Labour and Labour Parties in Malaya

Abstract

S INCE IN THE NOT DISTANT FUTURE Singapore and the Federation of Malaya will have elected Legislatures,' it is only natural that there should now be a heightening of local political fervour along with the usual calls for support by political parties to the electorate. One of the more interesting aspects of post-war political development in Malaya and Singapore, has been the birth of several groups or parties professing labour or aims. The role of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) is only too well-known and need not be elaborated.2 The other left-wing groups sometimes expressed a genuine desire to implement socialist programmes, but otherwise were not representative of large sections of labour, nor did they in fact directly aim at supporting the demands of the workers. They came to life to give voice to the sectional, communal and personal interests of small groups and of the individuals who led them. With the quickening of the movement towards self-government, and the impact of the Emergency,3 views and groups became eventually more clarified, and out of the complex political scene in Malaya and Singapore, five groups have emerged which may be considered to have at least some of their aims similar to those of Labour parties or more or less left-of-centre groups in the West, and which draw quite clear and rationally given support from small and large sections of Malayan labour, whether or not unionised, and from individuals with left-wing views. These may extend from light pink to red-from so-called democratic socialists to Communist sympathisers. Of most of the latter it is often difficult to say whether they are more imbued