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83-721: Since the British left Malaya, many former new villages have grown into ordinary residential towns and villages. The original purpose of the new villages in Malaya was to stop contact between ethnic Chinese villagers and the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), led by the Malayan Communist Party . It was part of the Briggs Plan , a military plan devised by Sir Harold Briggs shortly after his appointment in 1950 as

166-476: A broadcast on 2 April. By late 1958, the MNLA had lost almost 88% of its men, declining from an approximately 3,000-strong army when they first rebelled in mid-1948 to no more than 350 men, as a result of casualties and surrenders. In 1959, the central committees of CPM decided to demobilise their activities and to have the guerrillas reintegrate into society while continuing to promote their communist ideals until such

249-645: A final peace agreement in 1989 , which dissolved the CPM permanently. He was however not permitted to return, and Chin died in exile in Bangkok , Thailand in 2013; he was 88. Chin is considered one of the most controversial political figures in Malayan history. His detractors condemned him and the MNLA for committing numerous atrocities during the Emergency, and characterised him as an ideological fanatic and terrorist . However, he

332-597: A member. Harassment by the authorities led him to leave his home town for Kuala Kangsar in July 1940. Later he spent a month in Taiping . In September 1940 the party posted him to Ipoh as a standing committee member for Perak. In December he attained full party membership. In early 1941 AEBUS was dissolved. Chin Peng became Ipoh District committee member of the party. "He led student underground cells of three Chinese secondary schools and

415-605: A reformation of Malaya's political system, expanding democratic rights, support for world peace, and attention to other matters including education, health, welfare, and industrial production. On 28 and 29 December 1955, the negotiations reached their peak at the small northern town of Baling in Kedah. Representatives from the Government were Tunku Abdul Rahman , David Marshall , the Chief Minister of Singapore , and Sir Tan Cheng Lock ,

498-635: A rivalry among three factions in the CPM over party purges and strategies, with each faction trying to outdo the other in militancy and violence. However, in 1980, Deng Xiaoping refocused his priorities back on the Chinese bureaucracy after his return to power in 1978. He welcomed Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and its leading political figure since independence from Malaysia, in a visit to Beijing. Chin recalled that Deng had not bothered to meet him since then. Finally, in December 1980, Deng summoned Chin. In

581-446: A secret as the CCP did not wish to let it be known that they had been actively supporting Southeast Asia's communist movements. Chin reluctantly accepted Deng's suggestion. This was also the first time that the CPM had accepted foreign assistance in its struggle and it was with this financial backing that the second armed struggle in Malaya would be launched in 1968. Meanwhile, back in Malaya,

664-451: A series of strategies were introduced by the Director of Operations for the anti-communist war in Malaya, Lieutenant General Sir Harold Briggs , that later became known as the Briggs Plan . The plan, which aimed to defeat the guerrillas by cutting off their sources of civilian support, was a success. The creation of ' new villages ' under this plan restricted intelligence and food supplies for

747-568: A strong militant line to be taken by Asian communist parties. While in Beijing, Chin Peng was also advised by Deng Xiaoping , to continue the armed struggle in Malaya as Deng felt the time was ripe for revolutions to take place in Southeast Asia. Deng insisted that the military struggle should not only be maintained but stepped up. Deng even promised financial support to the CPM if they should take up arms once again. Deng offered for this to remain

830-578: A time when they could once again rise up in revolt. Chin then moved to south Thailand with the remnants of his forces during the latter part of the Emergency due to pressure from the Malayan security forces, which by 1952 totalled over 32,000 regular troops in Malaya, about three-fifths of whom were Europeans from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. In 1961, members of the CPM central committee such as Chin Peng, Chen Tien , and Lee An Tung moved to Beijing to seek political advice and guidance from

913-461: A top CPM leader who had been sent to Beijing in late 1952 to deepen his Marxist–Leninist education while also serving as liaison to the CCP, announced a new direction for the party, which was to abandon the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic of Malaya and join with other Malayan political parties in a legal fight for Malayan independence. Chin described Siao as the CPM's 'insurance policy' in

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996-452: A war against the British colonialists, was now transformed into a war against 'federalists, compressors capitalists and lackeys of British imperialism'. The Malayan government maintained a high-security alert by devoting one-third of its national budget to defence and internal security needs and requested British, Australian and New Zealand troops to remain in the country until its internal security and national armed forces could be built up and

