SOSIALIS ALTERNATIF: CHIN PENG DIES

Wednesday, 16 October 2013

CHIN PENG DIES

New generation can learn from experience of Malaya Communist Party leader

Chin Peng, the former guerrilla leader of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), died in Thailand on 16th September at the age of 88. His party had not been active since signing the peace agreement with the Malaysian government in 1989. Some of his colleagues had been able to return to Malaysia from exile and others have been living in a resettlement village in Southern Thailand. But the Malaysia government denied Chin Peng the right to enter into the country; even after his death, they did not even want to allow his remains or ashes to be brought into the country. Many Malaysians see the BN (National Front) government position on Chin Peng as irrational and hypocritical; he had signed a peace deal with the government in which he and his colleagues were promised to be allowed back into Malaysia.

Many historians have argued that Chin Peng and the CPM played a key role in defeating the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945, and also that their guerrilla struggle against the British, that started in 1948, accelerated the independence of Malaya in 1957. The emergency period from 1948 to 1960 was used by the British to weaken the MCP as well as to establish a new right wing force - the Alliance Party (now BN) - to favour the economic and political agenda of British imperialism. The Alliance Party capitalised on the weakening of the MCP to come to power. Since then, they have always used the CPM as a bogeyman, condemning the guerrillas as terrorists to frighten people. They promote nationalism by exaggerating their own role in the past in getting the British to concede independence from the British.

Although the government has tried to obliterate the MCP chapter from Malaysian history, the new generation and others that want to learn the truth about the MCP role, will look into their experience – their struggles, tactics and ideas. Chin Peng, in his last wishes, stated that: “In the final analysis, I wish to be remembered simply as a good man who could tell the world that he had dared to spend his entire life in pursuit of his own ideals to create a better world for his people….It is irrelevant whether I succeeded or failed, at least I did what I did. Hopefully the path I have taken will be followed and improved upon by the young after me. It is my conviction that the flames of social justice and humanity will never die”.

The CWI recognises the important role of Chin Peng and the MCP in Malaysian history - especially before independence, fighting the Japanese and the British. But during their struggles, the CPM and its leaders made serious mistakes in their perspectives and their tactics which were used by the British and the Alliance Party to weaken them. From 1930 onwards, young fighters of the CPM were attracted to the idea of socialism, even in a distorted form as promoted by the Stalinist and Maoist regimes in Russia and China. They saw it as an alternative for fighting against the imperialist and capitalist agenda.

Moving to build ‘a better world’, new generations should critically analyse and learn from the experiences and mistakes made by the CPM and its leaders in their struggles.

Since independence, Malaysia’s government under the BN has continued to safeguard capitalism that was introduced by British imperialism. In the name of development, neo-colonialism was used by multinational corporations as well as national capitalists to continually plunder the vast resources of the country.

Because of being an export dependent economy, Malaysia has to dance to the tune of the international capitalists. The unstable socio-economic situation of the country is a further burden on the working class and ordinary people. Currently Malaysia is one of the states that has the highest rich-poor disparity in Southeast Asia. This shows that capitalism has no solution to fulfil the real needs of the working class and poor.

Only through fighting for an economy that is democratically planned according to the needs of the working class, of young people and others who are oppressed by the system, can real independence and democratic rights be gained as well as economic and social rights. The struggle for socialism as the alternative to capitalism is crucial, and the new generation should learn from past mistakes in order to avoid repeating the same errors.

Here we publish a link to the review of the autobiography: “Chin Peng: My Side of History” by Peter Taaffe which looked in depth at the MCP’s experiences and its tactics.

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Sosialis Alternatif

Sosialis Alternatif adalah seksyen CWI di Malaysia yang merupakan sebahagian daripada CWI (Committe for Workers' international) yang sedang beroperasi di hampir 50 negara yang merangkumi setiap benua. Kami melibatkan diri bersama anak muda, pelajar, kelas pekerja dan golongan tertindas yang lain dalam isu-isu hak demokrasi, hak ekonomi dan hak sosial, untuk memberikan perpektif sosialis sebagai penyelesaian kepada konflik sistem kapitalisme yang menjadi punca asas kepada rasisme, kemiskinan, kehancuran alam sekitar, peperangan serta penindasan sosio-ekonomi dalam masyarakat.

Sosialis Alternatif berkempen untuk membawa satu perubahan sosialis di Malaysia dan antarabangsa di mana masyarakat akan diorganisasi secara demokratik untuk menampung keperluan sejagat dan bukannya berpaksikan kepada nafsu keuntungan segelintir kapitalis.

Sosialis Alternatif pada ketika ini sedang melibatkan diri dalam kempen bagi meningkatkan penglibatan anak muda dan warga pekerja dalam pembinaan politik kelas pekerja dan anak muda sebagai alternatif kepada politik pro-kapitalisme yang dicanangkan oleh BN dan Pakatan. Ini adalah sebagai landasan ke arah membentuk satu masyarakat berbilang kaum dan agama yang mampu berkongsi kekayaan dan pembangunan negara bersama secara demokratik serta memelihara alam sekitar untuk keharmonian dan kesejahteraan sejagat.

Kita sedang melalui krisis ekonomi yang terburuk sejak 'the great depression' atau 'kemelesetan hebat' 1930-an yang sekali lagi membuktikan bahawa kapitalisme bukannya satu sistem yang unggul tetapi penuh dengan konflik dan percanggahan akibat kediktatoran pasaran bebas. Keruntuhan ekonomi biasanya akan membawa pelbagai kesengsaraan kepada berjuta-juta rakyat miskin, anak muda dan kelas menengah. Masalah pengangguran, perumahan, infrastruktur asas dan banyak lagi masalah akan timbul dan para kapitalis pula akan terus menindas rakyat biasa bagi memaksimumkan keuntungan dan kuasa mereka. Malahan puluhan ribu rakyat biasa terbunuh dalam peperangan-peperangan yang dilancarkan semata-mata untuk bersaing untuk mengondol sumber dan kekayaan alam, ini termasuk peperangan Palestin-Israel. Kapitalisme bukan sahaja menghancurkan kehidupan rakyat biasa tetapi juga sedang menghancurkan alam sekitar akibat aktiviti perindustrian dan pembangunan yang tidak mampan dan diluar kawalan.

Anak muda dan kelas pekerja perlu bergabung dan meningkatkan perjuangan untuk membina alternatif kepada sistem kapitalisme. CWI juga berhasrat untuk membina solidariti antarabangsa di kalangan anak muda, kelas pekerja dan golongan tertindas yang lain mellaui pembinaan sosialis Internasional.

Sertai Sosialis Alternatif dalam usaha membina sosialisme berlandaskan perpektif jelas sebagai alternatif kepada sistem kapitalisme di Malaysia dan di peringkat antarabangsa. Hubungi kami di : cwi.malaysia@gmail.com.