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the Angkatan Wanita Sedar (AWAS), the women wing of theMalay Nationalist Party (MNP). These women had their ownphilosophy and were pursuing aggressively the liberation ofwomen from feudal oppression and negative social practices(Ahmad Boestamam, 2004). When the British banned all radicaland leftist movements like MNP, Pembela Tanahair (PETA),Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API) and AWAS in 1948, most of theradical Malays joined the MCP guerillas, including ShamsiahFakeh and Zainab Mahmud, the leader and secretary of AWAS,respectively. This benefited the MCP enormously as thesewomen were then widely accepted as “heroine” (srikandi)with their fluent and confident articulation, educational(religious) background, strong fighting spirit and unfazed by guns(Shamsiah, 2004).WOMEN COMRADES AT WORKHistory has shown that each guerilla war has its own specificcharacteristics. However, a comparison among different guerillawars shows that these wars do share some common traits.Like the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), femaleMCP cadres generally occupied a lower position in most of themilitary actions orchestrated by the party. Combat operationswere normally handled by men and this became an impedimentfor women to climb to higher positions in the party hierarchyas combat experience was often taken into consideration forpromotion (Hilsdon, 1995). The belief among female comradesthat only those who were brave and intelligent could climb theladder of success within the organisation was quite prevalent.This statement is quite true if we look at the “success” storyof well known MCP women leaders like Shamsiah Fakeh andSuriani Abdullah or Eng Ming Ching before her marriage toAbdullah C. D., the commander of the Malay Regiment in theMCP – the 10 th Regiment – in 1955. Starting as an MCP memberin Ipoh in 1940, the urban-educated Suriani, who had foughtfor the liberation of Malaya (from the British) and also for theliberation of women, began the rapid climb in the MCP whenshe was entrusted to lead a propaganda team in Ipoh, and laterin Singapore, and was directly responsible for the relocationof the 10 th Regiment from Pahang to the Malaya-Thai borderin 1953-54. The highest position Suriani had held was that ofcentral committee member of the MCP (Suriani, 2006). Hercharismatic way in handling the tasks and settling the problemsgiven to her and her wide experience in wartime had led herto hold many important appointments within the MCP (RashidMaidin, 2005). In other words, her marriage to the regimentalcommander was a mere coincidence. For Shamsiah, althoughit was not clear what her rank was within the MCP, her leadershipwas groomed by leaders of the 10 th Regiment who werealso former colleagues from the MNP, with the aim to attractmore Malay women to join the movement (Dewan Masyarakat,August 1991).Before the MCP relocated to south Thailand, womencomrades, although their exact number was not known, formedan important part of the fighting strength of the MCP, with afew heading platoons and fighting units. Interestingly, AbdullahC.D. (2007) viewed those women who had perished in theanti-colonial struggle as “Srikandibangsa” (flowers of thenation), a label that was neveraccorded at the time by anyother Malayan political movementto their women wing.They were also involved in the“long march” towards the Malaya-Thaiborder in 1953 whichmany MCP members dubbedthe highest struggle when theyhad to march from one placeto another through thick jungleand mountainous terrain, oftenat the risk of ambush by colonialforces, handicapped byshortage of arms, ammunitionAll rights reserved, StrategicInformation ResearchDevelopment, 2009.and food, and without the support of the Orang Asli and Chinesesquatters who were moved to “New Villages” following theimplementation of the “Briggs Plan” in 1950. 5 The journey itselftook a year and six months to complete (Apa khabar OrangKampong / Village People Radio Show, 2007). For female comrades,they suffered more especially those who were pregnant,such as the case of Zainab Mahmud (Musa Ahmad’s wife) 6 whowas at an early stage of pregnancy when the long march began(Aloysius, 1995). During this testing period, all hygienic needsduring birth or menstruation were secondary with jungle plantsused widely to stop or delay this biological process while somewomen stopped menstruating due to the hardship. These plantswere also used to facilitate abortion or to prevent hunger. 7LIFE IN THE GUERILLA CAMPSAs stressed by Becket (1999), the word “guerilla” connotes warand wartime conditions in difficult terrains like mountain andjungle. Being well versed with the local environment providesmobility to the guerillas who favours “hit-and-run” tactics thatwould inflict damage. It also provides time and opportunityto evade the enemy. Guerillas also tend to enjoy local support,especially those living in the jungle, although at timesthis was secured through terror tactics which were a necessityso as to prolong the struggles (Beckett, 1999). This definitionfits the nature of the MCP struggles. Its tactics of “attackand quick withdrawal” and “hide and survive” becamethe main feature of the MCP guerilla war which enabled it tosurvive until 1989. The MCP guerillas lacked both arms andfood. Hunger and starvation were part of their lives and theyalso had to be constantly on the run and never camped forlong in one place (Ibrahim Chik, 2004; Apa Khabar OrangKampong, 2007).Under this stressful and uncertain condition, both the MPAJAand MCP female guerillas lived their everyday life together withmale comrades. During stressful times, such as the JapaneseOccupation (1941-45) and the Emergency (1948-60) there wasno clear boundaries or lines between gender especially duringwartime as both male and female comrades had to combinetheir collective energy to ensure victory. Like the males,14 biblioasia • April 2010