The Malayan Democratic Union was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

political party active in

British Malaya The term "British Malaya" (; ) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British Empire, British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. Unlike the ...

from 1945 to 1948. It was founded by English-educated intellectuals and advocated for the independence of British Malaya as a single entity inclusive of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

History

There exists differing accounts of the party's origins, although it is generally accepted that it was first conceived by its leaders while under Japanese internment in occupied Malaya. Two contradictory accounts have been provided by Gerald de Cruz, who claimed that he had been approached by Wu Tian Wang, a member of the

Malayan Communist Party The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore f ...

, to initiate the party's founding, and later that the party had been conceived by Lim Hong Bee and the Malayan Communist Party during Lim's involvement with the Communist-led

Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a communist guerrilla army that resisted the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945 in World War II. Composed mainly of ethnic Chinese guerrilla fighters, the MPAJA was the largest ...

in Endau,

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

. Other accounts, including those of party chairman Philip Hoalim Sr., repudiated any claims of Communist influence in the party's founding. The party adopted a moderate and liberal attitude at its inception and called for, among other things, a self-governing democratic Malaya within the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire The B ...

. It was broadly in support of the

Malayan Union The Malayan Union (; Jawi: كساتوان مالايا) was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single g ...

, which united the federated and

unfederated Malay States The "Unfederated Malay States" (; Jawi: ) was the collective name given to five British protected states in the Malay Peninsula during the first half of the 20th century. These states were Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu. In ...

, and the Straits Settlements of Malacca and Penang into a single entity, and of the union's accompanying liberal citizenship scheme on the condition that Singapore be included in any such union. However, the Malayan Union faced significant opposition from Malay nationalists who engaged in clandestine negotiations with British administrators to produce new constitutional proposals that would restore the sovereignty of Malay rulers and introduce a more restrictive citizenship scheme. In opposition to the Anglo-Malay constitution, the Malayan Democratic Union alongside other parties and organisations formed the All-Malaya Council of Joint Action (AMCJA), which styled itself the sole representative body of "domiciled Malays and non-Malays", and sought to engage in direct negotiations with the British government for a more democratic constitution. The efforts of the party through the AMCJA to push through a more equitable constitution, including through a

hartal Hartal () is a term in many Languages of India, Indian languages for a strike action that was first used during the Indian independence movement (also known as the nationalist movement) of the early 20th century. A hartal is a mass protest, often ...

in October 1947, were unsuccessful. The party was voluntarily dissolved in June 1948 at the beginning of the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

, when its leaders heard rumours that the colonial government was considering taking action against it. The party was generally considered to have been strongly influenced by and acted as a

communist front A communist front (or a mass organization in communist parlance) is a political organization identified as a front organization, allied with or under the effective control of a communist party, the Communist International or other communist organ ...

owing to the presence of Malayan Communist Party members in its central committee from May 1948 onwards, as well as the two parties' close cooperation as part of the AMCJA.

References

Citations

{{Singaporean political parties Political history of Malaysia Political history of Singapore British Malaya Malayan Emergency 1945 establishments in British Malaya 1948 disestablishments in British Malaya 1948 disestablishments in Malaya Political parties established in 1945 Political parties disestablished in 1948 Defunct political parties in Singapore Defunct political parties in Malaysia