history is fun

Communism in Malaya

1. The source tells me that the British government dislikes the communist. This can be supported by the portrayal of the communists as a vicious wolf in the cartoon.

The cartoon also tells me that the British government wanted to warn the people of Malaya that the communist could not be trusted. This can be supported by the cartoon that shows when a villager is shown feeding a wolf, he is bitten by the wolf instead. This proves that the government wants to show the communists as deceitful and ungrateful lots.

2. Both sources are different in their views about the new villagers as they disagree on the treatment of the new villagers. Source B states that the new villagers would be given ‘after-care’ services such as health and other welfares. In contrast, Source C states that the government would mistreat the villagers some if they resisted the British some would even be burnt.

Both sources are, however, similar as they agree that the British had included the villagers as resistance against the communists. Source A states that the British ‘had planned for this to be a huge advantage for them in their fight against the communists.’ Source B also says that once the British used this tactic, they could not mobilize the people to resist order anymore.

Lastly, both sources are different in purpose. Source B is a description of the resettlement policy by a British official who was probably trying to promote the policy to the people and the British government. His purpose was to make these people believe that resettling would improve their lives so that they would take it up and not resist resettlement and this would make fighting the communists easier. In contrast, Source C is an account by Chin Peng. He was recalling about the incident to the world and as a communist leader, his purpose was to highlight the atrocities of the British and make people sympathize with the communist so that people would support their cause and understand their fight against the British.

3. Source C is unreliable in what it says about the British. Source C suggests that the British were unreasonable government as they forced people to resettle and would even burn people alive if they resisted.

However, when I cross-reference with Source B, Source B suggests that the British were thoughtful government and they had the people’s welfare at heart. This can be supported by a range of social services that the British introduced and the intended improvements they wanted to make for the people. Therefore, Source B disagrees with Source C.

Lastly, Source C is unreliable as it is an account by Chin Peng. He was recalling about resettlement to the world and as a former communist leader, his purpose was to highlight the atrocities of the British and make people sympathize with the communist so that people would support their cause and understand their fight against the British and not condemn them for what they done in the past. Therefore, what he said might be biased against the British and hence this makes the source unreliable.