Ahmad Boestamam

Dato Ahmad Boestaman (30 November 1920 – 19 January 1983) was a Malaysian freedom fighter, politician and was the founding president of Parti Rakyat Malaysia and Parti Marhaen Malaysia.

Ahmad Boestaman was born in Setapak, Selangor to Minangkabau parents, who originally come from Salido, Pesisir Selatan, West Sumatra, and was raised in Behrang Ulu, Tanjung Malim, Perak.

Boestaman had been a young follower of the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) from the late 1930s in Perak, emerging after the war as the militant youth leader of Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API) to the older and more moderate Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy and Ishak Haji Muhammad (Pak Sako) of the Malay Nationalist Party (PKMM).

PKMM, in turn, led Pusat Tenaga Rakyat or Putera to join the All Malayan Council of Joint Action (AMCJA), which was then led by the Malayan Democratic Union (MDU). AMCJA crafted the People’s Constitution in 1947 as the basis for Malayan independence, years before the United Malays National Organisation switched its slogan from “Hidup Melayu” to “Merdeka” under Tunku Abdul Rahman’s leadership.

Boestaman was detained without trial for seven long years from early 1948, before the Emergency was declared in mid-1948, together with thousands of other Malay youths demanding independence. This pre-emptive repression by the colonial power was to ethnically colour the subsequent anticolonial resistance.

Soon after his release in 1955, he set up the Partai Rakyat Malaya with other independent fighters on 11 November 1955. Inspired by anti-colonial and socialist struggle in Indonesia led by Sukarno, the party in its formative years subscribe to a Pan-Malay/Indonesia nationalism. Unlike its contemporary UMNO (which later became the ruling party until today), Parti Rakyat demanded total independent from British colonialism.

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