Despite Chinese civilian casualties being higher, the Malay press
questioned the loyalty of the Chinese community and their support in the
fight against the communist insurgents. Malay voices were also raised against
the British government’s request to the Malay Rulers to allow Chinese
squatters to be moved from jungle fringes to ‘new villages’ to be built on
Malay state lands. There were complaints that the ‘new villages’ enjoyed
better facilities such as electricity and water supplies than Malay villages,
despite Malays having given greater support and loyalty to the government in
the war against the insurgents.15
To diffuse these rising tensions, the British Commissioner-General for
Southeast Asia, Malcolm MacDonald, took the initiative to bring leaders of
the different communities together in a ‘Communities Liaison Committee’ to
enable them to sit down and discuss Malaya’s political future and ways to
bring about national unity. Although the discussions were informal, they
succeeded in bringing about cooperation and understanding among these
leaders, who included the UMNO’s president Dato’ Onn, the MCA leader
Tan Cheng Lock and the leader of the Ceylonese community, Dato C.
Thuraisingam. It was largely due to these discussions that Dato’ Onn was
persuaded to put aside his Malay nationalism and to work for a multi-ethnic
‘Malayan’ nationalism. But in so doing he ran against a strong tide of Malay
opinion within his own party. He resigned from the UMNO in 1951 when
UMNO members disagreed with his decision to open its doors to non-Malays
and turn itself into a ‘Malayan’ party and to support liberal citizenship terms
for non-Malays.16
Dato’ Onn went on to form the multi-ethnic Independence of Malaya
Party (IMP), but it received lukewarm support from Malays and other
communities. This forced him to dissolve the IMP and to form another party,
the Party Negara, in which Malay nationalism again became a driving force.
Before long, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who had taken over as the new leader of
the UMNO, formed an alliance with the MCA to contest municipal elections
in the country. After winning most of the municipal elections in 1952 and
1953 as a coalition, the alliance was eventually enlarged and formalized as a
grand coalition of three communal parties, known as the UMNO-MCA-MICAlliance
representing the three major races in Malaya.
In July 1955, after Templer’s departure, Malaya held its first general
elections in which the multi-ethnic UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance Party won
51 of the 52 contested federal seats. The various communities in Malaya
seemed to prefer communal party representation to safeguard their own
communal interests, thereby intensifying the trend of communalism in
politics. The Alliance formed the federal government and immediately
offered amnesty to the communist insurgents. It also began negotiations with
the British government for full self-government and national independence.
To discuss the amnesty terms, Tunku Abdul Rahman, leader of the Alliance
government, met with the communist leaders at Baling (in Kedah state) on 28
and 29 December 1955.