Communist Party of Malaya A Comprehensive Bibliography

Explore a wide-ranging bibliography on the Communist Party of Malaya, covering 15 categories of sources from official documents to oral history interviews.

Last updated 21 July 2026

Communist Party of Malaya - A Comprehensive Bibliography

The Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) also known as the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was founded as a political party in 1930. The party fought a guerrilla war against the Japanese during the Second World War and subsequently against the British in the Malayan Emergency (1948-60). By the time of the Baling Talks in December 1955, it was clear that the government forces were winning militarily. This provided the impetus for Malaya’s independence in 1957 and the formal end of the Emergency in 1960.

At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, the CPM renewed its armed revolt against Malaysia and Singapore, which the party regarded as British ‘neo-colonies’. During the so-called Second Emergency (1968-89), the CPM waged its revived armed struggle primarily from jungle bases in Southern Thailand. The signing of the Hat Yai Peace Accords in 1989, a tripartite peace agreement between the CPM and both the Malaysian and Thai governments brought the CPM’s 41-year long insurgency to an end.

This bibliography lays out the extent of the material on the CPM available to the interested researcher. Some of the sources focus primarily on the CPM whilst others are CPM related. The categorization of the bibliography is intended to enable the researcher to sense make the vast array of material on the CPM. Most sources not in the English, Chinese and Malay language have been excluded. Sources that cannot be verified by the research team are also excluded.

This bibliography is organized into the following fifteen categories: Official Documents (Print); Official Documents (Online); Other Archival Sources; Published Non-Government Documents and Publications; Newspaper Articles; Books and Chapters (Print); Books and Chapters (Online); Journal Articles and Occasional Papers (Print); Journal Articles and Occasional Papers (Online); Dissertations (Print); Dissertations (Online); Unpublished Papers; Websites and Online Articles; Oral History Interviews; and Audio Visual Recordings.

Foreword (opens in new tab)

1. Official documents - print (opens in new tab)

2. Official documents - online (opens in new tab)

3. Other Archival Sources (opens in new tab)

4. Published Non-Government Documents and Publications (opens in new tab)

5. Newspaper Articles (opens in new tab)

6. Books and Chapters - Print (opens in new tab)

7. Books and Chapters - Online (opens in new tab)

8. Journal Articles & Occasional Papers - Print (opens in new tab)

9. Journal Articles & Occasional Papers - Online (opens in new tab)

10. Dissertations - Print (opens in new tab)

11. Dissertations - Online (opens in new tab)