• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Left-wing icon Shamsiah Fakeh dies

By Shanon Shah

October 20, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Oct 2008: Shamsiah Fakeh, 84, former member of the 10th regiment of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) passed away at 9am today from old age.

This Kuala Pilah-born nationalist initially led the Angkatan Wanita Sedar (Awas), which was formed in 1946 as part of a larger Malay leftist movement that fought for independence.

When the Emergency was declared in 1948, Shamsiah joined the 10th Regiment, the predominantly Malay wing of the CPM.

But after a few years of guerrilla warfare, Shamsiah fled the country. She eventually left the CPM in 1968, and settled in China, where she worked in a steel factory. She also married and had a family there.

Shamsiah and her family were allowed to return home on 23 July 1994, nearly five years after the CPM and the Malaysian government agreed to cease hostilities.

Her memoir, Memoir Shamsiah Fakeh — Dari AWAS ke Rejimen ke-10, was first published in 2004 by Penerbit UKM. A new edition and a Chinese language edition was published in 2007.

Social activist and Parti Rakyat Malaysia member Rohana Ariffin said Shamsiah was one of the very few Malay women in the leftist struggle for independence.

But Rohana said Shamsiah cannot be described as feminist, because gender was not a big dimension in the struggle for independence to begin with.

“She was a nationalist freedom fighter, like Ahmad Boestamam,” said Rohana.

Shamsiah, Rohana believed, was not a communist in the strict sense of the word.

“If you are a scientific communist, then you do not believe in God altogether. But Shamsiah was also deeply religious, so I personally think she was more of a Malay socialist.”

Parti Sosialis Malaysia secretary-general S Arutchelvan told The Nut Graph: “It is good that she could be buried in Malaysia, because many more communists have been denied their rightful return.

“This is even after the 1989 peace agreements. It’s about time they be allowed to return.”

Both Rohana and Arutchelvan paid tribute to Shamsiah’s contribution to the leftist struggle in Malaysia.

“Very recently, many people made her look like she compromised a lot of her ideals,” said Arutchelvan. “But she came out in Mastika magazine and clarified her position. She never regretted her fight, not even the armed struggle. We salute her for that.”

Shamsiah is survived by two sons and four grandchildren.

 

 

 

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

Search

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2025 The Nut Graph