Following the publication of the memoirs of its secretary-general Chin Peng in Singapore last year, a Mandarin version of Communist Party Malaya's (CPM) unofficial history was launched by a media mogul here yesterday.

The owner of Sin Chew Daily and Sarawak timber tycoon Tiong Hiew King launched the book entitled The Evergreen Mountain - A Journey of The Communist Party of Malaya at the daily's office in Petaling Jaya.

The 229-page book comprises investigative reports, exclusive interviews with Chin Peng and former inspector-general of police Rahim Noor. It also features profiles of prominent founders and multiethnic leaders of CPM.

The book, which contains Chin Peng's personal signature in Chinese characters, was edited by Sin Chew Daily' s former group-editor-in-chief C C Liew who covered the 1989 peace settlement between the governments of Malaysia, Thailand and CPM.

He later led a team of six journalists and researchers to interview Chin Peng and Rahim Noor separately in 1998.

Besides the exclusive interviews, the book also features a collection of biographies and dossiers of the legendary founders and early leaders of CPM such as Ho Chin Minh, Tan Melaka, Mas Alimin, Hendricus Sneevliet, Rashid Maidin, RG Balan, Jacko Thambo and William ("Willie") Quok..

(William, who was killed by British counter-insurgency forces in Pahang on Sept 8, 1953 was the brother of Malaysian tycoon Robert)

The biography of Rashid, who joined CPM and the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) during the occupation, reveals that he is closely related to Mahathir's former political secretary and Deputy Education Minister Aziz Shamsuddin.

Two more books

Meanwhile, two other books in Chinese on CPM have also been published recently. They are the Chinese Anti-Occupation Movement in Malaya by Singaporean historian CC Chin (Kuala Lumpur, Gerakbudaya, 2004) and For the Memory of Peace (Kuala Lumpur, Gecinta, 2003).

The first is a brief history of the Chinese participation in the British-led Malayan Campaign (Dec 8, 1941 - Feb 15, 1942) and the later 44-month of 'Resist-Japan-Defend-Malaya' guerilla warfare in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, focusing on the organisations, personnel and military activities of MPAJA during the occupation.

The second book is also a historical record of the Japanese invasion and occupation of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, with particular emphasis on the Battle of Batu Caves Sept 1, 1942, when 18 top CPM and MPAJA leaders were killed.

They were decapitated and their heads put on display at a roundabout in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, to serve as a warning to those who opposed the Japanese. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave.

The slain leaders were later hailed as martyrs and a grand monument was recently erected in their honour in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan.

Yesterday's launch was also attended by Dr Vincent Lim, the political secretary to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a senior official from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China (PRC), top leaders of the Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia, representatives from Chinese education group Dong Jiao Zong and other community groups.