In her jeggings, sparkly T-shirt and ombre blonde hair, 21-year-old Xie Rui Juan is your ordinary youngster on the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) train in Bangkok.
But unlike her peers who were heading to the city’s many malls this Sunday afternoon, Juan, as she likes to be called, was on her way to the wake of Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general Chin Peng.
“His death was big news to me. He was a leader and many people knew him,” she told Malaysiakini when met at What That Thong where Chin Peng’s remains lie.
Born to a former CPM fighter, Juan (right) said growing up, she used to question why her father had to go into the jungles and fight and why he couldn’t just “be normal like other fathers”.
“But now I think he is a hero. He fought to sustain our lives,” she said.
Speaking in articulate Mandarin, Juan, who hails from the Betong Peace Village in southern Thailand, is part of the post-CPM generation.
Like hundreds across the peace villages set up in southern Thailand for former CPM fighters, Juan’s generation knows nothing of the cadreship other than the stories told by their parents.
“To me, communism is about doing everything for the benefit of everyone. I believe in it.”
‘The children should find their own path’
Born in a village in Thailand, Juan’s father Xie Xian Gou was 13 when he took up arms and joined his parents, CPM guerrilla fighters, in the jungles along the Thai-Malaysian border in 1971.
Today, as the chief of Kampung Perdamaian Betong, the 46-year-old hopes Juan and her brother, just one year younger than Xie was when he took up arms, will find their own cause.
“As a second generation fighter, I hope to continue Chin Peng’s struggle for a more fair and equal society although not in an armed struggle, but a democratic one.
“I hope my children will do the same, but as parents we cannot force. I hope they find their own path in life, suited to the society they live in.”
But unlike her peers who were heading to the city’s many malls this Sunday afternoon, Juan, as she likes to be called, was on her way to the wake of Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general Chin Peng.
“His death was big news to me. He was a leader and many people knew him,” she told Malaysiakini when met at What That Thong where Chin Peng’s remains lie.
Born to a former CPM fighter, Juan (right) said growing up, she used to question why her father had to go into the jungles and fight and why he couldn’t just “be normal like other fathers”.“But now I think he is a hero. He fought to sustain our lives,” she said.
Speaking in articulate Mandarin, Juan, who hails from the Betong Peace Village in southern Thailand, is part of the post-CPM generation.
Like hundreds across the peace villages set up in southern Thailand for former CPM fighters, Juan’s generation knows nothing of the cadreship other than the stories told by their parents.
“To me, communism is about doing everything for the benefit of everyone. I believe in it.”
‘The children should find their own path’
Born in a village in Thailand, Juan’s father Xie Xian Gou was 13 when he took up arms and joined his parents, CPM guerrilla fighters, in the jungles along the Thai-Malaysian border in 1971.
Today, as the chief of Kampung Perdamaian Betong, the 46-year-old hopes Juan and her brother, just one year younger than Xie was when he took up arms, will find their own cause.
“As a second generation fighter, I hope to continue Chin Peng’s struggle for a more fair and equal society although not in an armed struggle, but a democratic one.
“I hope my children will do the same, but as parents we cannot force. I hope they find their own path in life, suited to the society they live in.”
Like many young Thais, Xie (left) said his children are not too interested in politics - partisan or otherwise - and “it’s a pity”.
Juan said her hopes for the future is to graduate from university, get a scholarship to get a further degree and to one day open a business.
“Maybe in the travel industry,” said the baby-faced Juan, who teaches six-year-olds Mandarin for pocket money.
A determined young woman, she is pursuing a diploma in Languages, majoring in Mandarin because believes that this, coupled with the courses in finances she had taken, will give her an edge, especially with a more integrated Asean economy.
Speaking to Malaysiakini separately, her proud father, a stocky man with tanned skin and bristly hair, crosses his arms when he says he, too, believes in communism - only a different kind.
‘The basic thing is to live a better life’
His main concern today is still the people; that is the 100 families of Kampung Betong whom he hopes to help “improve their lives and not be poor”.
“When we left the jungle, it was a different life. We had to find better things to eat, better clothes to wear, live better. The basic thing for me is that every villager live a better life.
“The Thai government gave us six acres of land per family, and most of us planted rubber. With the land, if we work hard, we can live a decent life,” he said when met at Chin Peng’s wake in Bangkok.
To supplement their income, the residents of the picturesque hillside Kampung Betong have set up chalets for tourists who like good hikes, good views and leftist history.
Having never lived anywhere but north of the Malaysia-Thai border, Xie said he does not feel exiled.
Unlike others who live in Thailand because their applications to return were rejected, he had opted to remain in Thailand as provided for in the 1989 Hatyai Peace Accord.
He opted to stay, even though both his parents were Malaysia-born, because he was born in Thailand and was already automatically a citizen.
He said his children and 70-plus third generation residents of Kampung Betong, his daughter being the eldest and the youngest only 10, were Thai at birth.
“They have always been Thai... My children and I go to Malaysia sometimes but only to visit relatives,” he said.
Even though the CPM guerrillas fought for Malaya (and later Malaysia), “everything has changed”.
‘Care for our children so they will care for us’
Faridah Yusuf, 60, who lives at Kampung Balok, chose to remain in Thailand to be close to her family and her elderly mother.
Born in Songhkla, Faridah said her life today is modest but “good”, better than when the abject poverty of her childhood forced her into the jungles to join the CPM at 15.
Faridah (left) is a small woman with deep set eyes, dark skin and a girlish giggle which reveals teeth stained red from chewing betel leaves many years of her life.
She is a bundle of gratefulness when she speaks of Chin Peng in a dialect which makes her sound Kelantanese: “He taught me so many things. I didn’t even know how to read before I entered the jungle.”
“I tell my sons I went into the jungle to ease my mother’s burdens. Now we live a comfortable life, so you should remember to help me, too.”
A single parent, she said her sons, aged 18 and 19, quit school to help her tap rubber - they rise at 3am every day and tap until noon - and do odd jobs in the village.
“Our income depends on the price of rubber, but my boys’ lives are so much better than mine when I was their age. They have motorcycles, and they’re carefree,” she said.
Dressed in Lady Gaga-inspired black high heels and a bright pink shirt, Yurina Che Mamat, 17, made the overnight drive from Yala with her mother Sharifah, Faridah and eight others.
In her grey headscarf, Yurina (left in photo) may have different religious beliefs than Juan, but the high schooler’s hopes for the future do not differ much.
Growing up, she would have performed in the annual Children’s Day or Women’s Day celebrations the village puts up, and through that learnt of her parents’ time in the CPM.
“We used to celebrate June 20 (the anniversary of when CPM took up arms in 1948) but not so much any more. We are no longer fighting anyway,” Faridah said.
Already, there are third generation residents in Kampung Balok; the youngest a two-year-old whose father is a secondary schoolteacher and grandparents were guerrilla fighters.
“We just struggle for a livelihood now, to care for our children, so they will care for us, too.”
Juan said her hopes for the future is to graduate from university, get a scholarship to get a further degree and to one day open a business.
“Maybe in the travel industry,” said the baby-faced Juan, who teaches six-year-olds Mandarin for pocket money.
A determined young woman, she is pursuing a diploma in Languages, majoring in Mandarin because believes that this, coupled with the courses in finances she had taken, will give her an edge, especially with a more integrated Asean economy.
Speaking to Malaysiakini separately, her proud father, a stocky man with tanned skin and bristly hair, crosses his arms when he says he, too, believes in communism - only a different kind.
‘The basic thing is to live a better life’
His main concern today is still the people; that is the 100 families of Kampung Betong whom he hopes to help “improve their lives and not be poor”.
“When we left the jungle, it was a different life. We had to find better things to eat, better clothes to wear, live better. The basic thing for me is that every villager live a better life.
“The Thai government gave us six acres of land per family, and most of us planted rubber. With the land, if we work hard, we can live a decent life,” he said when met at Chin Peng’s wake in Bangkok.
To supplement their income, the residents of the picturesque hillside Kampung Betong have set up chalets for tourists who like good hikes, good views and leftist history.
Having never lived anywhere but north of the Malaysia-Thai border, Xie said he does not feel exiled.
Unlike others who live in Thailand because their applications to return were rejected, he had opted to remain in Thailand as provided for in the 1989 Hatyai Peace Accord.
He opted to stay, even though both his parents were Malaysia-born, because he was born in Thailand and was already automatically a citizen.
He said his children and 70-plus third generation residents of Kampung Betong, his daughter being the eldest and the youngest only 10, were Thai at birth.
“They have always been Thai... My children and I go to Malaysia sometimes but only to visit relatives,” he said.
Even though the CPM guerrillas fought for Malaya (and later Malaysia), “everything has changed”.
‘Care for our children so they will care for us’
Faridah Yusuf, 60, who lives at Kampung Balok, chose to remain in Thailand to be close to her family and her elderly mother.
Born in Songhkla, Faridah said her life today is modest but “good”, better than when the abject poverty of her childhood forced her into the jungles to join the CPM at 15.
Faridah (left) is a small woman with deep set eyes, dark skin and a girlish giggle which reveals teeth stained red from chewing betel leaves many years of her life. She is a bundle of gratefulness when she speaks of Chin Peng in a dialect which makes her sound Kelantanese: “He taught me so many things. I didn’t even know how to read before I entered the jungle.”
“I tell my sons I went into the jungle to ease my mother’s burdens. Now we live a comfortable life, so you should remember to help me, too.”
A single parent, she said her sons, aged 18 and 19, quit school to help her tap rubber - they rise at 3am every day and tap until noon - and do odd jobs in the village.
“Our income depends on the price of rubber, but my boys’ lives are so much better than mine when I was their age. They have motorcycles, and they’re carefree,” she said.
Dressed in Lady Gaga-inspired black high heels and a bright pink shirt, Yurina Che Mamat, 17, made the overnight drive from Yala with her mother Sharifah, Faridah and eight others.
In her grey headscarf, Yurina (left in photo) may have different religious beliefs than Juan, but the high schooler’s hopes for the future do not differ much. Growing up, she would have performed in the annual Children’s Day or Women’s Day celebrations the village puts up, and through that learnt of her parents’ time in the CPM.
“We used to celebrate June 20 (the anniversary of when CPM took up arms in 1948) but not so much any more. We are no longer fighting anyway,” Faridah said.
Already, there are third generation residents in Kampung Balok; the youngest a two-year-old whose father is a secondary schoolteacher and grandparents were guerrilla fighters.
“We just struggle for a livelihood now, to care for our children, so they will care for us, too.”
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