Delicious Hunger
Hai Fan, Translated by Jeremy Tiang
Tilted Axis Press: 2024
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Growing up in Singapore, I didn’t learn very much about the communists of Malaya. I remember studying key events in global history, like the 1917 Russian Revolution or the Great Leap Forward launched by Mao Zedong in 1958, but the syllabus was relatively silent about the communists closer to home. I suppose it was deemed sufficient for young Singaporeans to leave our classrooms with a vague impression that communists were dangerous and that it was a good thing they were thwarted and crushed by the crafty machinations of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister. The accuracy (or lack thereof) of this narrative is still a matter of great political sensitivity in Singapore today.

Founded in 1930 to mainly operate in Malaya and Singapore, the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) was at the forefront of the resistance against Japanese occupiers during the Second World War. After the war, relations soured with the British, degenerating into a period of violent conflict from 1948 to 1960 that has since become known as the Malayan Emergency. Even after the formal end of the Emergency, the CPM continued to engage in a guerilla campaign in the rainforests of Malaysia and southern Thailand with the long-term goal of establishing a communist state.

• Tags: Hai Fan, Issue 37, Jeremy Tiang, Kirsten Han, Malaysia