Umno has failed the people

Abdullah CD, whose real name is Cik Dat Anjang Abdullah, has always been a left-leaning Malay nationalist and that belief was clearly apparent when Malaysiakini met him recently in his ‘peace village’ in Southern Thailand.

This video was made by malaysiakini

Abdullah CD (real name Cik Dat bin Anjang Abdullah) was the Chairman of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

He was born in October 1923, in Parit, Perak. His involvement in politics was sparked by interests in the Maharajalela Wars against the British.

As a young man, he joined the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM), and became the secretary of the KMM in the Lambor district in Perak during the early stages of the Japanese Occupation. Abdullah CD eventually joined the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) to combat the Japanese.

After World War II, Abdullah CD was involved in the setting up of the Malay Nationalist Party (or in Malay, the Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Muda / PKMM) in October 1945 with other early leftist Malay leaders such as Mokhtaruddin Lasso, Dr. Burhanuddin Al-Helmy, Ahmad Boestamam, Ishak Haji Mohamad, amongst others. He was also responsible for organising the Malay labour movement, and was elected as the Vice-President of the Pan-Malayan Federation of Trade Unions (PMFTU).

Not long before the declaration of emergency in Malaya in June 1948 by the British colonial government, Abdullah CD, Dr. Burhanuddin Helmi and Ahmad Boestamam conducted a meeting to discuss the conditions and steps to be taken in the struggle for Malayan independence.

When the British declared emergency, Abdullah led many members from the CPM, PKMM, API (Angkatan Pemuda Insaf), AWAS and PETA into an anti-British guerilla revolution in the jungles of Malaya. In July 1948, he was captured in north Pahang, but he managed to escape.

On 12 May 1949, Abdullah started the 10th Regiment of the CPM in Temerloh, Pahang, and continued to be its leader until peace was achieved in 1989. On 2 December 1989, he was one of the signatories of the peace agreement between the CPM and the government of Malaysia, finally ending the period of armed struggle.

Abdullah was involved in many armed battles against the British, and suffered serious injuries from a hand grenade explosion. He is married to Suriani Abdullah (née Eng Ming Ching), also a leader of the CPM. They have been married since February 1955, and remain married in Sukhirin, Thailand.