Communism is an ideology that is lost to many of us today. We're not really sure what it is. But all we know is that it was evil. Just look at the number of movies that Hollywood churned out before the Berlin Wall fell, telling moviegoers that communism was inherently dark and controlling and that it would destroy society.

Our grasp of this ideology is at a cartoon like, simplistic level and its true symbolism is lost on us. To illustrate, when film director Elia Kazan won an Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1999 many Hollywood stars booed him because Kazan denounced communist members and sympathizers to Senator Joseph McCarthy.

If you will recall, from 195354, Senator McCarthy organized hearings where American citizens were required to denounce communist members and sympathizers in their midst. Now why would anyone make a big deal about booing Kazan? Wasn't he a respected director?

Anyway didn't he do the right thing since anyone who even remotely thought about communism was evil and had to be taken away? Even Humphrey Bogart was targeted to name names but the truly classy actor refused. This is an example of how we can erroneously think about this concept.

Communism isn't the issue at hand; the issue of the booing is that Kazan, a former Stalinist, was a rat and didn't think twice about turning in other Stalinists as enemies of the state. The lives of many artists and writers were destroyed because Kazan had the grand idea that he could help destroy the savage beast.

We have to stop thinking of communism as being insidious and manipulating the concept to suit our convenience. We just have to acknowledge that communism has failed to work to govern a society. For the state to own everything in society and including the people as a factor of production is an exercise in futility.

Even though Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote eloquently about the ideology, they weren't proletariats who had to suffer for the cause; everything was more theoretical than practical for them. So their followers had a raw deal. Having acknowledged communism as not being evil but simply and utterly a failed political philosophy, let's move on.

Recognising them

What else can we correct in our minds? Specifically for us in Malaysia, we can stop thinking that the Communist Party of Malaysia (CPM) is menacing and will perpetuate terrorism. In so doing, we should then be comfortable about letting the 82-year-old Chin Peng and his remaining members come back to their homeland to die. To allow them to return to Malaysia is not about being "too soft" on communism; it is about recognizing them first and foremost as nationalists.

I did not read Chin Peng's side of the story. I don't have to. His side of the story and the official British colonial ruler's side of the story are one and the same. The British admitted that he was loyal to his country. He fought alongside the British against the Japanese during WWII. As a reward, a few CPM members and he journeyed to London to receive medals for "meritorious services" (1) .

Unfortunately for Chin Peng he suffered a case of being politically a British ally one day and an enemy the next. From 19451948, the British allowed CPM to operate as a legal organization. During this time, CPM became more popular because it provided a sense of belonging and identity to those "set adrift by the violent repercussions of WWII which destroyed the traditional bases of their communities" especially since "the (British Military Administration) Government operated in distant and limited spheres" (2) .

A patriot

In other words, people especially the Kinta dwellers were frustrated, desperately in need of food and a roof over their heads and turned to the CPM for support since the colonialists couldn't meet their needs. Eventually the CPM went as far as to work consciously towards a socialist Malayan Democratic Republic. But things got out of control; all this was forgotten and replaced by the official history of the Emergency.

Based on these facts, we have to be fair and recognize Chin Peng as a patriot and not let the communist label confuse issues. While we can all agree that the Japanese were an enemy of Malaya, somehow we can't seem to get our minds around the fact that the British if not an absolute enemy was nonetheless an exploiter of Malaya. Is it because we were so seduced by the British? We were never British no matter how much cricket we played at Selangor Club and no matter how much we tried to speak the Queen's English. Hence for Chin Peng to have fought against them, he was never a traitor; he was a patriot, plain and simple.

It is very sad and disappointing that we can mix up an old man's noble wish to come home to die with crazy ideas of what communism is. If he comes home, we can rest assured that young Malaysians won't be running out to sign up to become communists. We live and breathe capitalism and inconspicuous consumption.

We have no idea what it means to strive for the communist equilibrium from each one, according to his ability and to each one, according to his need. That requires equality in society and we don't know what that means! We're too busy doing business and promoting tourism with communist China and Vietnam; come to think of it, why are we letting them in?

Footnote

1) Source: Malayan Victory Contingent, London, Department of Information, Great Britain, 1946.

2) L Pye, Guerilla Communism in Malaya , Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1956, pp 201 - 4.

TREENA WU is an economist and public policy analyst pursuing her PhD. She is currently residing in New York.