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The Kuomintang in Malaya, 1912-1941

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2019

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The formation of the Kuomintang in 1912 was the culmination of a period of reform and revolution. The reformist movement in China began with the rise of men like K'ang Yu-wei, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and Chang Chih-tung, who saw in the foreign penetration a threat to China's territorial integrity. These reformists prevailed upon the Emperor Kuairg Hsu, to adopt modern measures with a view to strengthening China. In 1898 a series of edicts were speedily passed for the reformation of China. These edicts, commonly known as the “Hundred Days Reform”, came to. nought when the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi carried out a coup d'etat and China returned to her former ways.

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Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1961

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References

Page 1 note 2. Sun Yatsen (1866-1925) is regarded by the Chinese as the “Father of the Republic.” He wrote the famous San Min Chu I or “Three Principles” which became the basis for Kuomintang Government policy.

Page 2 note 3. Lau Tzu Cheng , “Tung Nan Ya Pao Chang Hsi Nien Piao (A Calendar of Southeast Asian Newspapers) Journal of the South Seas, XII Part I (June, 1947), 59-60.

Page 2 note 4. Feng Tzu Yu , Hua Ch'iao Ke Ming K'ai Kuo Shih (History of the Overseas Chinese in the Revolution and Opening of China) (Shanghai, 1947), 72.

Page 2 note 5. The Hsing Chung Hui was a secret revolutionary organisation founded by Sun Yat-sen at Honolulu in 1894. It is usually regarded as the embryo of the Kuomintang.

Page 2 note 6. Straits Settlements Governor's Despatch to the Secretary of States for Colonies (open) 26 July, 1900. (Hereafter GDSS). Lat Pao, 12, 13, 14, July 1900; 9 August, 1900. 2

Page 3 note 7. Huang Fu Luan , Hua Chiao Ya Chung Kuo Ke Ming (The Overseas Chinese and the Chinese Revolution) (Hongkong, 1954), 82.

Page 3 note 8. Tan Chor Lam is a Hokkien Chinese who owned a timber-yard called Hup Choon () at No. 327 Beach Road, Singapore. Teo Eng Hock was another Chinese merchant who owned a draper's shop 'Sin Ch'ang Mei' () at 105 Beach Road, Singapore. Both Tan and Teo were active revolutionary workers during their time.

Page 3 note 9. The Tung Meng Hui () was an Alliance of several revolutionary organisations formed in August 1905 at Tokyo. Among the organisations which joined in was Dr. Sun's Hsing Chung Hui. The Tung Meng Hui was the Party which existed right up to the time of the formation of the Kuomintang.

Page 4 note 10. Parliamentary Document of 7.3.1906 in Secretary of States for Colonies Despatch to Governor of the Straits Settlements (Confidential) 8.6.1906. (Hereafter SSDG). For a detailed treatment of the American boycott see Margaret Field, The Chinese Boycott of 1905, in Papers on China, 11, 63-98. Centre for East Asian Studies, Harvard University (Massachusetts, 1957).

Page 4 note 11. SSDG (Confidential) 29.11.1905. Foreign Office letter of 22.11.05. GDSS (Confidential) 26.12.1905.

Page 4 note 12. A Singapore Quarterly Journal edited by Dr. Lim Boon Keng, Song Ong Siang and Gnoh Lean Teck. All three were prominent Straits Chinese in Singapore. (Hereafter SCM).

Page 4 note 13. SCM (June) 1905), 85-86.

Page 5 note 14. Huang, Hua Ch'iao, 65.

Teo, Nanyang, 9-11.

Page 5 note 15. Goh Say Eng was one of the most active members of the T'ung Meng Hui in Penang. He was later sent to China to represent Malaya in the Republican Government.

See Chang Chi Yun , Tang Shih Kai Yao (General Principles of Party History) (Taipei, 1951), I, 58.

Page 5 note 16. Huang, Hua Ch'iao, 88.

Feng, K'ai Kuo Shih, 85.

Song Ong Siang, One Hundred Years' History of the Chinese in Singapore, (London, 1923), 363.

Page 6 note 17. Interview with Tsai Huisheng, present Vice President of the Society, on 12th May 1959.

Also see Hui Ch'iao Chih, 358.

Page 6 note 18. These were places where letters from the T'ung Meng Hui Headquarters or from Revolutionaries abroad could be sent. Their functions were more limited than the Reading Societies.

Page 6 note 19. The Huang Hua Kang Rising was the most important attempt before the Wuchang Rising finally brought about the fall of the Manchu Government. It is well-known for the 72 martyrs who died in South China.