1079-418: A year or two before the British took actions against the CPM, leaving them ample time to prepare for a guerrilla war. On 12 June 1948, the colonial government outlawed the burgeoning trade union federations amid rising tensions. Since then, there was no reduction in the level of violent activities, other than the neutralisation of trade unions. Political murders of informers, anyone found to be working against

1162-571: Is also commonly known in Malay as ( Malay : Tentera Pembebasan Rakyat Malaya ), which could also be translated as the Malayan People's Liberation Army although extant records show that Tentera Pembebasan Nasional Malaya , a translation more in line with the translation offered by Chin Peng, became the normal self-identity by the 1970s. Prior to World War II , the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM)

1245-640: The British Empire and Commonwealth forces between 1948 and 1960, in a failed attempt to establish an independent Marxist–Leninist state in Malaya. His actions led to the revocation of his OBE. After the British–led independence of Malaya and the defeat of the CPM, Chin went into exile in China , then Thailand , and waged a second guerrilla campaign between 1968 and 1989 against the now independent Malaysian government . This campaign did not succeed, and ended with

1328-749: The British Empire during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) and later fought against the Malaysian government in the Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–1989) . Many MNLA fighters were former members of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), including its leader Chin Peng . The group was also referred to as the Malayan Races Liberation Army owing to a mistranslation. In 1989

1411-544: The Malayan Emergency , 450 new settlements were created and it is estimated that 470,509 people, 400,000 of them Chinese, were involved in the resettlement program. The Malaysian Chinese Association , then the Malayan Chinese Association, was initially created to address the social and welfare concerns of the populations in the new villages. It is estimated that today, about 1.2 million people live in 450 new villages throughout Peninsular Malaysia . About 85% of

1494-608: The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) against the Japanese occupation of Malaya , allying with Force 136 , a British-funded covert resistance movement in Asia. He was subsequently awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE). As the most senior surviving member of the CPM to emerge from the war, he founded the MNLA and engaged in a guerrilla war known as the Malayan Emergency against

1577-663: The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA). Chin Peng became the liaison officer between the MPAJA and the British military in Southeast Asia . The Japanese invasion of Malaya began in December 1941. In 1942 Chin was the youngest of three members of the Secretariat of the Perak State Committee: Su Yew Meng was secretary and Chang Meng Ching was the other member. In early 1943 the two senior members were captured by

1660-703: The National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2004, using purposes of academic research as his reason to gain visitation permission from the Singaporean government. At the beginning of 2000, he applied for permission to return to Malaysia . His application was rejected by the high court on 25 July 2005. In June 2008, Chin again lost his bid to return to Malaysia when the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier ruling that compelled him to show identification papers to prove his citizenship. Chin maintained that his birth certificate

1743-463: The Baling Talks was a great blow for the CPM, since they now lost hope both of ending the war and of propagating their ideology. Due to the mounting combat casualties and the insecurity of food supplies, the members began surrendering to the government in exchange for monetary rewards and pardons. In 1956, Chin wrote to Tunku Abdul Rahman offering to resume negotiations. This was rejected by Rahman in

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1826-578: The Baling Talks, if the British, Tunku Abdul Rahman and David Marshall had not demanded that the communist fighters capitulate and surrender but, rather, had allowed them to hand over or destroy their weapons in a mutually agreed way and then resume normal life with full political freedom, which was the broad outcome of the 1989 accords. Chin was not permitted to return to Malaysia after the 1989 Hat Yai Peace Accords and continued his exile in Thailand. He did visit neighbouring Singapore , where he gave lectures at

1909-507: The British government to grant it authority over internal security and defence. Tunku Abdul Rahman accepted it as a challenge and promised that he would push for it on his upcoming trip to London. Great publicity was given in the media to this dramatic challenge from Chin Peng. The challenge, indeed, served to strengthen the Alliance government's bargaining position at the London talks. Anxious to end

1992-632: The British military's Director of Operations in Malaya. The plan aimed to defeat the MNLA, which was operating out of rural regions of Malaya as a guerrilla force, by cutting them off from their sources of support, mainly amongst the rural population. To this end, a massive program of forced resettlement of rural workers was undertaken, under which about 500,000 people (roughly 10% of Malaya 's population) were eventually transferred from their homes and housed in guarded camps termed "new villages". These new villages were usually surrounded by barbed wire and sentry posts. In some cases 22-hour curfews were placed on

