All-Malaya Council of Joint Action
Encyclopedia
The All-Malaya Council of Joint Action (AMCJA) was a coalition of political and civic organizations in Malaya
formed to participate in the development of a constitution for post-war
Malaya in preparation for independence and to oppose the Constitutional Proposals for Malaya (also known as the Federation Proposals or the Anglo-Malay Proposals) which eventually formed the basis of the Federation of Malaya
Agreement .
, a policy of constitutional development which incorporated the twin goals of constitutional unity and a common citizenship within Malaya was developed as the basis for eventual self-rule and independence of the territory . The first proposal called for the Federated Malay States
and Unfederated Malay States
to be joined into a larger federation styled the Malayan Union
. It was expected that Penang
and Malacca
would be severed from the Straits Settlements
to join the new federation while Singapore
remained a separate Crown Colony
.
Significant Malay
opposition to the Union was spontaneous and widespread as it was seen as a departure from the traditional pro-Malay policies of the British and the removal of sovereignty of the Malay rulers while a significant majority of non-Malays were generally divided or indifferent to the proposals . The preoccupation with post-war rebuilding and the lack of an existing Malaya-centric political discourse meant that even the community most likely to view Malaya as their home like the Straits Chinese and second generation non-Malays failed to appreciate the implications of the Union until it was abandoned by the British. Only openly anti-colonial movements like the radical Malayan Communist Party
(MCP) and the more moderate Malayan Democratic Union (MDU), established by English educated left-leaning middle-class intellectuals in Singapore
in 1945, emerged to support the proposal with the caveat that Singapore was included in the Union .
With the widespread opposition among the Malays, the British administration entered into secret negotiations with the Malay aristocracy and the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) as they were unwilling to allow the Malay opposition to the Union develop into an anti-British attitude in the same way that had happened in the Dutch East Indies
where the locals were engaged in an open armed rebellion against the Dutch. When news that the British had agreed to the demands of the conservative Malays and the Anglo-Malay Proposals included institutionalized handicaps against the non-Malay community and the absence of a road map towards Malayan independence, a united front was mulled to oppose the proposals.
Following a telegramed suggestion by Tan Cheng Lock
, three central principles were adopted :
acronym PKMM), the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) and various other groups to:
The immediate result of this meeting was the formation of the Council for Joint Action (CJA) comprising the MDU, PKMM, MIC, the General Labour Union (later to split into the Singapore Federation of Trade Unions
or SFTU and the Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions or PMFTU), the Singapore Clerical Union, the Straits Chinese British Association (SBCA), the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Singapore Tamil Association and the Singapore Women's Federation operating on the three principles adopted during the November meeting. Tan Cheng Lock was appointed the Chairman with MDU's Paul Eber
as Secretary-General. A memorandum of protest was sent by the CJA to Arthur Creech Jones
, a trade unionist who was then the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
for the British government on December 16 of the same year with the announcement that the CJA intended to boycott the Consultative Committee established to discuss and implement the Anglo-Malay Proposals.
This CJA was expanded on December 22, 1946 with the inclusion of the Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions, the Clerical Unions of Penang, Malacca, Selangor and Perak, the Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Selangor Women's Federation, the Malayan New Democratic Youth's League, the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Ex-Comrades Association, the Singapore Chinese Association and the Peasant's Union. A press conference in Kuala Lumpur announced the formation of the Pan-Malayan Council of Joint Action (PMCJA) with Tan Cheng Lock
re-elected Chairman with MDU's Gerald de Cruz as Secretary-General .
The PMCJA sought to gain recognition from to act as the sole representative body with which the British government would negotiate with a view to amending the constitution in accordance with the wishes of that part of the populace that has not been consulted so far . Nonetheless, the negotiated Anglo-Malay proposals were published as a government White Paper
on December 24, 1946 together with a note from the Governor, Edward Gent
, that the proposals were conditionally accepted by the British government provided that
(PUTERA), was formed and by March of the same year the PMCJA had established a coalition with PUTERA known as PUTERA-PMCJA. The PUTERA-PMCJA adopted a total of 10 principles; including the three original principles of the CJA; as the basis of their constitutional proposals :
Due to concerns about the implications of the term Pan-Malayan which groups like the Tan Kah Kee
and Lee Kong Chian
led Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce (ACCC) considered to be indicative of communist domination and the MNP considered to include only non-Malays, the name of the PMCJA was changed to become the All Malaya Joint Council for Action or AMCJA in August 1947 and the PUTERA-PMCJA coalition became known as PUTERA-AMCJA .
