FROM INSURGENT TO CITIZEN
World War, Insurgency, and Confrontation in Malaya and Singapore
This is a first-person account of an overseas Chinese who independence of Malaya and Singapore and who evolved through several roles during those tumultuous times – from an anti-Japanese agent in World War II, to a communist guerrilla leader during the Emergency and subsequently to a citizen who worked for the Special Branch to defend the nation during Confrontation.
The book also offers an in-depth first-person account of the history, operational methodology, struggles and ultimate failure of the Malayan Communist Party in the armed struggle and provides an in-depth analysis from a direct participant of those events. It describes the zeitgeist of the time amongst overseas Chinese in Malaya and Singapore in the prelude to and the aftermath of World War II and the subsequent struggle of independence in a world where they had hitherto been second-class residents. Due to the inherent secrecy of the clandestine Malayan Communist Party, many of the events described in the book were not previously known; events that the protagonist in his old age now wishes to record for posterity.
About the Author
Born in 1926 in Malaya, Thomas Chow (Swee Leong) received his education in Singapore where he was thrust into the zeitgeist of the overseas Chinese community of the pre-World War II colony. He witnessed first-hand the horrors of the Japanese occupation which prompted him to join the Malayan Peoples’ Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) in their resistance efforts against the Japanese occupation of Malaya.
He was subsequently inducted into the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and after the World War II, he participated in their war of national liberation against the British Empire during the Malayan Emergency and rose through the ranks living the hard life of a guerrilla.
