This is the story of 12 young people, born in the even younger nation of Malaysia, told from their homes today in southern Thailand. Ask a Malaysian on the street today about the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), and you are likely to hear references to history textbooks and examinations.

The average layperson would have been schooled about the early days of this Party which opposed the Japanese Occupation, and the activities of the Communist guerrillas during the Malayan Emergency from 1948 to 1960. However, little is known about the other group of young people who left the comfort of home to join the Communist movement between the late sixties to mid-seventies, against the backdrop of the New Economic Policy, the racial violence of the May 13 incident, and the so-called Communist Insurgency in Malaysia from 1968 to 1989. Today, these surviving members of the movement have settled in their homes in southern Thailand, known as the Friendship Villages, ready to share their stories of that missing chapter of Malaysian history.

About the Authors
Jason Ng is a historian of East and Southeast Asia, currently based in Malaysia. He is interested in historical memory and oral narratives, especially from critical turning points in history. Murray Hunter is an independent researcher based in Thailand. He has been an academic, researcher, farmer, businessperson, journalist, and author over the last 40 years in Southeast Asia.