2075-618: The British restricted trade union activity, including banishing key Communist leaders not born locally. This mutual antagonism climaxed with an armed revolt in 1948, which resulted in the declaration of a state of emergency in June 1948 . On 16 June 1948, three British plantation managers were assassinated in Perak . In response to these murders, the British colonial authorities enacted emergency measures which included outlawing leftist parties and mass arrests of trade union activists and Communists. Fleeing

2158-543: The CPM Chin Peng was subsequently denied the right to return to Malaysia despite the agreement. Chin Peng Chin Peng (21 October 1924 – 16 September 2013), born Ong Boon Hua , OBE was a Malayan communist politician, guerrilla leader, and revolutionary, who was the leader and commander of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA). A Maoist , he led

2241-602: The CPM as secretary general from 1947 until the party's dissolution in 1989. Chin was born into a middle-class family in Sitiawan , now a part of Perak. In 1939, at the age of 15, he became a revolutionary and fled to Kuala Lumpur in 1940. He joined the CPM in 1941, and quickly involved himself in local party committees and labour unions in Perak. Throughout the Second World War , Chin fought as an anti-colonialist guerrilla in

2324-638: The CPM as defensive, while right-wing opponents tend to portray it as aggressive and unethical. Some have claimed a large number of civilian casualties was in contrast to the stance adopted by Mao Zedong and his policy of the Eight Points of Attention. On 2 December 1989, at the town of Hat Yai in Southern Thailand, Chin, Rashid Maidin , and Abdullah CD met with representatives of the Malaysian and Thai governments. Separate peace agreements were signed between

2407-401: The CPM fully surrender as the only way to peace, but promised that those who surrendered would undergo a period of rehabilitation before being allowed to become free citizens again. Chin again argued freedom of thought and choice must be recognised by the Malayan government if the new nation was to survive past its independence, as the people should have the right to decide which political path

2490-619: The CPM had clandestine support from either the CCP or the Soviet Union had, over time, hardened into certainty. Records disclosed after the Cold War ended disproved the claim, revealing that the CPM had not sought external support and that no agents from either China or the Soviet Union had even made contact with them. The only ‘support’ Chin recalled obtaining was the encouraging news that Mao's guerrillas had defeated Chiang Kai-shek's well-equipped and numerically superior KMT army in 1949. In 1950,

2573-419: The CPM, and thus had a devastating effect on the guerrillas. Chin was aware of this as he nearly starved several times during those twelve years. After several reviews and amendments, the CPM ordered the guerrillas to cease sabotage and terror operations and to develop closer ties with the middle-class to preserve their organizational strength. Chin would later admit in an interview in 1999 that this directive

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2656-406: The CPM. The fourth prime minister Mahathir Mohamad further succeeded in persuading China to downgrade its ties with the CPM. This was an important factor that contributed to the CPM's decision to end its armed struggle. The CPM finally laid down its arms in 1989. The death toll during the armed conflict totalled thousands. Those sympathetic to Chin Peng tend to portray the violence perpetrated by

2739-521: The Communist Party of Malaya signed a peace treaty with the Malaysian state, and the MNLA and the Party settled in villages in southern Thailand . Malayan Races Liberation Army is a translation from the Chinese " 馬來亞民族解放軍 " where " 民族 " means "nationality" in the ethnic sense. Chin Peng has called this a mistranslation and offered the translation of Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA). The group

2822-410: The Emergency argued that the forced resettlement used to create the new villages brought "misery, disease and death" to many Malaysians. 2°40′N 101°46′E  /  2.667°N 101.767°E  / 2.667; 101.767 Malayan National Liberation Army The Malayan National Liberation Army ( MNLA ) was a Communist guerrilla army that fought for Malayan independence from

2905-580: The Emergency in June, however, forced the MCP to hasten its plan, and they appealed to comrades and volunteers to join them in the struggle. The new guerrilla army, now known as the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), spent the first year of the Emergency reconsolidating and rearming. At that time, the CPM was in chaos. Its members were dispersed in the jungle and operated without any command structure or central leadership. According to Chin, attacks were being carried out without his approval or knowledge and there

2988-499: The Emergency, the British government agreed to concede those powers of internal security and defence and to accede to the demand for independence for Malaya by 31 August 1957, if possible. Chin claimed it was his challenge to Tunku Abdul Rahman that hastened the independence of Malaya. Tunku Abdul Rahman had acknowledged the importance of the Baling talks, writing in 1974 that "Baling had led straight to Merdeka (Independence)." Regardless,

