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=== A Left-wing Student ===
=== A Left-wing Student ===
⚫
After graduation in 1940, Eu worked as a Labour Inspector for the colonial government in Kuala Lumpur. When Japanese attack Kuala Lumpur in 1942, Eu Chooi Yip retreated to Singapore and worked as a clerk for Overseas Insurance Company. When Japanese occupied Singapore, he worked in statistical offices for a while. After Japan surrendered, he went back to work for the colonial government. When the Chinese leftist writer, [[cmn:胡愈之|Hu Yuzhi]], published an article in ''Fengxia'' magazine in 1945 which criticized slavish colonial mentality, he felt ashamed for his experience of serving the British and Japanese colonial government.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Lang jian zhu meng Eu Chooi Yip: An Oral History|last = Eu|first = Chooi Yip|publisher = Selangor: Strategic Information and Research Development Center.|year = 2006|isbn = |location = |pages = }}</ref>
After graduation in 1940, Eu worked as a Labour Inspector for the colonial government in
Kuala Lumpur. When Japanese attack Kuala Lumpur in 1942, Eu Chooi
Yip retreated to Singapore and worked as a clerk for Overseas Insurance Company. When Japanese occupied Singapore, he worked in statistical offices for a while. After Japan surrendered, he went back to work for the colonial
⚫
government. When the Chinese leftist writer, [[cmn:胡愈之|Hu Yuzhi]], published an article in ''Fengxia'' magazine in 1945 which criticized slavish colonial mentality, he felt ashamed for his experience of serving the British and Japanese colonial government.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Lang jian zhu meng Eu Chooi Yip: An Oral History|last = Eu|first = Chooi Yip|publisher = Selangor: Strategic Information and Research Development Center.|year = 2006|isbn = |location = |pages = }}</ref>