Page 7 note 20. On October 10, 1911 revolutionists in Wuchang () rose and forced the magistrate Li Yuan Hung to be their commander. This began the Revolution which brought about the fall of the Manchu Regime.

Page 7 note 21. Song, One Hundred Years, 472.

Lat Pao, 3rd, 11th, 13th November 1911. Federated Malay States Chief Secretary's Report 1912, 13.

Page 7 note 22. Song, One Hundred Years, 473.

Lat Pao, 6/6, 13/6, 15/6, 17/6, 19/6, 21/6, 24/6, 1/7, 5/7, 8/7, 11/7, 17/7, 19/7 of 1912.

Page 8 note 1. Chou Lu , Chung Kuo Kuomintang K'ai Shih. (A Short History of the Chinese Kuomintang), (Taiwan, 1953), 27. Yang Han Hsiang . “Chung Hua Min Kuo K'ai Kuo Ch'ien IIou Chih Pen She Kc Ming Shih" (The Society's Revolutionary History Before and After the Establishment of the Republic).

Page 8 note 2. Harold M. Vinacke, A History of the Far East in Modern Times, 5th Edition (New York, 1950), 238.

Page 8 note 3. China Year Book 1916, 700.

Yang Han Hsiang, Pen Sheh Ke Ming Shih, 155.

Page 9 note 4. The Lat Pirn was a Chinese newspaper published in Singapore from 1880—1932. It was a Conservative Paper which did not side with the Revolutionaries. See its issues of 15 October, 1912 and 29 January, 1913.

Page 9 note 5. The Lat Pao, a contemporary Chinese newspaper reported that the Singaporebranch was registered by the Government. Dr. Victor Purcell and Li Rui Una also referred to the registration. It is, however, intriguing to note that the registration was not gazetted in the Straits Settlements Government Gazette. See Lat Pao, 17/1/1913.

Victor Purcell, The Chinese in Southeast Asia. 2nd Impression (London, 1952). 35.5.

Li Rui Hua . Ma Lai Ya Hua Ch'iao (The Overseas Chinese in Malaya) (Taipei, 1954), 188.

Page 9 note 6. Lat Pao, 18/7/1913.

Page 10 note 7. Lat Pan, 17/1/1913, 29/1/1913.

Page 10 note 8. Yang, Pen Sheh Ke Ming Shih, 69, 155-56.

Page 10 note 9. Yang, Pen Sheh Ke Ming Shih, 79-81.

Page 11 note 10. Lat Pao, 5/4/1912, 22/5/1912.

Page 11 note 11. Purcell, The Chinese in Southeast Asia, 355.

Page 11 note 12. Lat Pao, 11/3/1913.

Page 11 note 13. S.S. Gazette 4/12/1914.

Lat Pao 25th, 26th March 1913.

Page 11 note 14. S.S. Gazette 16/5/1913.

Page 12 note 15. Twenty-five Years of the Chinese Republic, 146. Sun Yat-sen, “Letter to Tan Sin Cheng and the Nanvang Comrades” dated 15/6/1914 in Kuo Fu Shu Shin Hsuan Chih (Selections o'f Sun Yat-sen's Letters) (Taipei, 1952).

Yang Han Hsiang, Pen Sheh Ke Ming Shih, 86, 87.

Page 12 note 16. Sun Yat-sen, Letter of 15/6/1914.

Page 13 note 17. Yang Han Hsiang, Pen Sheh Ke Ming Shih, 93.

Cheng Lo Sheng , “Hua Ch'iao Ke Ming Chih Ch'ien Yin Hon Kuo” (The Reasons and Results of the Overseas Chinese Revolution) , Huang Chin Yuan ed. Nanyang P'i Li Hua Ch'iao Ke Ming Shih Chi (The Revolutionary Record of the Overseas Chinese in Perak (Shanghai 1933), Introduction.

Page 13 note 18. Yang, Pen Sheh Ke Ming Shih, 88.

Page 13 note 19. Li Rui Hua, Ma Lai Ya Hua Ch'iao, 188. F.M.S. Peralc Administration Report 1914, 20-21. W. L. Blythe, Historical Sketch of Chinese Labour in Malava. Reprint. (Singapore, 1953), 33-35. This study was originally published in the Journal of the RoyaJ Asiatic Society Malayan Branch, Vol. 20, Part I (June 1947).

Page 14 note 20. P.A.R., 1915, p.17.

Page 14 note 21. Sin Kuo Min Press, 9th, 10th June 1920. (Hereafter SKMP).

