Malaysian Communist Party (MCP) Explaining its Early Political Orientation

Abstract

An early Communist movement in Malaysia (formerly Malaya) was a reaction to the emergence of the ideology and its movement in Indonesia and China. Malaysian Communist Party (MCP) itself was both a political and militant movement, inspired by the Indonesian Communist Party and Chinese communist Party in the Republic of China. Despite acting as liberation guerilla, MCP was also politically active especially among the Chinese community in Malaysia. It struggled not only to gain independence from the British colonialization but also aimed at securing the Chinese community in Malaysia. Based on declassified data gathered from British National Archive and various secondary readings, I argued that MCP was internationally inspired by international communist movement and at the same time act independently at a local level. Its aim was to gain political power in Malaysia and to establish a Socialist Republic of Malaya. Because of its political aims, MCP was banned and was acknowledged by the Malaysian ruling regime as a threat to political security in Malaysia. Therefore until now, the government rejects any efforts to recognized communism as ideology or movement. In order to understand this issue, the chronology of MCP movements and evident of its international inspired activities are critically discussed here.