The Malayan Democratic Union, the first fledged political party, was formed in Singapore in December 1945 by English-educated intellectuals, such as Lim Hong Bee, [[Lim Kean Chye]], John Eber and Philip Hoalim.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|url = |title = Student Politics in University of Malaya, 1949-51|last = Yeo|first = Kim Wah|date = 1992|journal = Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 346-380|doi = |pmid = |access-date = }}</ref> Eu resigned and joined the MDU as a full-time activist in Singapore in 1946 and became a stringer for the English language newspaper, the Straits Times. In preparation for independence of post-war Malaya, the British colonial administration provided the Constitutional Proposals for Malaya, or the Federation Proposals, which failed to balance the interests of Malays and non-Malays. The Federation Proposals met the demands of conservative Malays of the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) that Malaya was constitutionally a Malay state and rejected the equal rights of non-Malays. The MDU worked together with Malayan Communist Party and the Malay Nationalist Party to organize anti-Federation movements, which led to the establishment of All-Malayan Council of Joint Action (AMCJA) and Pusat Tenaga Ra'ayat (PUTERA). The AMCJA-PUTERA coalition demanded a self-governing United Malaya including Singapore and equal rights to all citizens. In 1947, Eu replaced Lim Hong Bee as MDU Secretary.<ref name=":2" /> Although the ALL Malaya Hartal was successful, the colonial government did not concede and the coalition had financial shortage for the second Hartal. In April 1948, member organizations of the coalition held the last conference. Eu proposed to decentralize
The [[Malayan Democratic Union]], the first fledged political party, was formed in Singapore in December 1945 by English-educated intellectuals, such as Lim Hong Bee, [[Lim Kean Chye]], John Eber and Philip Hoalim.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|url = |title = Student Politics in University of Malaya, 1949-51|last = Yeo|first = Kim Wah|date = 1992|journal = Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 346-380|doi = |pmid = |access-date = }}</ref> Eu resigned and joined the MDU as a full-time activist in Singapore in 1946 and became a stringer for the English language newspaper, the ''[[The Straits Times|Straits Times]]''. In preparation for independence of post-war Malaya, the British colonial administration provided the [[Constitutional Proposals for Malaya]], or the Federation Proposals, which failed to balance the interests of Malays and non-Malays. The Federation Proposals met the demands of conservative Malays of the [[United Malays National Organisation|United Malay National Organization]] (UMNO) that Malaya was constitutionally a Malay state and rejected the equal rights of non-Malays. The MDU worked together with Malayan Communist Party and the [[Malay Nationalist Party]] to organize anti-Federation movements, which led to the establishment of [[All-Malaya Council of Joint Action|All-Malayan Council of Joint Action]] (AMCJA) and [[Pusat Tenaga Ra'ayat]] (PUTERA). The AMCJA-PUTERA coalition demanded a self-governing United Malaya including Singapore and equal rights to all citizens. In 1947, Eu replaced Lim Hong Bee as MDU Secretary.<ref name=":2" /> Although the ALL Malaya Hartal was successful, the colonial government did not concede and the coalition had financial shortage for the second Hartal. In April 1948, member organizations of the coalition held the last conference. Eu proposed to decentralize the AMCJA-PUTERA coalition that each member organization of the coalition could conduct agitation against the Federation constitution and member organizations were not allowed to act in the name of the AMCJA-PUTERA unless permitted by the general conference<ref>{{Cite journal|url = |title = The Anti-Federation Movement in Malaya, 1946-48.|last = Yeo|first = Kim Wah|date = 1973|journal = Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 31-51.|doi = |pmid = |access-date = }}</ref>. This conference actually dismantled AMCJA-PUTERA, and the MDU which ascribed the move to financial stringencies dissolved voluntarily. The more important factor leading to the dissolution of the AMCJA-PUTERA was that the MCP had already lost the faith in the constitutional struggle and turned toward armed revolutionary. As the result, the [[Malayan Emergency]] began in 1948 June, and the MCP was outlawed by the government. At that time, Eu Chooi Yip rejected the connection between the AMCJA and the MCP and claimed that he gave his loyalty to Malaya and he was not a Communist<ref>{{Cite journal|url = |title = Tan Cheng Lock: A Malayan Nationalist.|last = Tregonning|first = K. G.|date = 1979|journal = Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 25-76.|doi = |pmid = |access-date = }}</ref>. At the time, Eu was described as an English-educated radical, along with P.V. Sarma, John Eber and Dr. Joseph K.M. Tan. They were pro-communist sympathies, but they were still not communists.<ref name=":1" /> Leaders of MDU had not developed complete understanding of Marxism, and they did not accept communism.
the AMCJA-PUTERA coalition that each member organization of the coalition could conduct agitation against the Federation constitution and member organizations were not allowed to act in the name of the AMCJA-PUTERA unless permitted by the general conference<ref>{{Cite journal|url = |title = The Anti-Federation Movement in Malaya, 1946-48.|last = Yeo|first = Kim Wah|date = 1973|journal = Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 31-51.|doi = |pmid = |access-date = }}</ref>. This conference actually dismantled AMCJA-PUTERA, and the MDU which ascribed the move to financial stringencies dissolved voluntarily. The more important factor leading to the dissolution of the AMCJA-PUTERA was that the MCP had already lost the faith in the constitutional struggle and turned toward armed revolutionary. As the result, the Malayan Emergency began in 1948 June, and the MCP was outlawed by the government. At that time, Eu Chooi Yip rejected the connection between the AMCJA and the MCP and claimed that he gave his loyalty to Malaya and he was not a Communist<ref>{{Cite journal|url = |title = Tan Cheng Lock: A Malayan Nationalist.|last = Tregonning|first = K. G.|date = 1979|journal = Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 25-76.|doi = |pmid = |access-date = }}</ref>. At the time, Eu was described as an English-educated radical, along with P.V. Sarma, John Eber and Dr. Joseph K.M. Tan. They were powerful pro-communist sympathies, but they were still not communists.<ref name=":1" /> Leaders of MDU had not developed complete understanding of Marxism, and they did not accept communism.


=== Conversion to a Communist Member ===
=== Conversion to a Communist Member ===

Revision as of 13:53, 19 November 2015

Template:Chinese name Eu Chooi Yip (Chinese: 余柱业; pinyin: Yú Zhùyè, 1918-1995) was a prominent member of the anti-colonial and Communist movements in Malaya and Singapore in the 1950s and 60s. Eu Chooi Yip was born in Kuantan, Malaysia.[1]

He was the Secretary of the Malayan Democratic Union (MDU), Singapore’s first political party. He actively engaged in Anti-British League, established by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and was responsible for pro-communist propaganda productions. After Eu Chooi Yip joined the MCP, he was responsible for the underground communist movement in Singapore from the 1950s to 1960s. He was the Secretary-General of the United Front of the MCP, called Malayan National Liberation League, which set its office in Beijing. During the Cultural Revolution, he was one of the directors taking in charge of the radio station, the voice of Malayan Revolution. In 1990, he returned to Singapore after receiving the invitation from the Singapore government. Eu Chooi Yip served as a senior research fellow at Institute of East Asian philosophy in Singapore. He passed away in 1995.