3071-457: The Japanese, which left Chin Peng in charge. Contact with the Party's Central Committee had been lost; he attempted to re-establish it, travelling to Kuala Lumpur and meeting Chai Ker Meng. Later, party leader Lai Tek sent another Central Committee member, Lee Siow Peng (Siao Ping), to replace Chin as State Secretary. However, Lee Siow Peng was captured not long after while travelling to a meeting that

3154-413: The Japanese. In the course of this activity, he came into contact with Freddie Spencer Chapman , who called him a 'true friend' in his Malayan jungle memoir, The Jungle Is Neutral . In recognition of his service during the war, Chin was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) (though it was later withdrawn by the British government), a mention in despatches and two campaign medals by Britain. He

3237-498: The MCP and both governments. One of the terms of the agreement was that MCP members of Malayan origin be allowed to return to live in Malaysia. When all hostilities ceased, the total number of CPM members was 1,188; 694 were Thai-born and 494 claimed origins in Peninsular Malaysia. They were given a temporary grant and promised integration into Malaysia. In Chin's opinion, peace could have been achieved as early as 1955 during

3320-489: The MNLA membership was still overwhelmingly made up of ethnic Chinese. Less than a month into the Emergency, Britain's High Commissioner in Malaya Edward Gent died in an airplane collision. In 1951, his replacement, Henry Gurney was assassinated by MNLA guerrillas in an ambush against his convoy near Fraser's Hill resort. The next High Commissioner was Gerald Templer , who is credited by many historians with being

3403-408: The MNLA out of the jungles by torching farmland, spraying chemical herbicides from airplanes to destroy crops, and enforcing a strict rationing system for Malayan villagers so that they could not share food with MNLA members. In the "New Village" of Tanjung Malim , the rice rations were halved after the population refused to give information on Communist activities in the region. The Briggs Plan and

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3486-468: The Malayan government had declared the Emergency over on 31 July 1960 once they became confident the MNLA had ceased to be a credible threat, with the surviving guerrillas retreating to their sanctuary in southern Thailand. However, the insurgency continued with the insurgents increasing their attacks, ambushing military convoys, bombing national monuments, and assassinations of marked police officers and political 'enemy targets'. The insurgency, which began as

3569-522: The New Village internment camps had succeeded in separating the civilian population from the MNLA guerrillas in the jungles and severely damaged their ability to continue fighting. The food denial campaign also put great pressure on the MNLA and damaged their ability to conduct assaults against British positions. The Emergency officially came to an end in 1960, although the MNLA had already been defeated as an effective fighting force for years. Defeated in

3652-568: The Party's organisations of the shop assistants, domestic servants of European families, workers at brick kilns and barbers." In June 1941 he became a member of the Perak State Committee. Chin Peng rose to prominence during World War II when many Chinese Malayans took to the jungle to fight a guerrilla war against the Japanese. These fighters, inspired by the example of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), became known as

3735-402: The armed struggle in Malaya as untenable. On 24 September 1955, Chin wrote to Tunku Abdul Rahman offering to negotiate peace. On 17 October, talks between two government representatives and Chin Peng and another central committee of the CPM were held at Klian Intan. A new 'Eight Point Program' was introduced by the CPM which called for an end to the Emergency and a cessation of hostilities,

3818-544: The cities, the CPM (including Chin Peng) regrouped deep in the Malayan jungles and founded the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA). To force the British to leave Malaya, the MNLA attacked soldiers, police, and colonial collaborators, and conducted industrial sabotage. During the early years of the Emergency, MNLA guerrillas destroyed rubber plantations to harm Britain economically, as Britain partially relied on

3901-525: The conference argued against such a move. Lance Sharkey , party secretary of the Australian Communist Party , informed Chin and the central committee of the conference's decision while stopping over in Singapore on his way home. In March 1948, the central committees were discussing new policies as the labour strikes were not bringing the results that they hoped for. Chin Peng estimated it would be

3984-433: The event the central committee was eliminated. Although this was not their decision, Chin and the other central committees decided to join the other Malayan parties, reasoning that the Malay politicians had achieved more for the independence movement within the last few years than the MNLA had since 1948. The Beijing announcement also revealed to the CPM that both the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China had viewed

