Malayan Communist Party - Prominent Members

Prominent Members

• Chin Peng. Secretary-General 1947–present.

• Lai Teck (Loi Tak). Secretary-General 1939 - 1947. British and Japanese triple agent.

• Wahi Annuar (Anwar). Took to the forests at the beginning of the emergency. Was a leader in the MPLA 10th Regiment. Surrendered in February 1950.

• R. G. Balan. Was in MPAJA. Attended Empire Communist Conference in London. Organised the Perak Rubber Labourers Union after his return from the Conference (c. 1948). It was a rival to John Emmanuel's government-sponsored faction of the Perak Estates Employees Union. Balan's union was very active from the beginning of 1948 until the emergency was declared. Balan was arrested 30 or 31 May 1948.

• Abdullah C. D. May also have been in Malay Nationalist Party (MNP). Went into the jungle when the emergency was instituted. One of the three MCP signatories at Haad Yi, 1989.

• Eng Min Chin (Ms). Member of Perak State organisation. In November 1945 she defended Lai Teck against rumors of disloyalty.

• S. A. Ganapathy. Before World War Two, he was a member of the Indian Communist Party, Malaya. During the period of Japanese rule, he joined the Indian National Army (INA). While in the INA he resumed his Communist affiliation and late in the War was arrested by the Japanese for Communist propagandising. After the War, he became President of the Pan Malayan General Labour Union (PMGLU), and President of the Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions (PMFTU). At the beginning of the emergency, he joined the guerrilla. He was arrested in May 1949 and hanged for possession of a pistol.

• Yeong Kuo. Head of the Organisation Committee around 1946. Member of the Central Standing Committee (State C.E.C.?) from Selangor. Played a large role in the investigation against Lai Teck.

• Lau Mah. Aliases: Ah Chung, Chin Wei Seong. Secretary of MPAJA 5th Regiment, Perak, in at least 1945. Member of the MCP Central Executive Committee. Killed by security forces in Perak, December 1949.

• Lau Yew (Liu Yau). Probably the MCP's most skilled military commander. Chairman of the Central Military Committee of the MPAJA. President of the MPAJA Ex-Service Comrades Association. Head of the MPABA. Killed by government forces in Selangor, 16 July 1948.

• Lee Soong (Lee Siong). MCP representative at the Calcutta Youth Conference, 1948.

• Liew Yit Fan. Political Secretary of MPAJA 2nd Regiment. 'Open' representative of MCP in mid 1947. Editor of Min Sheng Pao, largest Chinese-language newspaper in the Federation. Arrested 9 June 1948 for sedition.

• Lin Ah Liang. Head of the Singapore branch of the MCP in at least 1946.

• Abdul Rashid bin Maidin (Rashid Maidin). Attended the 'Empire' communist conference in London. May have met Ahmad Boestemam in May and early June 1948 to plan an insurrection to begin in 1950. Arrested at the beginning of the emergency but sprung from a camp in Malacca. One of the three MCP signatories at Haad Yi, 1989.

• Soon Kwong. General Secretary of the Selangor MPAJU. He was arrested on 12 October 1945 and charged with extortion committed 10 September 1945. His arrest, and to a lesser extent that of several MPAJA and MPAJU officials before that, prompted a large anti-government demonstration.

• Wu Tian Wang. MCP representative on the British-convoked Singapore Advisory Council, 1945.

• Eu Chooi Yip: A brilliant graduate of Raffles College, he was the key leader of MCP (Singapore). Was the superior of "The Plen" (Fang Chuang Pi)

• Fang Chuang Pi: Key leader of MCP (Singapore)