Chin Peng (b.1924) was the leader of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) during its struggle for freedom from the British Empire. This war, which was termed by the British state a ‘State of Emergency,’ continued from 1948-89, when a treaty was finally signed by the governments of Malaysia and Thailand and the active Communist factions. However, the British government determined that the Emergency should be declared over in 1960. Owing to suppression of free speech in the region concerned, it has until recently been difficult to establish the truth of facts and the perspectives of all participants.

Chin Peng was just 16 when he joined the CPM as part of the struggle for liberation against Japanese imperialism. In common with many ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia, he had been very interested in the progress of the Chinese Communist Party in transforming China from its imperial past and believed in the prescriptions of Marxist-Leninism as a means of bringing about a new age of equality and liberation across Asia. He had been born into a middle-class family and had attended a Chinese language school. His education and intelligence marked him out for promotion and preferment in the CPM from an early age. Within a short period of joining the CPM, he received his first supervisory position and then became a liaison officer linking the British military forces in Southeast Asia and the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army. During wartime, he was recognised as a genuine ally and friend of Britain and was indeed awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire), although this was subsequently withdrawn.

The expulsion of the Japanese, however, was only followed by a resumption of British imperialism, albeit a resumption with an apparent end in sight. Nevertheless, Chin Peng and the CPM felt it necessary to launch a campaign of violence to expel the old European masters. This campaign involved a heavy toll taken on civilians and the British responded with their own state-sanctioned violence. It is not entirely clear to what extent Chin Peng was directly involved in violence against civilians. The fighting took the form of guerrilla warfare and Chin Peng and the CPM were able to occupy bases in the south of Thailand, where conditions were much easier. Whereas in Malaya (or Malaysia as it became) the CPM members dare not disturb so much as a branch in the jungle, in Thailand they could relax in hammocks and keep pigs. The terrain – including thick tropical jungle and mountains – made it more difficult for the military to track down what they were doing and suppress them. Eventually, the Communist movement was worn down and its leaders, Chin Peng included, forced to remain in exile. Indeed, he has been unable to return to his homeland subsequently, although he has been accepted in Thai and Singaporean society.