Biography

Early life

Eu Chooi Yip was born on 2 December 1918 in Kuantan, Malaysia. Eu’s parents came from Taishan, Guangdong, and operated a medicine shop in Malaysia. He came to Singapore to study with his brother and sister. He attended Victoria School while his sister went to Nanyang Girls' High School. As a child, he was taught by his sister about Sino-Japanese War, and he understood how Chinese people suffered under Japanese occupation.[1] At that time, the Chinese Communist Party established Nanyang branch which organized communist movements among overseas Chinese and also influenced Eu Chooi Yip. In 1938, he received an entrance scholarship to enter Raffles College.[2] Eu was a brilliant student who is good at economics and became one of the top graduates at Raffles College. He was a close friend of Goh Keng Swee, a former Singapore Deputy Prime Minister, whom he knew during his Raffles College days. In Malayan universities, Chinese students developed strong political consciousness, and they either turned toward China or Britain[3]. As a Chinese student, Eu was politically aroused by China’s struggle against Japan. He became interested in politics and developed Chinese nationalism. Although he also read Edgar Snow’s Book, Red Star over China and developed respect toward the Chinese Communist Party, he did not totally accept communism.[2]

A Left-wing Student

After graduation in 1940, Eu worked as a Labour Inspector for the colonial government in Kuala Lumpur. When Japanese attack Kuala Lumpur in 1942, Eu Chooi Yip retreated to Singapore and worked as a clerk for Overseas Insurance Company. When Japanese occupied Singapore, he worked in statistical offices for a while. After Japan surrendered, he went back to work for the colonial government. When the Chinese leftist writer, Hu Yuzhi, published an article in Fengxia magazine in 1945 which criticized slavish colonial mentality, he felt ashamed for his experience of serving the British and Japanese colonial government.[4]

The Malayan Democratic Union, the first fledged political party, was formed in Singapore in December 1945 by English-educated intellectuals, such as Lim Hong Bee, Lim Kean Chye, John Eber and Philip Hoalim.[5] Eu resigned and joined the MDU as a full-time activist in Singapore in 1946 and became a stringer for the English language newspaper, the Straits Times. In preparation for independence of post-war Malaya, the British colonial administration provided the Constitutional Proposals for Malaya, or the Federation Proposals, which failed to balance the interests of Malays and non-Malays. The Federation Proposals met the demands of conservative Malays of the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) that Malaya was constitutionally a Malay state and rejected the equal rights of non-Malays. The MDU worked together with Malayan Communist Party and the Malay Nationalist Party to organize anti-Federation movements, which led to the establishment of All-Malayan Council of Joint Action (AMCJA) and Pusat Tenaga Ra'ayat (PUTERA). The AMCJA-PUTERA coalition demanded a self-governing United Malaya including Singapore and equal rights to all citizens. In 1947, Eu replaced Lim Hong Bee as MDU Secretary.[5] Although the ALL Malaya Hartal was successful, the colonial government did not concede and the coalition had financial shortage for the second Hartal. In April 1948, member organizations of the coalition held the last conference. Eu proposed to decentralize the AMCJA-PUTERA coalition that each member organization of the coalition could conduct agitation against the Federation constitution and member organizations were not allowed to act in the name of the AMCJA-PUTERA unless permitted by the general conference[6]. This conference actually dismantled AMCJA-PUTERA, and the MDU which ascribed the move to financial stringencies dissolved voluntarily. The more important factor leading to the dissolution of the AMCJA-PUTERA was that the MCP had already lost the faith in the constitutional struggle and turned toward armed revolutionary. As the result, the Malayan Emergency began in 1948 June, and the MCP was outlawed by the government. At that time, Eu Chooi Yip rejected the connection between the AMCJA and the MCP and claimed that he gave his loyalty to Malaya and he was not a Communist[7]. At the time, Eu was described as an English-educated radical, along with P.V. Sarma, John Eber and Dr. Joseph K.M. Tan. They were pro-communist sympathies, but they were still not communists.[2] Leaders of MDU had not developed complete understanding of Marxism, and they did not accept communism.