4067-533: The final catalyst for a long-brewing crisis that had been going on since the trade unions began agitating in 1945. Historian Anthony Short feels that this was more of a panic reaction than a carefully considered move. According to him, the government had been powerless to deal with the unrest plaguing Malaya since 1945. According to Purcell's viewpoint, the Emergency was declared in response to increasing incidents of violence and lawlessness. Many Singaporean historians and anti-communists allege that Chin Peng ordered

4150-532: The first Malayan emergency and outwitted in Singapore politics by nationalist politician Lee Kuan Yew , the CPM by the mid-1960s was fragmented. However, in 1968 the MNLA reappeared, operating from across the Thai border. They carried out ambushes, hit-and-run attacks, and laid traps for the Malaysian military. The MNLA fought in the highly forested area near the Thai border in the north of the Malay Peninsula . The MNLA

4233-494: The foreign troops gradually phased out. In 1970, the CPM's guerrilla bases in Thailand were hard hit by the trials and executions of suspected spies. Two breakaway factions were formed which condemned the purge. Chin, who was then based in China, denied involvement and later rehabilitated his accused comrades. During the 1970s and 1980s, the CPM intensified its activities and clashes with the security forces. These activities were due to

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4316-408: The guerrilla army as any prejudice between race and sex was believed by the MNLA and CPM to be a tool of capitalism to divide the working class. Due to their location deep within Malaya's jungles, the MNLA often came into contact with the aboriginal Orang Asli , recruiting them as trackers and using their villages as a food source. However, despite their attempts to recruit from all ethnic backgrounds,

4399-698: The guerrillas, who were often forced to retreat deeper into the jungles and disperse into smaller units due to difficulties in resupplying and the risk of larger units being detected and annihilated by British patrols. Furthermore, the CPM was losing civilian support, and lacking material assistance and intelligence, the party suffered. Chin admitted they had wrongly assumed that the people would be willing support his men, as they had done during World War II. When that failed to happen, they resorted to force to satisfy their needs. The CPM and MNLA also suffered under British propaganda, which labelled them "bandits" and "communist terrorists". Old suspicions and assumptions that

4482-579: The killings. Chin claimed he had no prior knowledge of the plot. He added that he barely escaped arrest, losing his passport in the process, and he lost touch with the party for a couple of days. Chin became the most wanted man of the British government, with the government offering a reward of $ 250,000 for his capture. On 17 July 1948, CPM offices in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Singapore, and other major cities were raided, followed by mass arrests of suspected communists and anti-government individuals on 21 July. The CPM

4565-496: The labour movement or the CPM, non-Europeans considered enemies to the communist cause or strike-breakers who used thugs and gangsters to harass protesters rose. The murder of three Kuomintang leaders in Johor on 12 June had convinced the British that the communists were escalating the conflict in retaliation for outlawing the trade unions, while in the CPM's eyes these murders were just purely acts of intimidation. Chin again claimed that he

4648-572: The leader of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA). The CPM was represented by Chin Peng, Chen Tian, and Abdul Rashid bin Maidin. The first day of the talks did not go well, as Chin wanted the CPM to be recognised as a legal party again, or for the leaders and members of the MNLA to at least be allowed to regain their freedom of movement and not face any legal persecution or imprisonment. Tunku Abdul Rahman rejected this request and demanded that

4731-535: The masses but would also drive the already wary Malays to openly resist them. Some scholars allege that the CPM received secret directives from Moscow agents on the methods and timing for a near-simultaneous uprising against colonial authorities during the Southeast Asian Youth Conference held in Calcutta on 19 February 1948 which eventually caused the CPM's insurrection. Chin denied it, stating that

4814-522: The meeting, Deng demanded Chin to immediately close down all the CPM's radio stations which were broadcasting from China to Malaysia. When Chin asked Deng when he would like him to cease the broadcasting, Deng replied, "The sooner the better ... Lee (Lee Kuan Yew) asked me to stop the broadcasts immediately." Moreover, during his official visit to China, the second prime minister of Malaysia Abdul Razak Hussein held talks with Chinese communist leader Chairman Mao Zedong and urged him to stop giving aid to

4897-417: The mobilisation of a large number of troops to hound the guerrillas. In 1953, the CPM relocated their headquarters to Betong , in southern Thailand. They reestablished its networks to connect the scattered units and review its strategy. In late 1953 and early 1954, the war was at a semi-stalemate due to both the MNLA and the British being unable to decisively defeat one another. In early 1954, Siao Chang,

