The long-term consequences arising from the causes and effects of the
communist insurgency, however, reveal that human actions often vary with,
and sometimes are contrary to, the results that were intended or expected. As
Short has said, it is difficult to state which was the more important in time
and form for the future of Malaya—the attainment of independence or the
defeat of the communist insurrection.36 The communist insurrection had led
to a prolonged Emergency, the rise of communalism, an authoritarian regime
to combat communist subversion and influence, ethnic urbanization and
polarization, the end of colonial rule and the birth and building of a new
nation, which saw the communist insurgency equally as a threat. The scars,
pains and weapons of the Emergency continued to remain long after the
colonial presence had disappeared. The popularly elected government, like
the colonial government, used authoritarian measures to suppress citizen dissidents and discontents, much in the same way as they had been used to
suppress communist subversion and influence.
The insurgency’s major threat had always been to internal security and
national defence. But it is ironic that when that threat actually ceased
seventeen years ago laws that were previously introduced in Malaysia to
combat communist subversion and influence were not removed from the
statute books and were still defended as necessary to safeguard internal
security. This legacy of authoritarian rule from the time of the Emergency
has been the most negative aspect of the communist insurgency. The
executive authorities and the police force have been empowered with
extensive powers, which have been frequently used to curb citizens’ human
rights and impede the development of civil society. On the positive side,
however, in its efforts to undermine the rationale of the insurgency and
isolate it further, the Malaysian government had over the years pursued
economic growth, industrialization, an independent non-aligned foreign
policy, as well as flexible policies of multi-culturalism in education and
culture.