government of Thailand also undertook to allow those who wish to stay on in Thailand to live peacefully within the kingdom's territory.
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