The PUTERA-AMCJA constitutional proposals was adopted by the constituent members of the both coalitions on August 10, 1947 and presented to the public on September 21 as the People's Constitutional Proposals . A summary of the differences between the People's Constitutional Proposals and the Revised Constitutional Proposals published in July 1947 based on the report of the Government Consultative Committee are :
to review and reverse the Revised Constitutional Proposals .
Agitation against the Revised Constitutional Approvals grew throughout September with a successful hartal
organised in Malacca and Ipoh
in protest. Emboldened by the success, the ACCC decided to launch a country-wide strike and invited PUTERA-AMCJA was invited to support the strike. A decision was made to hold the strike, to be known as the All Malaya Hartal, on October 20, 1947 to coincide with the opening of the session of the British Parliament where the Revised Constitutional Proposals were to be tabled and debated .
The hartal turned out to be a major success although UMNO held counter demonstrations in the more rural areas like Senggaram and Bagan Datoh
contributing to the rise in ethnic tensions and the cancellation of the planned strike in those areas .
The hartal was also successfully carried out in Singapore, which received the prominent support of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce led by its chairman Lee Kong Chian
.
sympathizers had also begun to lobby for the withdrawal of ACCC support from the PUTERA-AMCJA due to the intensification of the Chinese civil war
.
The implementation of the Federation of Malaya
constitution based on the Revised Constitutional Proposals on February 1, 1948 and the decision of the MCP to launch an armed rebellion marked the beginning of the end for the PUTERA-AMCJA coalition and AMCJA as a whole. With the declaration of the nationwide emergency
, the constituent organizations either withdrew from the coalition, went underground, or in the case of the MDU, voluntarily dissolved itself and the AMCJA ceased to exist as a body.
Mainstream political developments in Malaya in the following decade came to be dominated by conservative and pro-British groups with a distinctive impact on the historical development of independent Malaya, and later Malaysia, for the next few decades .
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
formed to participate in the development of a constitution for post-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Malaya in preparation for independence and to oppose the Constitutional Proposals for Malaya (also known as the Federation Proposals or the Anglo-Malay Proposals) which eventually formed the basis of the Federation of Malaya
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
Agreement .
Background
In seeking to solve some of the administrative incoherence in the pre-war British ruled MalayaBritish Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
, a policy of constitutional development which incorporated the twin goals of constitutional unity and a common citizenship within Malaya was developed as the basis for eventual self-rule and independence of the territory . The first proposal called for the Federated Malay States
Federated Malay States
The Federated Malay States was a federation of four protected states in the Malay Peninsula—Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang—established by the British government in 1895, which lasted until 1946, when they, together with the Straits Settlements and the Unfederated Malay...
and Unfederated Malay States
Unfederated Malay States
The term Unfederated Malay States was the collective name given to five British protected states in the Malay peninsula in the first half of the twentieth century. These states were Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu...
to be joined into a larger federation styled the Malayan Union
Malayan Union
The Malayan Union was a federation of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government so as to simplify administration. The Malayan Union later became the independent...
. It was expected that Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
and Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
would be severed from the Straits Settlements
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...
to join the new federation while Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
remained a separate Crown Colony
Crown colony
A Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
.
Significant Malay
Malay people
Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
opposition to the Union was spontaneous and widespread as it was seen as a departure from the traditional pro-Malay policies of the British and the removal of sovereignty of the Malay rulers while a significant majority of non-Malays were generally divided or indifferent to the proposals . The preoccupation with post-war rebuilding and the lack of an existing Malaya-centric political discourse meant that even the community most likely to view Malaya as their home like the Straits Chinese and second generation non-Malays failed to appreciate the implications of the Union until it was abandoned by the British. Only openly anti-colonial movements like the radical Malayan Communist Party
Malayan Communist Party
The Malayan Communist Party , officially known as the Communist Party of Malaya , was founded in 1930 and laid down its arms in 1989. It is most famous for its role in the Malayan Emergency.-Formation:...