4980-537: The more experienced Chinese Communist Party. Chin would, however, remain in Beijing for the next 29 years and the party would not lay down its arms until 1989. The reasons for this reversal of the party's decision to disband, according to Chin, was the advice given to him by the Vietnamese communist leaders in Hanoi, the opening of the second 'Vietnam War', which was followed by China's Cultural Revolution , all of which stressed

5063-437: The most effective in defeating the MNLA. Templer oversaw the implementation of the Briggs Plan , the British military strategy to defeat Malaysian guerrillas by forcibly transferring most of Malaysia's rural ethnic Chinese population to a series of newly constructed settlements known as "New Villages" . By early 1952 over 400,000 people (mostly ethnic Chinese) had been moved to the "New Villages". Templer also attempted to starve

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5146-457: The nation should take rather than having that choice be decided by a select few in the government. Tunku Abdul Rahman rejected this as well and only promised freedom for the CPM members to join any existing political party after being cleared by the authorities. On the second day of the talks, Chin promised that the CPM would stop fighting and lay down its arms if the Alliance government persuaded

5229-505: The plan was undemocratic and biased towards the Malay elites. They accused the British of forcing idea of federation on people by portraying it as a constitutional solution to Malaya's crisis. According to Chin, the central committee still adhered to Lai Teck's peace struggle strategy in facing the federation, as they thought that the people of Malaya were still recovering from the horrors of the Japanese occupation. To launch an armed rebellion so soon would not only cause them to lose support of

5312-460: The population in new villages are ethnically Chinese. According to British historian John Newsinger , people transferred to live in the new villages were "effectively deprived of all civil rights". Although the majority of inhabitants were Chinese, thousands of Orang Asli were forcefully transferred to the "new villages". Historian John D. Leary in his study of the Orang Asli during

5395-541: The populations of new villages, as was the case in the Tanjong Malim New Village. Although most of the victims of the forced relocation and new villages were ethnically Chinese , the aboriginal Orang Asli were also a target due to their homelands being in the regions frequented by the MNLA. Believing that the Orang Asli were supporting the MNLA, many of them were forcibly transferred to the new villages. However,

5478-545: The profits of the Malayan rubber trade to repay its war-time debt to the United States and for post-war social programs. These guerrillas were supported by a network of civilian supporters called the Min Yuen , whose members would live a normal life in towns while gathering intelligence, recruiting new members, spreading propaganda, and collecting supplies for the MNLA. The MNLA allowed people of any race as well as women to join

5561-426: The school "for fear of British harassment" after just 6 months. He was now focused fully on his political activities and became, from that point on, a full-time revolutionary. In January 1940 he was put in charge of three anti-Japanese organisations that were targeting students, teachers, members of cultural activities, and general labourers. At the end of January 1940, he was admitted to the Malayan Communist Party as

5644-519: The talks themselves ended without a consensus between the two sides. Though the talks collapsed they were regarded as both a success and failure for Tunku Abdul Rahman, as the talks made the British regard him as a strong leader who was tough on communism. His performance also impressed the Colonial Office enough to grant Malaya independence. For the CPM, it was a very demoralising affair that nearly destroyed their already ailing struggle. The failure of

5727-747: The time was a part of the Straits Settlements . His ancestral home was in Fuqing , Fujian , China. His father went to live in Sitiawan in 1920, and set up a bicycle, tire, and spare motor parts business with the help of a relative from Singapore, known as Ong Lock Cho. Chin Peng attended a Chinese language school in Sitiawan. In 1937 he joined the Chinese Anti Enemy Backing Up Society (AEBUS), formed that year to send aid to China in response to Japan's aggression. According to Chin and Hack, he

5810-415: The transfer scheme was halted when many of the Orang Asli started to die of diseases while in the new villages. By isolating this population in the new villages, the British were able to stem the critical flow of material, information, and recruits from peasant sympathizers to the guerrillas. The new camps were guarded by soldiers, police, and were partially fortified to stop people from escaping. This served

5893-427: The twofold purpose of preventing those who were so inclined from sneaking out and voluntarily aiding the guerrillas, and of preventing the guerrillas from sneaking in and extracting aid via persuasion or brute force. Upon completion of the resettlement program, the British initiated a starvation campaign, rationing food supplies within the camps and torching rural farmlands to starve out the Communists guerrillas. During

5976-531: Was a mistake as it allowed the British to press on with their attacks on the MNLA, whom they correctly assessed to be quite demoralised by then. After Sir Harold Briggs died, Lieutenant General Sir Gerald Templer was appointed as the new commander, introducing aggressive strategies which differed from the Briggs Plan. These included interrogations, food rationing, large monetary rewards for captured or killed communists coupled with intense military operations, and

