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The Forgotten Women Warriors of the Malayan Communist Party

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The Forgotten Women Warriors of the Malayan Communist Party THEME W o m e n W a r r i o r s Mention communists, guerillas, freedom fighters, militants and ideologues and the images that leap to mind are invariably male. In Asia, it is no different, except there is an added bias of patriarchy and of a history that has, until recently, been constructed and then recounted by former colonial powers and their historians. After independence, new ‘autonomous’ national histories had to be created and national curricula constructed, with those not fitting into these narratives either omitted or marginalised. Adrianna Tan examines the case of the women warriors of the Malayan Communist Party. The forgotten women warriors of the Malayan Communist Party Adrianna Tan walked and carried the same heavy load as the men; and sometimes persevered when ot surprisingly, a history - official, male comrades had given up. Nacademic and popular - of the Some arrested male communists and Malayan communists, with the Malayan defectors were eager to point out to their Communist Party (MCP) at the core of the interrogators how they preferred the treat- movement, is lacking. There is a penchant ment they received in captivity to that of for dichotomous terms of good and evil, their occasionally “terrifying… demand- black and white. The conventional narra- ing” female commanders in the MCP.2 tive is usually that of the ruthless Malayan The women of MCP were known to be far Communists - typically Chinese and always tougher, physically and mentally, than their male - versus the valiant and ultimately male counterparts, taking far more easily successful attempts of the colonial power to the physical and mental demands of a and incoming national governments that life on the run. When captured, they rarely saved the region from the global commu- cracked under pressure or torture. It could nist conspiracy. be said they lived for the ideology they believed in, and took it to the grave. If there is anything certain at all about this particular part of history, it is that the ver- Yet little is known about these women and sion of those defeated has been as good the lives they led, except for one book of as airbrushed out of history, or at least interviews and overlapping material from heavily tweaked. In fact, the communist independent research about the MCP. movement in present day Singapore and Agnes Khoo’s groundbreaking “Life As Malaysia, not to forget its hinterlands in the River Flows” (2004) is a collection of Thailand’s Muslim south, spanned the bet- oral history interviews, giving a voice to the ter part of the 20th century, first overlap- women of the MCP. But it is only a prelimi- ping with the independence movements of nary attempt at piecing together a coher- these countries, then fighting against the ent story about the women of the Malayan post-independence governments, before Communist Party. To my knowledge, no petering out two decades ago when the other narratives exist in either academic guerillas finally laid down their arms in or popular history. Research and original 1989. Now in retirement and in their sev- material has been scarce and mostly in enties or even eighties, several key figures Chinese: the leading MCP researcher CC of the MCP have narrated their version of Chin and his counterparts have carried out events.1 meticulous research for decades, but sel- dom focused solely on the women.3 Daughters, mothers, wives, lovers Khoo’s 16 interview partners freely dis- If it is true that the human side of the cussed their lives, regrets, struggles, Malayan communist history is miss- beliefs and hopes with the Singapore-born ing, this is even more so the case for the researcher. This preliminary narrative can female angle. In fact, a surprising number hopefully open the door to a new interest of the MCP was female. While the exact in this important but often forgotten part number is not known, some put the fig- of the contemporary history of the ‘Malay’ ure as high as 30 per cent. What is known, peninsula. It is a story about women who however, is that their role was certainly were invisible when they were daughters significant. The women of the MCP were and wives in the traditional Southeast Asia Chinese, Malay and Thai - born in China, of the 1930s through to the 1960s and Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thai- 1970s: Invisible when they left home to live land. They were commanders, leaders of out a life in the dense forests of Malaysia civilian movements, members of the Polit- and Thailand and invisible again now as buro, rank and file soldiers; they were doc- they find themselves on the wrong side of tors, surgeons and