Islam Melayu Komunis

I got curious and decided to pick this book up after reading the Jakarta method and also Ho chi minh journey. It started when I realised that story told on communism by the Malaysian history book was not entirely true so it got me digging and this book and Memoir Shamsiah Fakeh was direct challenge to our historical understanding about communism in Malaysia.

There are three main figure that was interviewed in this book. They are Abdullah C.D., Rashid Maidin, and Abu Samah who was involved with Parti Komunis Malaya and also Regime 10 who fought against British colonialism. Regimen Ke-10 or 10th Malay Regiment was predominantly Malay compared to other regiments which were predominantly Chinese.

One highlight was that Tunku Abdul Rahman recognized their effort and promised to meet them after his visit in London to discuss independence negotiations but he did not keep his promise and later continue the fight against communism as orders were received from the British.

The book highlighted common misconception on communism especially for Malaysians. One such example was communist are atheist or irreligious and a direct challenge to Islamic faith. The interview with Abdullah C.D stated that this was all British propaganda against communism. He further mention that a lot of religious figure supported the bearing of arms for resistance against the British which was considered Jihad for the nation and faith.

This book very much an eye opener to me and it made me appreciate the Malaysian history and realize how deep it was and we are very much still affected by colonialism influence especially in how we retold our history. With this book, I believe it will allow us to look at our history objectively, question it, discuss and appreciate our historical figure who fought for independence and may their sacrifice be appreciated and their stories be told.