Kua Kia Soong’s omissions of history
So, while I do not disagree with Kua’s write-up, I would also add that he is looking at one side of history. From the Chinese point of view Kua is not wrong. But the failure of the AMCJA-PUTERA coalition was because the Chinese and the communists wanted things done their way only and the view of the Malay nationalists, royalists, Islamists, etc., were rejected and treated as insignificant.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Kua Kia Soong wrote quite a good article on the ‘People’s Constitution’ of the AMCJA-PUTERA coalition, which you can read here (Patriots and Pretenders: who were the heroes?).
I will not dispute Kua’s version of history and what he said happened did actually happen. But there are some omissions and maybe I can help add to Kua’s very detailed account of the negotiations between the non-Malays and the Malays and between the socialists and the capitalists.
We must remember we are talking about the post-WWII era. In fact, the post WWII era was a continuation of the 1920s, 1930s, and WWII (1941-1945) eras when the first seeds of Malay nationalism were planted. And the Japanese, in a way, helped this seed of Malay nationalism to germinate.
The Japanese taught the Malays to reject the British and never trust the Chinese and that Malaya belongs to the Malays and not the Chinese
The Japanese opened the eyes of the Malays and made them realise that they could fight colonialism and win. The fact that an Asian power like Japan defeated the very powerful British Empire proved it. So, Malays no longer need to be colonised. They can defeat the imperialists and gain Merdeka.
And that was why the Malays dared oppose the British plan for the Malayan Union in 1946. Prior to 1941, the Malays considered the British too powerful to defy — like the Dutch and Portuguese before them. After all, did the ‘white people’ not defeat the great Melaka Empire in 1511, plus colonise Indonesia?
But WWII changed this perception. And the Japanese told the Malays they should never allow the British back into Malaya and should instead team up with Indonesia to form a great Malay Empire called Melayu Raya.
The Japanese were preparing to give Malaya independence and merge it with Indonesia when the atom bombs were dropped
Unfortunately, the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed all that. If not, today, Malaysia would not exist because the creation of Melayu Raya was just days away.
In the 1920s to 1940s era, the Malays were divided into elite Malays, uneducated Malays, and educated Malays. And the educated Malays were further subdivided into Islamists, nationalists and socialists.
The Chinese communists fought the Japanese and after the war punished the Malays for being ‘collaborators’
In the 1920s to 1940s era, most educated people all over the world were socialists. It was the fashion then to be a socialist. So even amongst the educated Malays there were many socialists. But this did not mean they did not also consider themselves Malays and Muslims. They were just anti-capitalism and anti-exploitation of the masses.
The Chinese, in turn, were either capitalists, nationalists or communists. But their support for either nationalism or communism was related to China, not Malaya. The Chinese MCA people were mostly capitalists and were Straits Chinese, some who did not even speak Chinese and spoke Baba Malay.
So Kua needs to look at this whole thing in the context of the 1920s-1940s era and not in today’s context. The Malays who supported Umno were nationalist Malays. The Islamists supported PAS. And the AMCJA-PUTERA coalition was dominated by the socialists.
And that was why they failed to reach an agreement. When you have nationalists, royalists, capitalists, Islamists, and socialists all trying to come out with a formula of one-size-fits-all, it would fail. And the Malay socialists and Chinese communists themselves had two different ideas on what an independent Malaya should look like and what the Social Contract should include or exclude.
So, while I do not disagree with Kua’s write-up, I would also add that he is looking at one side of history. From the Chinese point of view Kua is not wrong. But the failure of the AMCJA-PUTERA coalition was because the Chinese and the communists wanted things done their way only and the view of the Malay nationalists, royalists, Islamists, etc., were rejected and treated as insignificant.
