The recent Umno-contrived controversy on how Malaya attained independence on Aug 31, 1957, purportedly responded to a statement by DAP international secretary and NGO bureau chief Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew.

It is not the purpose of this writer to become embroiled in partisan polemics between active and serving politicians seeking or preserving positions on either side of the political divide.

Rather, this article is intended to serve as an invitation to all Malaysians and friends of Malaysia to intellectually, honestly, rationally and critically examine the historical process or processes that had led to the ‘independence’ of Peninsular Malaysia.

This is in the largest interest of national reconciliation as set by the commitment to the 1989 Peace Accords between the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and the government of Malaysia.

No such historical examination would be fruitful if only one side of the story is presented rhetorically and hysterically in the form of Cold War propaganda.

Any meaningful search for the truth - or its closest approximate - has to be premised on the pre-condition that all accounts on the subject must be allowed to be presented without fear or favour, and heard out on a level playing field.

For the other side of the story, this writer opines that it is necessary for Malaysians and friends of Malaysia not only to read Alias Chin Peng: My Side of History (Singapore, Media Masters, 2003) but also other memoirs of veteran leaders and members of the CPM.

Two such memoirs come to mind - Memoir Shamsiah Fakeh - Dari AWAS Ke Regimen-10 and Memoir Ibrahim Chik - Dari API Ke Regimen-10. Both were published last year by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Other memoirs

However, there are also the less well-known memoirs and mini-memoirs written by the CPM chairperson Cik Dat Abdullah Anjang @ Abdullah CD and central committee member Abu Samah Mohd Kassim.

Abdullah CD’s two mini-memoirs are entitled Perang Anti-British Dan Perdamaian and Darurat Dan Kemerdekaan - Memperingati 50 Tahun Darurat Di Tanah Melayu (Nan Dao Publisher, 1998).

Now 81, he became CPM chairperson in 1988 and was among signatories of the 1989 Peace Accords together with CPM secretary-general Chin Peng and central committee member Rashid Maidin.

Abdullah CD, a partisan of the Malayan people’s war of resistance against the Japanese Occupation and the anti-colonial armed struggle against British colonialism, was also a founder of the Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM, Malayan Malays’ National Party) in October 1945, together with Dr Burhanuddin Al-Helmy, Ahmad Boestaman, Mokhtaruddin Lasso and Ishak Haji Mohamad.

The inauguration of PKMM preceded the formation of Umno by several months. PKMM was only dissolved after the British colonial authorities proclaimed the ‘Emergency’. Many CPM leaders, including Abdullah CD, were detained without trial under the Emergency Ordinance.

Abu Samah’s memoirs are entitled Sejarah Dan Perjuangan Kemerdekaan (Nan Dao Publisher, 1996). Now 79, he has been a CPM central committee member since 1975.

He was a child soldier of the British-sponsored Federated Malay States’ Volunteer Force which fought the first battle on Dec 8, 1941 in defence of Malaya from the Japanese invasion at Sabak Beach in Kota Baru, Kelantan.

He was a member of the Japanese reserve unit Heiho and a commander of the 10th Regiment of the Malayan National Liberation Army and its successor, Malayan People’s Army, until Dec 2, 1989 when the CPM agreed to cease its armed struggle.

Abu Samah was also a founding member of Umno in 1946 and a committee member of Umno Youth Semantan branch in Pahang. His young son died in a police lock-up while he was on the wanted list of British colonial authorities after the so-called ‘Emergency’ was proclaimed.

Although Rashid, 87, has not published his memoirs yet, he met this writer earlier this year and narrated his life-long struggle as a communist as well as a Malayan nationalist. His oral history was recently published in From Pacific War to Merdeka (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2005).

Rashid was the CPM representative to the 1947 British Empire Communist Parties’ Conference in London, delegate to the 1955 Baling Peace Talks and also a signatory to the 1989 Peace Accords.

The official history of the 10th Regiment entitled Regimen Ke-10 Dan Kemerdekaan was written by Suriani Abdullah @ Eng Ming Ching (Nan Dao, 1999).

After studying these alternative memoirs and books, the essential question to ask is whether, given the 1957-1971 Anglo-Malayan/Malaysian Defence Agreement which allowed thousands of foreign troops to be stationed and operated on Malayan soil against Malayans, did Malaya really achieve ‘independence’ on Aug 31, 1957?

Was not Malaya/Malaysia a neo-colony until the last foreign troops left in 1984?

KeadilanRakyat.org: Alternative accounts of Malaya’s independence