Early years

Rashid Maidin (October 10, 1917 - September 1, 2006) was a senior leader of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). He was born in Kampung Gunung Mesah, Gopeng

Gopeng

Gopeng is a town located in Mukim Teja, District of Kampar, Perak, Malaysia. It is situated approximately 20 km south of Ipoh, the state capital. The town is located on the west side of the North-South Expressway stretch of Tapah-Simpang Pulai...

, Perak

Perak

Perak , one of the 13 states of Malaysia, is the second largest state in the Peninsular Malaysia bordering Kedah and Yala Province of Thailand to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, Selangor the Strait of Malacca to the south and west.Perak means silver in Malay...

. He is the eldest brother of 7 brothers and 1 sister. He received his early education at the Gunung Panjang Malay School and the Kampung Gunung Mesah Madrasah

Madrasah

Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...

, which were both in Gopeng. He graduated at standard 5 in a Malay school. However, due to poverty Rashid dropped out of school in 1929.

After leaving school, Rashid travelled and sought employment, ending up in Cameron Highlands

Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands is one of Malaysia’s most extensive hill stations. It covers an area of .To the north, its boundary touches that of Kelantan; to the west, it shares part of its border with Perak....

, Pahang

Pahang

Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...

. While working odd jobs there, he befriended a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 who taught him to speak basic English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. He furthered his proficiency in the language via correspondence courses

Distance education

Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...

. Later, Rashid returned to Gopeng and worked at a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

-owned power station

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

. While employed at the power station, he studied basic electrics

Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...

 and eventually obtained a first-class electrical chargeman certificate.

Family Background

He started a family with Hamidah, a village girl in 1938. They have 4 children, 3 sons and a daughter. The second marriage was in 1959, a comrade and a party cadet named Selamah binti Abdullah. They were gifted another daughter.

Rise to prominence

Rashid was also active in the trade unions, which led him to join the CPM as the party's first Malay

Malaysian Malay

In Malaysia, the Malay population is defined by Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution as someone born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs and is domiciled in Malaysia or Singapore...

 member. In his memoir, Memoir Rashid Maidin: Daripada perjuangan bersenjata kepada perdamaian (The Memoirs of Rashid Maidin: From Armed Struggle to Peace), Rashid justified his decision to join the CPM due to the party's strong anti-imperialist

Anti-imperialism

Anti-imperialism, strictly speaking, is a term that may be applied to a movement opposed to any form of colonialism or imperialism. Anti-imperialism includes opposition to wars of conquest, particularly of non-contiguous territory or people with a different language or culture; it also includes...

 stance. CPM was among the first anti-colonial movements in Malaya

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...

. Since young Rashid was inspired by the story of Maharajalela's war against the British in Perak. In 1939. he started to get involved in the 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 in 1941, he officially became a member of MCP. He was the first Malay joining MCP.

In 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army

Army

An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...

 invaded

Battle of Malaya

The Malayan Campaign was a campaign fought by Allied and Japanese forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 31 January 1942 during the Second World War. The campaign was dominated by land battles between British Commonwealth army units, and the Imperial Japanese Army...

 and occupied Malaya

Japanese occupation of Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak

Throughout much of World War II, British Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak were under Japanese occupation.The Japanese Empire commenced the Pacific War with the invasion of Kota Bahru in Kelantan on 8 December 1941 at 00:25, about 90 minutes before the Attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii at 07:48 on 7...

. The MCP, of which Rashid by now was the party's top Malay leader, organised armed resistance via the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA). At the end of the Anti-Japanese war, he met Abdullah CD

Abdullah CD

Abdullah CD was the Chairman of the Communist Party of Malaya .He was born in October 1923, in Parit, Perak. His involvement in politics was sparked by interests in the Maharajalela Wars against the British...

.

After the return of British rule, the CPM continued its armed insurrection, this time against the British colonial government, via its new militant wing, the Malayan Races Liberation Army

Malayan Races Liberation Army

The Malayan Races Liberation Army was the name given by British security forces to a combatant in the Malayan Emergency, an insurrection and guerrilla war against the British and Malayan administration from 1948-1960 in what is now Malaysia....

 (MRLA). Rashid was entrusted by CPM leader Chin Peng

Chin Peng

Chin Peng, former OBE , was born Ong Boon Hua in Sitiawan, and was a long-time leader of the Malayan Communist Party...

 to lead the MRLA's Malay-dominated 10th Regiment. In 1947, he was one of the representatives from CPM to attend a council communist party meeting in London. This meeting was participated by communist parties in the colonial country in order to discuss about the stategy to fight against colonialism for the right of independence. CPM's armed insurrection led the British to declare a state of 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....

, which lasted between 1948 to 1960. in July 1948, he was caught by the British in Sungai Manik, Perak. He was put in jail for 3 and a half years. In the early 1952, he managed to free himself. After that in late 1952, Rashid met Abdullah CD in Pahang. Then in 1953, together with Rejimen the tenth retreated to the borders of Malaysia-Thailand. He was wounded on his leg during the battle against the British.

In 1955, the CPM attempted to negotiate peace with the colonial government. Rashid was a member of the CPM delegation at the talks, which were held at the town of Baling

Baling

Baling is a major town in the northern state of Kedah in Malaysia. It is also the name of a district in which Baling town is situated. It is south of Betong, the southernmost town in Thailand.-Origin of name:...

, Kedah

Kedah

Kedah is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice...

. After the collapse of the Baling talks, the CPM continued its insurrection. In between 1961-1972, he was assigned to lead the Special Unit of National Libriation Army in the borders of Kedah-Thailand. He returned and lead Rejimen the tenth till peace in 1972. However, due to government anti-insurrection measures, CPM's guerilla struggle gradually waned and eventually ended after a peace treaty was signed with the Malaysian government in Haadyai, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 in 1989. Rashid was again a CPM delegate to the peace treaty.

In January 2006, 500 former members of the Malayan Communist party were granted Thai citizenship. In the past, Rashid had failed to acquire Malaysian citizenship, like many other ex-communists living in Southern Thailand.

However, a stipulation in the treaty signed disallowed former senior CPM leaders from returning to Malaysia; hence, Rashid settled to a quiet, post-guerilla life in Southern Thailand

Southern Thailand

Southern Thailand is a distinct region of Thailand, connected with the Central region by the narrow Kra Isthmus.-Geography:Southern Thailand is located on the Malay Peninsula, with an area around 70,713 km², bounded to the north by Kra Isthmus as the narrowest part of the peninsula. The...

. He died on September 1, 2006 in Sisakoin, Narathiwat

Narathiwat

Narathiwat is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Narathiwat Province. The town covers the whole subdistrict Bang Nak of Mueang Narathiwat district. The town was established in 1936.-External links:...

, and was laid to rest after Friday prayers on the same day.

External links

• "Former top CPM leader dies at 89 in Narathiwat" - The Star, September 2, 2006