(MCP) and the more moderate Malayan Democratic Union (MDU), established by English educated left-leaning middle-class intellectuals in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
in 1945, emerged to support the proposal with the caveat that Singapore was included in the Union .
With the widespread opposition among the Malays, the British administration entered into secret negotiations with the Malay aristocracy and the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) as they were unwilling to allow the Malay opposition to the Union develop into an anti-British attitude in the same way that had happened in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
where the locals were engaged in an open armed rebellion against the Dutch. When news that the British had agreed to the demands of the conservative Malays and the Anglo-Malay Proposals included institutionalized handicaps against the non-Malay community and the absence of a road map towards Malayan independence, a united front was mulled to oppose the proposals.
United front proposed
On November 19, 1946, a meeting was held to discuss the formation of a united front. Attending this meeting were :| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Ahmad Boestamam | Malay Nationalist Party |
| Musa Ahmad | |
| Liew Yit Fun | Malayan Communist Party |
| Chai Pek Siang | |
| Gerald de Cruz | Malayan Democratic Union |
| H. B. Talalla | Unaffiliated |
| Khoo Teik Ee |
Following a telegramed suggestion by Tan Cheng Lock
Tan Cheng Lock
Tun Dato Sri Sir Cheng-lock Tan, DPMJ, KBE was a Malaysian Chinese businessman and a key public figure who devoted his life to fighting for the rights and the social welfare of the Chinese community in Malaya...
, three central principles were adopted :
- A united Malaya including Singapore
- A populatly elected Central Government and popularly elected State councils
- A citizenship granting equal rights to all who made Malaya their permanent home and the object of their undivided loyalty
Formation
On December 14, 1946, the MDU sponsored a meeting in Singapore which was participated by the Malay Nationalist Party (known by its MalayMalay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
acronym PKMM), the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) and various other groups to:
"provide the machinery for the various communities, through their organisations and associations, to reach agreement on all points connected with the future constitution of Malaya, thus avoiding the dangers of separated and self-interested representation"
The immediate result of this meeting was the formation of the Council for Joint Action (CJA) comprising the MDU, PKMM, MIC, the General Labour Union (later to split into the Singapore Federation of Trade Unions
Singapore Federation of Trade Unions
The Singapore Federation of Trade Unions was a trade union centre in Singapore. It was founded in October 1945 as the Singapore General Labour Union on the initiative of the Malayan Communist Party. SGLU was the first unit of the Malayan General Labour Union, which expanded throughout Malaya...
or SFTU and the Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions or PMFTU), the Singapore Clerical Union, the Straits Chinese British Association (SBCA), the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Singapore Tamil Association and the Singapore Women's Federation operating on the three principles adopted during the November meeting. Tan Cheng Lock was appointed the Chairman with MDU's Paul Eber
Paul Eber
Paul Eber , German Lutheran theologian, was born at Kitzingen in Franconia, and was educated at Nuremberg and Wittenberg, where he became the close friend of Philipp Melanchthon....
as Secretary-General. A memorandum of protest was sent by the CJA to Arthur Creech Jones
Arthur Creech Jones
Arthur Creech Jones was a British trade union official and politician. Originally a civil servant, his imprisonment as a conscientious objector during the First World War forced him to change careers. A protégé of Ernest Bevin, he was elected to Parliament in 1935 and served in the Colonial Office...
, a trade unionist who was then the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies was a junior Ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, subordinate to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and, from 1948, also to a Minister of State....
for the British government on December 16 of the same year with the announcement that the CJA intended to boycott the Consultative Committee established to discuss and implement the Anglo-Malay Proposals.
This CJA was expanded on December 22, 1946 with the inclusion of the Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions, the Clerical Unions of Penang, Malacca, Selangor and Perak, the Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Selangor Women's Federation, the Malayan New Democratic Youth's League, the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Ex-Comrades Association, the Singapore Chinese Association and the Peasant's Union. A press conference in Kuala Lumpur announced the formation of the Pan-Malayan Council of Joint Action (PMCJA) with Tan Cheng Lock
Tan Cheng Lock
Tun Dato Sri Sir Cheng-lock Tan, DPMJ, KBE was a Malaysian Chinese businessman and a key public figure who devoted his life to fighting for the rights and the social welfare of the Chinese community in Malaya...
re-elected Chairman with MDU's Gerald de Cruz as Secretary-General .
