Anti-Japanese war memorial sparks row in Malaysia

The ruckus over a monument for slain Second World War heroes in Nilai, Negri Sembilan was a racially-charged and calculated diversion by the ruling party from problems it is currently facing, said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

He said the Umno-led government was bogged by a sluggish national economy and party infighting and had made allegations that the monument was glorifying the communist to stir up racial sentiments.

Lim said this after visiting the monument at the Nilai Memorial Park today and told reporters that not a single mention of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) or communism was found among the inscriptions on the monument.

“He (Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin) should come personally to see the site before making wild allegations,” said Lim, who was also accompanied by Lobak assemblyperson Loke Siew Fook.


A Malaysian opposition party accused a minister on Thursday of trying to provoke a race row after he said a new memorial to Malayans who fought the Japanese invasion in World War Two paid tribute to communists.

After the war Malaysia waged a bitter campaign throughout the 1950s to eradicate mainly ethnic Chinese guerrillas seeking to build a communist state. They were only finally defeated in 1960.

On Thursday, members of the ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) said Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin, an ethnic Malay, was trying to turn the issue into a racial dispute, after he called the structure "a memorial for the communists".

Multi-racial Malaysia has a history of ethnic tension, and ties between its different communities have remained fragile since 1969, when hundreds were killed in bloody racial riots.

"Anyone or everyone who fought against the Japanese should be recognised," DAP leader Lim Guan Eng told reporters at a thinly attended protest demonstration at the memorial in a Chinese cemetery in Nilai, just outside the Malaysian capital.

It was wrong to say the memorial was built to commemorate the communists, he added. "There should not be any racial undertones, but unfortunately, there appear to be," Lim said. "Those who fought the Japanese did not come from one race."

The memorial, built at a cost of 70,000 ringgit ($20,000) with funds donated by a group of Chinese businessmen, stands 30 feet high. Inscriptions in Japanese, Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil read: "Monument in memory of Malayan heroes in the resistance against Japanese invasion, 1941-45".

Zainuddin's weekend comment angered many ethnic Chinese, but prompted authorities in the central state of Negeri Sembilan, where the memorial stands, to call for its demolition.

Zainuddin said the monument, and others of a similar kind in different parts of Malaysia, were a slight to Malaysians who died fighting the Japanese occupation, which ran from 1941 to 1945.

"After we gained our independence and fought off the communists, it is regrettable that some parties have memorials for the communists," he said.

Although the communist insurgency ended in 1960, the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya only surrendered in 1989.

The government should not try to rewrite history, Lim said.

"We are against this attempt to rewrite history as well as to turn black into white and turn white into black. We should not distort and pervert the truth," he told reporters.

"They are now talking of tearing down a memorial to remember those who sacrificed their life during World War Two against the Japanese invaders," he said.

Ethnic Malays make up just over half of Malaysia's population of roughly 26 million, with ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians accounting for about 25 percent and about 8 percent respectivel

Mid December, a minister criticised the effort by a Chinese NGO’s to commemorate the efforts of those anti Japanese heroes of World WORLD II who died in the hands of the Japanese soldiers during the war as an effort to commemorate the communists.

The said NGO’s has issued a statement asking the Minister of Information for an apology for equating anti Japanese martyrs as communists.

There are in fact many of these memorials existing in Malaysia and Singapore. All these memorials serve to remember those died fighting the Japanese Invasion. These memorials also remind us of the consequence and the ugliness of war, and by doing so, they serve to remind us of the importance of preserving peace.

It has nothing to do with race or ideology. While there were some anti-Japanese martyrs who were communists, there were even more who fought the Japanese not because they were communists, but because of the Japanese invasions of China and other parts of East Asia. Even the British which ruled Malaya just before the war funded the well known 136 brigade to organise anti Japanese warfare.

I am sure there were Malays as well as Indians heroes among those who died in the hands of the Japanese, although their numbers may not be as great as the Chinese. But to lump all anti Japanese heroes as communists was not right.


Wikipedia - Malayan Communist Party(MCP) / Communist Party Of Malayan(CPM)

Before the Japanese attacked Malaya, a potential resistance organisation already existed in the form of the Malayan Communist Party. This party's members were mainly from the Chinese community and implacably anti-Japanese. They formed the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army, and their first members were trained by British officers such as Freddie Spencer Chapman. Although they mounted a few operations against the Japanese lines of communication during the invasion of Malaya, they were cut off from the Allied commanders with the fall of Singapore.

Using organisers and agents such as Singaporean World War II hero Lim Bo Seng, Force 136 was able to re-establish contact with the MPAJA, which had continued to exist in camps deep inside the forests. In isolation, the Malayan Communist Party had purged many of its members suspected of treachery or espionage, which contributed to its post-war hard-line attitude leading in turn to the Malayan Emergency. With equipment and supplies from Force 136, the MPAJA was built up to become a substantial guerilla army. However, Japan surrendered before it had a chance to stage a major uprising.

Other than the MCP and KMT which were predominantly Chinese based resistance to Japanese, the force also collaborated with many Malay villages, often under the patronage of Malay royalties and officials. Even though the Malays and Indians were not badly treated by Japanese forces in the beginning of the occupation, later they too felt the hardship of life under the occupation and this was magnified by the brutal treatment of anyone who was suspected of being anti-Japanese. Thus the SOE found a suitable backing among the Malays and sends their officers from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to train local resistance forces which was famously known as Harimau Malaya Force 136 (Tigers of Malaya of Force 136).

The main base for this group was near Grik, a district in the Malayan state of Perak.


Our Information Minister meanwhile still stuck to his claim that all Anti Japanese martyrs were communists. This statement is very unfair to those who fathers or grandfathers died fighting the Japanese. A lot of these people were teachers, students and many of them were KMT members rather than Communists.

It cannot be denied many of the anti Japanese martyrs were communists but the fact also remains that many of them were KMT members and some of them were not even affiliated to any parties.

Many of them fought because of their loyalty to mainland China which was under siege from Japanese army, but even in Mainland China then, most who fought the Japanese were not communists. The Malayan Chinese then owed their allegiance and loyalty to China because at that time, Malaya had not achieved independence and was under colonial rule and most of the Chinese in SEA were still citizens of China.

According to Bernama report today (21 Dec), the MB who apparently has only asked the people who built this monument to get a permit from the local council, and the MCA has accepted his explanation over the issue of memorials for communists found at several Chinese cemeteries, and he considered the matter resolved amicably.

"As for me, only those who feel they are communists would be offended by what I had said," he said.

According to him, memorials should only be erected for those who had fought for the country's independence or against the communists, irrespective of which group or movement they belonged to.

"We should not pay tribute to one movement or group that involved only a particular race but individuals or larger organisations that had played instrumental roles for the benefit of all the races in the country," he said.

There is no need for UMNO to explain to MCA. MCA will accept anything from UMNO.

UMNO Is an " I " specialist, and MCA is an " I " soar to UMNO !


Malaysia Nilai Anti-Japanese war memorial Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin