Rational Choice: The Mind of Abdullah C.D., a Malay Communist Leader

Abdullah C.D. was the former Chairman of Malayan Communist Party (MCP) since 1968 and the de facto leader of the 10th Regiment of the Malayan People Liberation Army under the said party since 1949 until 1989. His mind – a combination of his own thought, consciousness and ambition, and the political ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism shaped his leadership and actions, which found expression in four decades of armed struggles. Abdullah C.D.’s political thought, consciousness and ambitions are explicitly expressed in three volumes of his memoirs (2005, 2007, 2009). Subjected to the changes of political scenarios at the national and international levels over the decades, Abdullah C.D.’s initial choice could be seen as a rational one given the fact that his involvement with the MCP coincided with the growth in the Federation of Malaya of political nationalism against British colonialism. However, when the Federation of Malaya achieved her independence in 1957, and the political influence of the MCP started to deteriorate, Abdullah C.D., as the political commissar and commander of the 10th Regiment, strove to reactivate the Regiment’s armed struggle. This move was largely due to his dogmatic belief in the political ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, which, then, was his rational choice. Based on his memoirs, this article seeks to analyse Abdullah C.D.’s political mind within the framework of ‘rational choice’ as demonstrated by Theda Skocpol in her interpretation of the French, Russian and Chinese social revolution.