The PMCJA sought to gain recognition from to act as the sole representative body with which the British government would negotiate with a view to amending the constitution in accordance with the wishes of that part of the populace that has not been consulted so far . Nonetheless, the negotiated Anglo-Malay proposals were published as a government White Paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
on December 24, 1946 together with a note from the Governor, Edward Gent
Edward Gent
Sir Gerard Edward James Gent, KCMG, DSO, OBE, MC, was the first appointed Governor of the Malayan Union in 1946.-Life:Sir Edward was born in 1895 was the son of John Gent and Harriet Frankland Randall. His real name is Gerard Edward James Gent, but he changed it to Edward James Gent, the reasons...
, that the proposals were conditionally accepted by the British government provided that
"all interested communities in Malaya have had full and free opportunity of expressing their views"
People's Constitution
Opposition to the Anglo-Malay proposal increased with demonstrations being held across Malaya and consultations were held to prepare an alternative set of proposals to be tabled to the British government. On February 22, 1947, a coalition of Malay organizations opposed to the Anglo-Malay agreement and led by the MNP, Pusat Tenaga Ra'ayatPusat Tenaga Ra'ayat
The Pusat Tenaga Raayat was a major political party in Malaysia opposed to the United Malays National Organization and the Malay-supremacist ideology of Ketuanan Melayu. It formed an opposition coalition with the All-Malaya Council of Joint Action. "Raayat" is the archaic spelling for the Malay...
(PUTERA), was formed and by March of the same year the PMCJA had established a coalition with PUTERA known as PUTERA-PMCJA. The PUTERA-PMCJA adopted a total of 10 principles; including the three original principles of the CJA; as the basis of their constitutional proposals :
|
|
Due to concerns about the implications of the term Pan-Malayan which groups like the Tan Kah Kee
Tan Kah Kee
Tan Kah Kee was a prominent businessman, community leader, and philanthropist in colonial Singapore, and a Communist leader in the People's Republic of China.- Early years :...
and Lee Kong Chian
Lee Kong Chian
Lee Kong Chian , was a prominent businessman and philanthropist and the founder of The Lee Foundation in Singapore. He was one of Southeast Asia's richest men in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the son-in-law of philanthropist Tan Kah Kee.-Early life:...
led Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce (ACCC) considered to be indicative of communist domination and the MNP considered to include only non-Malays, the name of the PMCJA was changed to become the All Malaya Joint Council for Action or AMCJA in August 1947 and the PUTERA-PMCJA coalition became known as PUTERA-AMCJA .
The PUTERA-AMCJA constitutional proposals was adopted by the constituent members of the both coalitions on August 10, 1947 and presented to the public on September 21 as the People's Constitutional Proposals . A summary of the differences between the People's Constitutional Proposals and the Revised Constitutional Proposals published in July 1947 based on the report of the Government Consultative Committee are :
| People's Constitutional Proposals | Revised Constitional Proposals |
|---|---|
| A united Malaya including Singapore | A federation of the Malay states and the former Straits Settlements excluding Singapore |
| A popularly elected Central Government and popularly elected State councils | An appointed Executive Council headed by a British High Commissioner in Malaya and an appointed Federal Legislative Council of fifty unofficial members, fourteen official members and eleven free members (the Menteri Besar Menteri Besar The Menteri Besar is the chief executive of the state government for states in Malaysia with hereditary rulers. For states without a monarch, the title Chief Minister is used... of the 9 Malay states and 1 representative each from Penang and Malacca). |
| A citizenship granting equal rights to all who made Malaya their permanent home and the object of their undivided loyalty | Birth qualifications, language test, and long residential terms imposed, effectively restricting the access to citizenship of domiciled non-Malays |
| Malay Rulers to have real sovereign power responsible to the people through popularly elected Councils | Malay Rulers recognised as sovereign monarchs with inherent prerogatives, powers and privileges |
| Malay customs and religion to be fully controlled by the Malay people through special councils | Malay customs and religion placed within the sole jurisdiction of the Malay Rulers |
| Special provisions for the advancement of the Malays politically, economically and educationally | Special provisions for the advancement of the Malays politically, economically and educationally |
