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Women in the Malayan Communist Party, 1942–89

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2013

Mahani Musa
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Abstract

Women's involvement in the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) since its establishment in 1930 until they laid down their arms in 1989 contributed much to the strength of the party. Women in the MCP have been presented largely as nurses, cooks, seamstresses, couriers, and wireless/radio operators, but they went through hardship and danger and fought the same battles as the male guerrillas. A few even climbed to the top party posts through hard work, intelligence and personal sacrifice. This paper recovers the role of women in the Malayan communist movement during the Second World War, the Emergency and after by tracing the careers and lives of party heroines / female role models as well as some ordinary cadres. Major questions include the motivations of women who joined the MCP and the challenges they faced in their roles as propagandists, comrades, guerrilla fighters and in the communist villages. This investigation provides more insight into how the revolutionary struggle transformed these Malayan women.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 226 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2013

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References

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33 Straits Times, 22 Sept. 1956.

34 PRO 27 330/56 Anti-yellow culture campaign. The British authorities were not only concerned with the direct attacks on the colonial government, but alarmed that the Chinese leftist group had successfully dragged Malay and Indian organisations into their campaign; 444 associations and unions (197 Malay associations, 234 Chinese organisations and 13 Indian bodies) were invited to participate in the proposed ‘Anti-Yellow Culture Convention of all races’.

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36 Lim Yew Hock was chief minister of Singapore from June 1956 to June 1959.

37 PRO 27 330/56 Anti-yellow culture campaign.

38 The banishment of Linda Chen to China was given wide coverage by local newspapers. See ‘Send me to Britain says banished teacher’, Straits Times, 15 Nov. 1956; ‘Britain won't have you, Linda Chen is told’, Straits Times, 9 Feb. 1957.

39 PRO 27 330/56 Anti-yellow culture campaign.

40 ‘A stooge is born’, Fajar, 30 Sept. 1956.

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42 Ibid., pp. 120–8, 148–63.

43 Stubbs, Hearts and minds, pp. 90–91.

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47 Sahari Bulan bt. Nuhung, ‘Regimen Ke Sepuluh Parti Komunis Malaya’ [The 10th Regiment of the Malayan Communist Party] (Bangi: Pusat Kajian Sejarah Lisan, Fakulti Sains Sosial dan Kemasyarakatan, UKM, 1993).

48 ‘Xiulan’, I want to live: A personal account of one woman's futile armed struggle for the Reds (Petaling Jaya: Star Publications, 1983)Google Scholar, p. 39.

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50 Muna aka Mek Pik, 60, living at the Khao Nam Khang Historical Tunnel, Sadao, formerly an 8th Regiment base (interviewed 1 Jan. 2009); born in Pattani, she joined the guerillas in Nathawee in 1978 at the age of 29. Chang Li Li, 55 (interviewed 1 Jan. 2009 at Betong Peace Village-Chulaporn Village No. 10, Yala; born in Betong, Thailand and joined the guerillas in 1971 at the age of 17. Rokiah, 58, a Thai national living in Narathiwat (interviewed 4 Dec. 2010); she followed some friends and joined the guerillas in 1966 at the age of 12 because of poverty. Khatijah Daud, 68, was born in Pattani and joined the MCP in the 1970s (interviewed 25 Feb. 2009).

51 Khatijah Daud, Muna, Suti, Maimunah, Wayah, and Rokiah are second generation MCP cadres and cited poverty and the influence of friends as reasons for joining the guerillas. Several women interviewed by Khoo also claim poverty as one of the reasons they joined the MCP. See Suria or Atom (born in Thailand in 1951) who cited poverty and the desire to escape from a domineering husband as her reasons for joining the guerrilla movement although she did not understand much about the movement; Khoo, Life as the river flows, pp. 35–49.

52 Khoo, Life as the river flows, pp. 207–8.

53 Short, In pursuit of the mountain rats, p. 208.

54 Utusan Malaysia, 30 May 2009.

55 Interview with Munah bt. Husin, 24 May 2009 at her house in Kampong Malau, Kenering, Gerik, Perak.

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65 Short, In pursuit of the mountain rats, pp. 148, 206.

66 NAUK Colonial Office (henceforth CO) 717/205 52932 1951, Association of British Malaya, Malayan Bulletin, vol. 5, no. 55, dated 25 July 1951. The food denial campaign started much earlier in states with certain areas that were under communist threat classified as ‘food restricted areas’. See: National Archives of Malaysia (NAM), Kedah/Perlis Branch, Kedah Secretariat 1295/1369 Anti-bandit month: Control of the movement of commodities and medical supplies; NAM, Johor/N.Sembilan/Melaka Branch (henceforth JNSMB) J/SUK 1 State Secretary Johor 2009/49 Denial of foodstuffs to bandits; JNSMB J/PD SG 1 Segamat District Office AOS 10/50 Anti-bandit month Segamat. See also Straits Echo and Times of Malaya, 18 Aug. 1950.

67 Short, In pursuit of the mountain rats, p. 472. By 1955 the number of MCP armed guerillas had gone down to 3,000 from a high of 8,000 in 1951. For state by state figures on the strength of the MCP in the federation until Oct. 1955, see, ‘Report on the Malayan Communist Party in the Federation of Malaya’, http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/docs/SEA-China-Interactions-Cluster/TheColdWarInAsia/1956 (last accessed on 15 Feb. 2013).

68 An open courier travelled by road, rail, bicycle, on foot and so forth and always able to avoid military or police checkpoints.