Page 14 note 22. F.MS. Gazette, 8/12/1916, 6/12/1918, 21/4/1922.

F.MS. Chinese Protector's Report 1924, 6-7.

MRCA (May 1934), 18.

Page 14 note 23. SKMP, 10/6/1920.

Page 15 note 1. W. Holland ed., Asian Nationalism and the West. (New York, 1953), 280.

Page 15 note 2. Pacific Affairs, (September 1934), 262.

Page 15 note 3. Mr. Rene Onraet, a former Inspector-General of Police of the Straits Settlements, stated that' “it was via the Left-wing elements of the Kuomintang that subversive Communist organisations were first developed in Singapore.” These Left-wing elements were very likely Communists who joined the Kuomintang. See his book Singapore, A Police Back-ground. (London, n.d. circa 1946), 109.

Page 16 note 4. 4, 5, 6. Yang, Pen Sheh Ke Ming Shih, 79.

Page 16 note 7. Governor Clementi, who banned the Kuomintang in 1930, made this claim. See Proceedings of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements (1930), B. 26. (Hereafter PLCSS).

Page 17 note 8. SKMP, 19/4/1920.

Lat Pao, 22/5/1912.

Lat Pao, 27/2/1913.

Page 17 note 9. Ch'cn Kang Fu , “Nanyang Hua Ch'iao Te T'uan Chieh Wen T'i.” (The Problem of Overseas Chinese Unity in the Nanyang) Nanyang Ch'ing Pao (Nanyang Information) 1, 8, March 1933, 296-298.

Page 17 note 10. Hua Ch'iao Chih, 527.

Page 17 note 11. Lat Pao, 1/6/1912, 15/11/1912, 27/9/.1912.

Page 18 note 12. Straits Settlements Education Report (1932), 763; Victor Purcell, Problems of Chinese Education (London, 1936), Appendix.

Page 18 note 13. The Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Governments were well aware of the Communist control of Chinese night schools. This is shown in the frequent references to it in the Annual reports.

Page 18 note 14. On 30th May 1925 Chinese students parading in Shanghai in support of a Japanese mill strike were fired upon by an English settlement police. This led to the Shameen massacre when students at Canton were fired upon when parading in protest of the British action in Shanghai.

Page 19 note 15. Stiaits Settlements Chinese Protectorate's Report (1925), 37.

Page 19 note 16. FMS Chief Secretary's Report (1911), 7.

Page 20 note 17. In January 1925 a Cantonese woman, aiming to Icill the Protector of Chinese, Selangor, exploded a bomb on his table which seriously hurt him but did not lcill him. In Ipoh a liquor shop which remained opened on Dr. Sun's Death Anniversary was destroyed by a mob. A similar incident occurred in Kampar. FMS Chinese Protectorate's Report (1925), 5.

Page 20 note 18. SKMP 28/10/1925.

Union Times, 27/10/1925.

Purcell, The Chinese in Southeast Asia, 358.

Page 21 note 19. S.S. Education Report (1927), 175.

F.M.S. Education Report (1927), 18.

Page 21 note 20. Lennox Mills, British Rule in Eastern Asia (London, 1942), 36.

Page 22 note 21. The Singapore Free Press, 26/2/1930. (Hereafter SFP)

SCJP, 31/10/1930.

SKMP, 26/2/1930, 17/3/1930.

Page 22 note 22. PLCSS (1930), B24.

Page 22 note 23. PLCSS (1930), B26.

Page 23 note 24. FMS Chinese Protector's Report 1930, 6. See also Straits Times of 14th June 1934 for Governor dementi's further justification of his ban on the Kuomintang. In a speech to the Association of British Malaya in London he analysed the policies of the Kuomintang in Malaya and gave reasons for the action. The reasons were in the main similar to his pronouncement at the 1930 Legislative Council Meeting. PLCFMS (1920), C418.

Page 23 note 25. PLCSS (1932), B145.

Page 23 note 26. SSAR (1931), 83.

FMSAR Chief Secretary's Report (1931), 70.

Annual Report of /ohore (1931), 34.

Also Stmts Times, 14/6/1934 and SCJP, 16/6/1934.

Page 23 note 27. Sir Eric Teichman, Affairs of China, 203

Page 24 note 1. The 'Main School' was a Communist organisation using Night Schools as a cloak for propaganda. Its existence was discovered when Chinese Protectorate officials raided the P'ing Man Night School in Kuala Lumpur. In March 1927 the 'Main School' was responsible for a political demonstration at Kreta Ayer in Singapore at which a ceremony commemorating the death of Sun Yat-sen was turned into a riot resulting in seven deaths at the hands of the police.

