Reaksi Anggota Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) Terhadap Darurat di Tanah Melayu, 1948-1960: Penelitian Terhadap Memoir-Memoir Anggota PKM Terpilih (The Reaction of Malayan Communist Party (MCP) Towards The Emergency In Malaya, 1948-1960: An Analysis of Memoirs Written By Selected Members of The MCP)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the reaction of members of the Malayan Communist Party towards the British administrators during the emergency in Malaya. The analysis focuses on the observation of the memoirs written by selected MCP members involved in the emergency in Malaya, 1948 – 1960. The objective of the research is to show the reaction of the members of the MCP through the guerrilla movement as well as the cooperation displayed by the masses throughout the 12 years of emergency. Hence, memoirs written by a number of selected members of the MCP such as Abdullah C.D., Suriani Abdullah, Chin Peng, Rashid Maidin, and Shamsiah Fakeh were used as the primary source of this discussion. Analyzing the memoirs of the selected members are important to identify the types of reaction displayed by the organization during the emergency as the memoirs holds the ability to clearly magnify the reactions discussed in this paper. The memoirs were observed, interpreted and arranged in a single chronology supported by objective argumentation and notes from the primary documents sourced from the archive. The archive sources were retrieved from the National Archive of Malaysia, The National Archive (TNA), London as well as National Archive of Singapore along with documents in the form of newspaper. The document consists of foreign offices files (FO 800), the colonial files (FCO 141) as well as the cabinet files of the British government (CAB). This paper therefore, conclude that memoirs of the selected MCP members has the ability to show the reactions of the MCP on the national state of emergency declared by the British administrators in order to present an objective historical discussion.