protested and eventually ended up in the jungle to fight the British.
Although its major concern was anti-imperialism, the Party had also made
it known that it would never recognize the arrangement of
independence
between the UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance and the British. With this basic
attitude, local Chinese were very much pressed not to be naturalized.
The Communists continuously held meetings with Chinese in rural areas to
campaign for boycotting naturalization.
Ideologically, one
would expect the CPM's position to be in favor
of establishing a Malaya nationality for all races in Malaya, including
the Chinese. But due to its rigid position against the British
colonialists, the Party went against British in all matters, including
the proposal of a nationality law which would otherwise be considered
compatible with its position for an independent state.
Both the CPM and CCP seemed to be bothered that some of their
members and suporters in the Chinese community in Malaya and Singapore
were very much favorable to the idea of establishing a Malaya
nationalizing all Chinese. This issue became one of the most constant
sources of conflict among communists and between the Communist Party and
non-communist parties, such as the People's Action Party and the Malaya
Chinese Association. The debate on the Malayanization
was prolonged, starting even before WWII.
of the Chinese
(洪絲絲),
Some of the top Communist leaders like Hung Si-si ( 4 )
Xia-Yen ( ) and even knowledgeable Kuo Mo Yok failed to offer a
breakthrough from traditional attitudes towards the naturalization
issue. One of Kuo's articles, written in response to a debate on
whether Chinese writers should Malayanize themselves,
said that it
73
would be a mistake for Chinese in Malaya to break ties with China.
This debate had come up in the midst of an independence movement for
British colonies in the Strait
Settlement
of Malaya. Some writers
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