For many years, the official narratives and discourses in the party-controlled mass media in Malaysia have given one strong impression to the other that Umno is the alpha and omega of the theory and practice of Malay nationalism as well as the struggle for the independence of Malaya.

However, while the future of Malay nationalism in a globalising world and multiethnic society is being rationally and critically explored by public intellectuals like Rustam A Sani in his latest book Ke Mana Nasionalisme Melayu? (Wither Malay Nationalism?), the past is also catching up with the publications of the memoirs of two ex-leaders of the Communist Party of Malaya, namely Shamsiah Fakeh and Ibrahim Chik.