| Malay to be the official language | Malay recognised as an official language together with English |
| A national flag and anthem | A national flag was adopted with no provisions for a national anthem |
| Melayu to be the title of any proposed citizenship and nationality in Malaya | No provisions for a Malayan nationality was adopted |
| Foreign affairs and defence to be the joint responsibility of the government of Malaya and the government of Great Britain | All portfolios remained within the prerogative of the British High Commissioner and the government of Great Britain |
| A Council of Races to be set up to block any discriminatory legislation that is based on ethnicity or religion | No such provisions were provided for |
| Anglo-Malay sovereignty entrenched with the provision of a Conference of Rulers consisting of the Malay rulers presided over by the British High Commissioner, and a 55% reservation of Malay representation in the Federal legislature for the first 3 terms | A Conference of Rulers was formalised. Ethnic representation in the Federal Legislative Council was set with no provisions for an elected legislature |
All Malaya Hartal
The ACCC considered the Revised Constitutional Proposals as being autocratic and irresponsible and it threatened to delay the independence of Malaya indefinitely. A decision was made to cooperate with PUTERA-PMCJA (later PUTERA-AMCJA) because it had exhausted all constitutional channels of appeal (the ACCC was a participant in the Government Consultative Committee) and appeal to the British Parliament for the establishment of a Royal CommissionRoyal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
to review and reverse the Revised Constitutional Proposals .
Agitation against the Revised Constitutional Approvals grew throughout September with a successful hartal
Hartal
Hartal is a term in many Indian languages for strike action, used often during the Indian Independence Movement. It is mass protest often involving a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, courts of law as a form of civil disobedience...
organised in Malacca and Ipoh
Ipoh
Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....
in protest. Emboldened by the success, the ACCC decided to launch a country-wide strike and invited PUTERA-AMCJA was invited to support the strike. A decision was made to hold the strike, to be known as the All Malaya Hartal, on October 20, 1947 to coincide with the opening of the session of the British Parliament where the Revised Constitutional Proposals were to be tabled and debated .
The hartal turned out to be a major success although UMNO held counter demonstrations in the more rural areas like Senggaram and Bagan Datoh
Bagan Datoh
Bagan Datoh is a small township around 28 miles west of Teluk Intan, in the state of Perak, Malaysia. It is situated south-west of Ipoh city, the state capital....
contributing to the rise in ethnic tensions and the cancellation of the planned strike in those areas .
The hartal was also successfully carried out in Singapore, which received the prominent support of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce led by its chairman Lee Kong Chian
Lee Kong Chian
Lee Kong Chian , was a prominent businessman and philanthropist and the founder of The Lee Foundation in Singapore. He was one of Southeast Asia's richest men in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the son-in-law of philanthropist Tan Kah Kee.-Early life:...
.
Decline and dissolution
Despite the success of the All Malaya Hartal, the government granted no concessions and differences began to emerge between the ACCC and PUTERA-AMCJA. A second Hartal was planned for February 1, 1948 but was aborted when financial support from the ACCC was not forthcoming and was reduced to isolated strikes by the PMFTU . KuomintangKuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
sympathizers had also begun to lobby for the withdrawal of ACCC support from the PUTERA-AMCJA due to the intensification of the Chinese civil war
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
.
The implementation of the Federation of Malaya
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
constitution based on the Revised Constitutional Proposals on February 1, 1948 and the decision of the MCP to launch an armed rebellion marked the beginning of the end for the PUTERA-AMCJA coalition and AMCJA as a whole. With the declaration of the nationwide emergency
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....
, the constituent organizations either withdrew from the coalition, went underground, or in the case of the MDU, voluntarily dissolved itself and the AMCJA ceased to exist as a body.
Mainstream political developments in Malaya in the following decade came to be dominated by conservative and pro-British groups with a distinctive impact on the historical development of independent Malaya, and later Malaysia, for the next few decades .