Conversion to a Communist Member

The MCP established the Anti-British League (ABL) and the student organizations in 1948, which strongly influenced Eu Chooi Yip’s left-wing thoughts. One MCP leader, Ah Chin, made a decision to extand its influence among English-educated intelligentsia and absorb suitable ones into the party.[2] The English-speaking section leader of the ABL, Wong Siong Nien, was sent to persuade Eu. Eu started to embrace communism in at the end of 1948 and actively engaged in the ABL. Because Eu Chooi Yip who has a bachelor degree and can speak both Mandarin and English, as an intellectual among MCP members, he was given a lot of responsibilities. Eu began to develop Communist Underground in Singapore and recruit ABL members among both English-speaking and Chinese-speaking intellectuals. A large number of students in University of Malaya who political radicals engaged in clandestine activities and developed connections with the ABL and the MCP.[5] He successfully persuaded his three MDU colleagues P.V. Sarma, Dr. Joseph K.M. Tan, Lim Chan Yong, and Lim Kean Chye to join in the communist party.[2] They visited middle class families to collect donation for the MCP and the ABL activities. He worked an editor for the Freedom News, which distribute communist propaganda productions.[5] Lim Chan Yong and Joseph K.M. Tan founded pro-communist paper, Malayan Orchid.[5] They distributed these propaganda productions from door to door. Due to the efforts of Eu Chooi Yip, the Chinese-speaking ABL recruited 2000 members in June 1950, including Worker’s ABL and Students’ ABL. A number of ABL members gained admission into the MCP through ABL activities, including Eu Chooi Yip who became an official member of the MCP in 1950.[1]

After the declaration of Malayan Emergency, the British colonial government started to fight against communist members. In 1951, the police began to arrest members of the ABL and clear the leftwing group active in the Singapore Teachers’ Union, the Singapore Cooperative Society and the University of Malaya.[8] The active members of former MDU and ABL were arrested by the police, such as John Eber and Dr Joseph K.M. Tan. Many students were also detained and charged with editing pro-communist paper. Eu Chooi Yip and Lim Kean Chye escaped the police arrest, because they went to Beijing for exchange.[9]

Eu Chooi Yip’s close friend, S Rajaratnam (Eu's housemate at Chancery Lane, the founder member of the PAP and the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore) helped Eu to get medical treatment for his tuberculosis and gave him shelter while he was hiding from the British.[10] As the colonial government was suppressing the communist movement in Singapore, Eu Chooi Yip was asked to go to Jakarta, Indonesia under the order of Yeung Kuo, deputy secretary general of the MCP, and continued his work for the MCP.[11]

He joined the Communist Party of Malaya, and became its leader in Singapore. He took direct orders from Chin Peng, the secretary-general of MCP, and was the superior of Fang Chuang Pi, nicknamed the Plen.

Eu stayed in China for many years. He later sought help from Goh Keng Swee to return to Singapore. He died in Singapore in 1995.

References

  1. ^ a b c Eu, Chooi Yip (1992). Political History in Singapore 1945-1965. National Archive of Singapore.
  2. ^ a b c d e Yeo, Kim Wah (1994). "Joining the Communist Underground: the Conversion of English-educated Radicals to Communism in Singapore, June 1948-January 1951". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 67, No. 1 (266).
  3. ^ Stockwell., A. J. (2009). ""The Crucible of the Malayan Nation": The University and the Making of a New Malaya, 1938-62". Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 43, No. 5, 1149-1187.
  4. ^ Eu, Chooi Yip (2006). Lang jian zhu meng Eu Chooi Yip: An Oral History. Selangor: Strategic Information and Research Development Center.
  5. ^ a b c d e Yeo, Kim Wah (1992). "Student Politics in University of Malaya, 1949-51". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 346-380.
  6. ^ Yeo, Kim Wah (1973). "The Anti-Federation Movement in Malaya, 1946-48". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 31-51.
  7. ^ Tregonning, K. G. (1979). "Tan Cheng Lock: A Malayan Nationalist". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 25-76.
  8. ^ Cheah, Boon-Kheng (2006). "The left-wing movement in Malaya, Singapore and Borneo in the 1960s: 'an era of hope or devil's decade?". Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 7 634-649.
  9. ^ Yeo, Kim Wah (1969). "A Study of Three Early Political Parties in Singapore, 1945-1955". Journal of Southeast Asian History, Vol. 10, 115-141.
  10. ^ Chua, Beng Huat (1991). ". Singapore 1990: Celebrating the End of an Era". Southeast Asian Affairs, utheast Asian Affairs, pp. 253-266. {{cite journal}}: line feed character in |journal= at position 16 (help)
  11. ^ Hara, Fujio. (2010). "The Malayan Communist Party and the Indonesian Communist Party: Features of Co-operation". Journal of Chinese Overseas, 6 216-249.


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