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73 Ibid., Political report for the period 2nd to 16th Oct. 1953.

74 Suriani, Memoir, p. 69.

75 Ibid. See the preface by Rashid Maidin.

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77 Suriani, Memoir, p. 150.

78 Rashid Maidin, an important figure in the 10th Regiment, had married Selamah, a Chinese guerilla, in 1959 at the Sadao camp, Thailand. See, Maidin, Rashid, Memoir Rashid Maidin: Daripada perjuangan bersenjata kepada perdamaian [The memoirs of Rashid Maidin: From armed struggle to peace] (Petaling Jaya: SIRD, 2005)Google Scholar, p. 77.

79 Suriani, Memoir, pp. 165–8.

80 Suriani, Serikandi Suriani Abdullah, pp. 46–7.

81 Suriani, Memoir, p. 12. Ah Yen was responsible for the underground network in the Pusing area.

82 For details on the detention of spies in the 12th Regiment, see, Bei Ma Ju Po Huo Di Jian Zhen Xiang [The truth behind the detention of spies by the Northern Peninsular Department] (Sadao: Committee of the Khao Nam Khang Historical Tunnel, 1999)Google Scholar. See also ‘Xiulan’, I want to live, pp. 40–41.

83 Chin, The Communist Party of Malaya, p. 101.

84 The festivals celebrated included Party Day on 30 April, Labour Day on 1 May, the anniversary of the formation of the 10th Regiment on 21 May and the major festivals of the Malays, Chinese, Indians and Thais. See, Suriani, Memoir, p. 134.

85 Harper, The end of empire, p. 48.

86 Chapman, Spencer F., The jungle is neutral (London: Chatto & Windus, 1963Google Scholar), ch. 7. See also, Thatcher, Dorothy and Cross, Robert, Refugee from the Japanese (Kuala Lumpur: MBRAS, 1993Google Scholar, Monograph no. 24), pp. 74, 89. Nona Baker, an Englishwoman who had lived in an MPAJA camp in Sungai Lembing during the Occupation, claims at one time she was the only woman in the camp. She saw five women at the Sungai Riau camp; they worked in the kitchen, nursed the sick/injured and mended the soldiers' clothes.

87 Chapman, The jungle is neutral, pp. 149–51.

88 Chynoweth, John, Hunting terrorists in the jungle (Gloucestershire: Tempus, 2005)Google Scholar, p. 73.

89 Ibid., 17 May 1949.

90 Ibid., 22 May 1949.

91 Straits Echo and Times of Malaya, 10 Oct. 1949.

92 JNSMB Johor State War Committee 1601/1955 Medical treatment to captured C.T.

93 The danger and where it lies (Kuala Lumpur: Information Services, Federation of Malaya, 1957)Google Scholar, p. 6.

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96 Mohammed Salleh Lamry, Siti Norkiah Mahmud, pp. 92–3.

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98 Aishah alias Suti, 47 years old, interview, 7 Jan. 2009, Yarom village, Yala.

99 ‘Xiulan’, I want to live, p. 12.

100 Siti Zamiah Abdul Latif, 68 years old; Interview, 28 May 2011, at her house in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.

101 Freedom News, 35, 15 Mar. 1953; cited in Freedom News, pp. 123–4.

102 Dialogue with Chin Peng: New light on the Malayan Communist Party, ed. Chin, C.C. and Hack, Karl (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2004)Google Scholar, p. 7.

103 Mohamed Salleh Lamry, Siti Norkiah Mahmud, pp. 88–9. Other camps seem to have followed a similar policy, as did those involved in party broadcasts in China. For details, see ‘An expose of the MCP's Secret radio transmission station in Hunan China’, http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/docs/SEA-China-interactions-Cluster/TheColdWar In Asia/2000 (last accessed 15 Feb. 2013).

104 Ibrahim Chik, Memoir Ibrahim Chik, p. 135. Ibrahim and Rahmah agreed to separate after Rahmah was caught by Thai security forces in 1955. She was handed over to the Malayan government. Ibrahim later married Siti Zamiah Abdul Latif.

105 Ibid., pp. 137–9.

106 Apa khabar orang kampong, DVD, directed by Amir Muhammad (Singapore: Objectives Films, 2007). This documentary focuses on the lives of former Malay communist guerillas who now live in Sukirin village, south Thailand. See also Rohani binti Mat, ‘Projek Dokumentasi Sejarah Lisan’.

107 Mohamed Salleh Lamry, Siti Norkiah Mahmud, p. 83.

108 Information from Mat Amin, former 10th Regiment member, email communication, 18 Mar. 2012. See further, his blog, http://matamin02.blogspot.com (last accessed 15 Feb. 2013).

109 ‘Xiulan’, I want to live, pp. 18, 22.

110 ‘Reds use women as sex objects’, Straits Times, 8 May 1979.

111 JNSMB J/PD SG 1 Pejabat Daerah Segamat A.O.S 13/51 Bandit Baby.

112 Ibrahim Chik, Memoir, p. 202.

113 Bei Ma Ju Po Huo Di Jian Zheng Xiang.

114 Suriani, Memoir, p. 160.

115 Bei Ma Ju Po Huo Di Jian Zhen Xiang, see report by Ma Ren.

116 ‘Xiulan’, I want to live, pp. 26–40.

117 Ibid., p. 157.

118 Rohani bt. Mat, ‘Projek dokumentasi sejarah lisan’.

119 Khadijah Daud, interview, 25 Feb. 2009.