Political Censorship and the Contestation of Nation-Building Discourse: A Survey of Cultural Productions regarding the Malayan Communist Struggle in Malaysia After 2000

This paper examines the development and situation of cultural productions regarding the Malayan Communist struggle in Malaysia from 2000 onward. The dispute and controversy surrounding the Communist struggle in Malaya were related to the Malayan Communist Party’s position and role in the country’s nation-building in which the regime’s official discourse continued to place the Party as a terrorist organization, though ex-Communists claimed the Party had accelerated the nation’s independence and thus demanded recognition in the country’s nation-building. The UMNO regime implemented selective commemoration of the history and memory of nation-building and hindered publications regarding the Communist struggle. However, the state seemed to be more tolerant of Chinese-language Communist publications as it felt these were less influential among the Malay community. Nevertheless, the state imposed strict censorship on Communist-themed films, and several films providing alternative visions of the Communist struggle were banned outright by the Censorship Board. Thus, film censorship became the repressive state apparatus to cement UMNO’s agenda. Despite heavy political censorship, a new generation of Malaysian cultural workers felt a conscientious need to diversify the nation-building discourse through their cultural creations and participation.