nurses and they were history - forgotten, banished, silenced by in combat on the same terms as male sol- the state and by shame. In learning about diers. More importantly, they continued to their contribution to history, historians be daughters, mothers, wives and lovers. gain an understanding of some signifi- They endured extreme hunger and physi- cant themes underlying this transnational cal and mental duress, then hunted ele- struggle; while the rest of us may find some phants and wild boar alongside the men. lessons from the story of female lives led They suffered terrible injuries in battle, ran, A young Li Qiu: an integral female member of the party, Li Qiu represented the MCP in China. She now lives in Beijing. Photograph courtesy of CC Chin. bravely, harshly and sometimes brutally. IIAS NEWSLETTER # 4 8 S u m m e r 0 0 8 THEME W o m e n W a r r i o r s tion of Chinese High School Unions was the rest (Betong, Banlang, Yaha) being pre- outlawed by the colonial government. dominantly Chinese. A fifth village exists to Guo Ren Luan’s work as an underground house a faction that split in 1968 to form activist was to instill revolutionary ideas in the Communist Party of Malaysia (not the village, which often included teaching Malaya) and which surrendered earlier, in literacy to women and tuition classes to 1987. Most of the former guerillas are now children. This was followed by 13 years of farmers and rubber tappers, many enjoy- self-imposed exile in Indonesia. ing the routines of family and parenthood for the first time in their lives.4 Not all MCP members were Malaya- or China-born. Zhu Ning was born in Thai- My hope is that this brief glimpse into land in 1931 into a strictly conservative the life and work of the women of the Chinese family that arranged the marriage MCP provides enough fodder to ignite of their 15-year old daughter. Under the a new interest, not only in one of Asia’s mental duress of a severe mother-in-law forgotten wars but also in female agency and an absent husband, Zhu Ning was in armed anti-colonial and communist miserable, trapped in the traditional Con- struggle. It is regrettable that due to a fucian family structure. After helping the lack of resources and perhaps also a Surgery in the jungle: guerillas risked injury guerillas for many years, she joined them reluctance to re-visit the ghosts of the and death in the jungle, but as wanted people in 1967 with her four children in tow. For past, the stories of prominent female could not seek medical treatment. The army had Zhu Ning and her family the guerilla army personalities like Wu Rui Ai are not its own doctors who met the medical needs of was a route out of poverty and ‘feudalism’. explored in a satisfactory manner. Eng the Communists, from minor injuries to major Her story is echoed by many other women Ming Ching a.k.a. Suriani Abdullah, operations - all with primitive tools in makeshift who joined as a means of escaping fami- tells her side of history in her memoirs, conditions. Courtesy of CC Chin lies who refused them education, wanted published in 2007, but until an English them married, were often steeped in abject translation is made, only readers of poverty, and sometimes abused them. Chinese and Malay can enjoy the flamboyant story of one of the party’s The women’s work in the armed wing of key female personalities. Perhaps in the the MCP had two broad aspects. Many, near future as more work and research is including rank and file female soldiers, carried out to explore this exciting topic were involved directly in combat. These of our recent history, a clearer picture can women laid landmines and participated emerge from the current haziness. in military exercises and conflict. Others were involved in what the party called min Adrianna Tan yun huo dong (civilian mobilisation). This Freelance writer and photographer included anything from recruitment drives, Blog: www.popagandhi.com instilling ‘progressive ideas’ in civilians, to [email protected] getting civilians to provide food for the guerillas. Those women who performed Notes min yun activities split their time between 1 For English-language accounts, see Ching their base in the jungle with the rest of the Peng (2003); Chin & Hack (2004); Wong army, and moving openly among civilians (2005). in villages, towns and cities, which was 2 Interview, J. L. M. Gorrie, Oral History Cen- just as dangerous. tre, National Archives of Singapore. 3 Cheah Boon Kheng (1987) would be the Life, love, parenthood English-publishing counterpart. and the present 4 Amir Muhamad’s irreverent and impres- Men and women were strictly separated in sionistic “The Last Communist” (2006) their sleeping quarters, and relationships and “Village People Radio Show” (2007), Female soldier in the breakaway group of the MCP.
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