See Lat Pao, 14th March—3rd May 1927.

Rene Onraet, Singapore A Police Background, 96.

Also his articles in Straits Times, 14th—19th January 1946, 29/5/1950.

J.H. Brimmel, A History of the Communist Party. (Singapore, 1956), 10, 12.

Page 25 note 2. Negri Sembihn Administration Report (1928), 19.

FMS Chinese Protectorate's Report (1928), 3.

W.L. Blythe, Chinese Labour in Malaya, 34.

Page 25 note 3. Chung Kuo Kuomintang Nien Chien 1934. (Chinese Kuomintang Year Book'i (Published by the Chung Kuo Kuomintang Central Executive Committee Party History “Compilation Committee), Section C, 243.

Page 26 note 4. KMT Year Book (1934), Section C, 243.

Page 26 note 5. Ibid.

The Lat Pao of 8/2/1928 stated that in Singapore the Kuomintang could not use its official name. The United Chinese Library was therefore made the meeting place of the Kuomintang Branch.

Page 26 note 7. The KMT Year Book of 1934 stated: “The main work in these territories [Malaya] were educational and charity . . . when members were collecting funds tor the purpose of armaments [in China] they did it in the name of charity”. Section C, 243.

Page 26 note 8. KMT Year Boot (1934), C,245.

Page 27 note 9. Ibid., 247-254, 256-268.

Page 27 note 10. KMT Year Book (1934), B, 7.

Some allowance should be given for inaccuracy of population figures as supplied by the Kuomintang in China.

Page 27 note 11. SKMP, 10th, 16th, 21st, 23rd, 25th July 1937. 2nd 5th, 13th, 16th, 20th August 1937. Tan Kah Kee, Autobiography, I, 63-64.

Page 27 note 12. The writer had personally witnessed one such incident in Singapore in 1939.

Page 27 note 13. Tan Kah Kee was a prominent businessman in Singapore before World War II who owned a Rubber Manufacturing Company. A very active supporter of patriotic work, he has, however, left Malaya to live in China.

Page 27 note 14. Aw Boon Haw was known in Malaya as the Tiger-Balm King because his Companies manufactured and sold tiger-balm (an ointment) in various parts of Southeast Asia. He owned newspapers in Singapore and Hongkong. His heirs are still publishing the Sin Chew Jit Poh, a Chinese paper in Singapore.

Page 28 note 15. Huang I''u Luan, Una Ch'iao, 228.

Page 28 note 16. Hiia 'Ch'iao Cluh, 454.

No indication is given in the book whether the sums mentioned were Straits dollars or Chinese dollars. As the book was published in Taipei it may be assumed that the figures supplied were in Chinese currency. See also Huang Ching Yuan , Hiia Ch'iao Tui Chu Kuo Tc Kimg Hsien (The Contributions to the Fatherland of the Overseas Chinese) (Shanghai, 1940), 190-192.

SFP, 24/7/1940.

Una Ch'iao Chih, 454.

Page 28 note 17. Li Rui Hua, Ma Lai Ya Urn Ch'iao, 189.

Tan Kali Kcc, Autobiography, II, 302.

Page 29 note 18. It should be noted, however, that when the Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai Shek were defeated and China came under Communist rule, Tan Kah Kee left Singapore. He is now staving in the Chinese mainland.

Page 29 note 19. Tan Kah Kee, Autobiography, II, 329.

Page 30 note 20. W.L. Blythe, “The Interplay of Chinese Secret and Political Societies in Malaya”. Eastern World, March 1950, 15. The article is continued in June 1950. Also Victor Purcell, The Chinese in Malaya, 219.

Page 30 note 21. SFP, 26th, 30th December 1941.

Stiaits Budget, 1/1/1942, 15th, 22nd January 1942.

Page 31 note 22. SFP, 24th, 26th, 30th December~I941.

Straits Budget, 15/1/1942.

Chin Kee Onn, Malava Upside Down 2nd Edition (Singapore, 1946).

Page 31 note 23. SAR (1949), 2-3.

Page 31 note 1. As early as 1919 Chinese students in Malaya had taken an active part in anti- Japanese boycott activities. Student participation in national activities dates back to the time of the Revolution, and student strikes severally occurred in the 1920's.

See Lat Pao, 14/5/1912, 20/6/1919, 9/6/1920, 18/1/1926.