To many Malays, communists are a bunch of people who do not believe in God. People who DO NOT believe in the mere existence of God. Atheists, if you like.

That to them simply cannot be accepted. Being Muslims, God and religion are two important and big aspects having a huge impact on their lives, regardless pious Muslims, practicing Muslims or otherwise.

To state the obvious, communism is never tolerated. That is to put it mildly. Very mildly that is.

During the Malayan Emergency, the predominantly Chinese Communist Party of Malaya or CPM was seen as anti-Malay.

The narrative of the British and later the Malayan government played a big part in shaping up that mindset naturally.

Never mind the 10th Regiment, a wing of the CPM was a predominantly Malay outfit made up of Allah-fearing and practicing Muslims. People like Rashid Maidin, Shamsiah Fakir, and of course Abdullah CD, to just name three.

Flash back to the time at the end of World War II, a time which CPM leader Chin Peng described as “the-so called interregnum period between the hour the Japanese surrendered and when, almost three weeks later, British forces began landing on Malayan beaches to set up temporary military rule.”

There were racial clashes at that time, and Chin Peng had his version of what took place, how it took place, and why it took place. It’s all in his book – “My side of history” – published in 2003, which I don’t intend to repeat here. 

His version aside, other versions include this one. During that “gap” when no one was in charge of the country, CPM, or as the Malays called them Bintang Tiga, took control, sort of, and they came looking for people who had collaborated with the Japanese during the occupation. The people were Malays.

Indeed there were Malays who had worked with the Japanese. Some did it probably to enjoy the material benefits during the hard times then.

However, according to several journals, there were Malays who believed Japan would help them get independence. The belief then was that the Japanese, being Asian, would help fellow Asians in making sure the colonial masters – the Mat Sallehs – would never return, and grant the Malays the right to self govern. Hence the collaboration.

Chin Peng in his book had this to say: “When there is talk about Malay units being pro-Japanese, Westerners again invariably fall into the easy trap of over-simplification. When we, as communist guerrillas, worked with the British. None of us, for a single moment, considered ourselves pro-British. We were allies but we had our own agenda.

“Likewise, following Japan’s capitulation, a different set of circumstances presented themselves to us as far as the defeated army was concerned.

“I always regard the Malays as having been in similar binds when it came to their relationships with the British and Japanese during the war.”

Whatever it was, history annals tells us, once the Japanese surrendered, the CPM went for allies of Japan seeking vengeance. But it was always seen or rather many Malays were led to believe that armed Chinese groups went on a killing spree on the Malays. All Malays. And they were constantly reminded of that.

In fact, even till this day they are being reminded of that. We’ll come to that in a while.

To say the Malays hated the CPM for that is an understatement. And as they are always “reminded” of that (by some quarters), many never stopped hating the CPM until today.

Even the thought of bringing back the ashes of Chin Peng riled them up, remember? 

And as members of the CPM were Chinese, the term “Cina komunis” came to the fore.

Needless to say, the term was and is not used to refer to members of the Communist Party of China (what more the citizens of China). In fact, one of the distinguished guests at the opening Umno general assemblies were members of the Chinese Communist Party! 

“Cina komunis” is derogatory, of course, and is “reserved’ for the CPM. However, sadly (at times) its usage is extended to the Chinese community, even in present day Malaysia.

No thanks to the fanning of racial sentiment by political parties out for Malay votes and “courtesy” of the so-called and self proclaimed defenders of Bangsa Melayu who have racism stamped all over their play book.

And Malay hatred for CPM is never lost on them. Hence, the sentiment is exploited for support at the polling booths.

A couple of days ago, the Malaysia Dateline portal reported PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang telling all and sundry that more Malays were killed by the communists compared to those who lost their lives at the hands of British security forces. 

That came a week or so after Umno accused the Pakatan Harapan government of manipulating “facts” to glorify communism, in particular CPM, via history books taught to Form 4 students.

It was triggered by its youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.Never mind faced with probable legal suit, Umno is not letting up.

Then we have Umno vice president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob out of the blue issuing a media statement talking about Malay Bumiputera unity, reminding of the “sufferings” during the PH reign as government and Malay special rights questioned and put in jeopardy.

Malay Bumiputera, he said, must stand united to face the challenging political world and “like it or not, we cannot deny GE15 is not far off “.

So, its all about the elections. Not that we are surprised or in shock. Yes GE15 is coming, no doubt, but is it around the corner? Can’t say for sure.

But what I am sure is this. Come the election, race and religion will once again be played to the hilt by Umno, PAS and Bersatu also, to get the Malay votes. It’s all about political power. Nothing else!

That’s why the so-called glorification of the communists in history books, Malays killed by communists, Malay rights threatened and then the need for Malay perpaduan are already being narrated.

Will such ploy ever end?

(Mohsin Abdullah is a veteran journalist and now a freelancer who writes about this, that and everything else.)