MCP infiltrated schools, workplaces to recruit members, says historian

MCP infiltrated schools, workplaces to recruit members, says historian

PETALING JAYA: The Malayan Communist Party (MCP) had infiltrated schools and workplaces through underground agents to recruit members and secure resources before its dissolution in 1989, a historian claimed.

Ng Sze Chieh, an assistant professor at New Era University College, said that after the MCP was outlawed in 1948, the group survived by operating in the shadows.

“These agents funnelled resources and personnel to their headquarters in Betong in southern Thailand,” he told FMT in an interview.

Ng, who co-authored Narratives from Piyamit: Life Stories at the End of the Revolution with Murray Hunter, said his research found that many former guerillas had been active in student movements in vernacular Chinese high schools in cities like Kuala Lumpur.

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He said underground agents were often their peers, and MCP-affiliated cells operated under the guise of tuition classes, charity work, or cultural events.

The agents would observe the students closely and identify potential recruits, he said.

Ng revealed that his mother was once invited to a “youth camp”, only to realise it was a propaganda session when organisers started discussing communist ideologies.

“My mother had a shock when she was there, and she immediately excused herself to go home. She left that night. She was so afraid that the police were going to raid the place.

“When school resumed after the weekend, she noticed one of her friends who went to the camp had disappeared. She later discovered that the person had ‘gone up to the hills’ (joined the guerilla movement),” he said.

“MCP’s influence was strong within these schools. Many of us who went up the hills were secondary school students, (about) 15 or 16 years old,” she said.

Published by Gerakbudaya’s imprint, Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD), Narratives from Piyamit can be purchased online or in its physical store.