The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore from 1930 to 1989. It was responsible for the creation of both the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army and the Malayan National Liberation Army. The party led resistance efforts against the Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore during World War II, and later fought a war of national liberation against the British Empire during the Malayan Emergency. After the departure of British colonial forces from the Federation of Malaya, the party fought in a third guerrilla campaign against both the Malaysian and Singaporean governments in an attempt to create a communist state in the region, before disbanding in 1989. Today, due to historical connotations surrounding the MCP, communism as an ideology remains a taboo political topic in both countries. History Formation In April 1930 the South Seas Communist Party was dissolved and was replaced by the Communist Party of Malaya. While its primary responsibility was Malaya and Singapore, the party was also active in Thailand and the Dutch East Indies, which did not then have their own Communist parties. Growth The party operated as an illegal organisation under British colonial rule. On 29 April 1930, a raid conducted by the Singapore Special Branch on a vacant house at 24 Nassim Road in Singapore almost ended the MCP as eight of its original founding members were arrested before being imprisoned or deported back to China. In June 1931, after a Comintern courier was intercepted by the police, about six raids were conducted from June to December saw several party members were arrested and documents seized, sending the party into disarray. Information extracted from the courier indicated at this point there were 1,500 members and 10,000 sympathisers. Despite this setback, the MCP gained influence in the trade union movement and organised several strikes, most notably at the Batu Arang coal mine in 1935. They also set up workers' committees at some workplaces. These committees, and the strikes, were promptly crushed by troops and police. Many ethnic Chinese strikers were deported to China, where they were often executed by the Chinese Nationalist government as Communists. After Japan invaded China in 1937, there was a rapprochement between the Malayan Kuomintang and Communists, paralleling that in China. Under the wing of the