6059-441: Was also credited for contributing towards the Malayan independence process, and was seen as a prominent rebel leader and anti-imperialist against colonialism in Malaya. He was the last surviving postwar revolutionary leader to have successfully fought for independence from colonialism in Asia. Chin Peng was born Ong Boon Hua on 21 October 1924 into a middle-class family in the small seaside town of Sitiawan , Dindings , which at

6142-481: Was banned in July 1948. In response to the Emergency and the mass arrests of its members, the CPM issued a call to its members to revive its disbanded wartime resistance army, the MPAJA, to take up arms again and escape to the jungles. Since late May and early June the communists had been secretly setting up platoons in several states in preparation for an expected British crackdown in September. The sudden declaration of

6225-663: Was banned. During the war, Britain trained and armed the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), a guerrilla force to fight against the Japanese occupation of Malaya . The CPM participated in the MPAJA, and was granted legal recognition by the British after the war as a reward. CPM trade union activist Chin Peng Was awarded the OBE for his service in the MPAJA. However, CPM members secretly kept some MPAJA weapons for future use. The CPM used violence to support its union organisation, and

6308-576: Was elected the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Malaya after the previous leader Lai Tek , had turned out to be an agent for both the British and the Japanese and had denounced the leadership of the party to the Japanese secret police . Chin Peng was the most senior surviving member. In 1948, the Federation of Malaya plan replaced the Malayan Union plan, frustrating the CPM as they felt

6391-566: Was in the 4th year of his secondary school education (known as senior middle-level one), his school announced that the senior middle section was to be closed due to lack of funds. He decided to continue his education in the Methodist -run Anglo-Chinese Continuation School , which operated in English, because it provided a good cover for his underground activities. He did not want to have to move to Singapore to continue with his education in Chinese. He left

6474-610: Was no coordination among units. The guerrillas endured heavy casualties and made few or no strategic gains in the early months. Chin was desperate to assert control over the MNLA, which had been operating independently since June. It was not until August that some form of central authority was finally set up in the Cameron Highlands , with Chin ordering the guerrillas to adopt Mao Zedong's strategy of establishing liberated zones whenever they drove British forces from an area. However, this strategy failed. British forces continued to hound

6557-402: Was not a communist then. He was in charge of anti-Japanese activities at his school, and was reportedly a supporter of Sun Yat-sen . By early 1939, Chin had embraced communism. He planned to go to Yan'an , the renowned communist base in China but was persuaded to remain in Malaya and take on heavier responsibilities in the newly formed Malayan Communist Party . In late 1939, when Chin Peng

6640-632: Was not able to reform to its former size and the CPM began recruitment of Thai Malays as well as distributing pamphlets preaching the compatibility between Islam and Communism. The MNLA had some success early on in the insurgency, at one point killing 17 members of the security forces in a single attack. In 1989, the CPM came to the negotiating table and reached an agreement with the Malaysian government which would allow CPM/MNLA members to return to Malaysia if they laid down their arms. Some CPM/MNLA members settled in "peace villages" in Southern Thailand, while others returned to Malaysia. However, Secretary-General of

6723-498: Was not aware of the murders at the time, although he approved of the later killing of the plantation managers who he claimed were harsh and cruel towards farmworkers. On 16 June 1948, three European plantation managers were murdered in Sungai Siput , which has generally been identified as the incident which caused the Malayan colonial administration to declare a state of emergency. Rather, Sze-Chieh Ng argued these murders were merely

6806-644: Was seized by the police during a raid in 1948. His counsel Raja Aziz Addruse had submitted before the Court of Appeal that it was wrong for the Malaysian government to compel him to produce the documents because he was entitled to enter and live in Malaysia under the peace agreement. In April 2009, Chin's application to return to Malaysia was once again rejected by the High Court for the same reason as his previous attempt. The Malaysian government insisted that his possible return would cause people who lost their loved ones during

6889-508: Was to be held in Singapore. Thus the job of establishing contact with the British commando Force 136 fell to Chin Peng. The first party of that force, consisting of Captain John Davis and five Chinese agents had landed in Malaya on 24 May 1943, by submarine. Chin Peng made contact with the group on 30 September 1943. He was active in his support for the British stay-behind troops but had no illusions about their failure to protect Malaya against

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