The Cold War has affected the communities around the world. Malaysia was no exception in being affected by the
turmoil the international world, particularly after the World War 2, due to ideological conflicts. Based on the domino
theory, the ups and downs of particular country in terms of its, strong ideology, brings about network impacts to each
country in the world. Thus, a freedom of Malaya and the establishment of Malaysia came from the history of Cold War
which influenced the international scene. The establishment of Malaysia is seen as a mechanism to stop the influence of
communism. The involvement leaders from Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak as well as Brunei Darussalam in the
agenda to ‘build’ Malaysia with the approval from democratic countries showed a very strong cooperation that
communism was a threat. This contributed to the creation of a new and bigger country. The wise Malaysian leaders in
negotiating and being united in facing the global threats at that time, has shown that Malaysia’s ‘project’ in stopping the
communist theory which is also known domino theory, was successfully carried out and maintained till today. Therefore,
Malaysia as a case study, on how a country was ‘built’ on the basis of stopping the spread of communism in saving the
Southeast Asia from falling into the hands of communists, is unique and its effectiveness should be studied.
Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), the Malaysian government and Thai
military commanders at Ha’adyai in southern Thailand. In this paper I shall
look at its impact on the various ethnic communities, especially in their early
political struggles for independence in Malaya, and in their efforts to mould a
viable nation-state. I shall also discuss the end of British rule and the politics
of nation-building in independent Malaya, focusing on social change,
democracy, human rights, urbanization and economic development. My aim
is to assess whether the communist insurgency left any enduring legacy in the
nation-building of independent Malaya and in its later enlarged form of
Malaysia. The paper will also assess briefly the impact of the 39-year-old
communist insurgency in the east Malaysian state of Sarawak, which ended
in 1990.