KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Former chief justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad was “spewing nonsense” and refusing to accept historical fact with his claim that only Malays fought selflessly for the country’s independence, the MCA said today.

The senior partner in Barisan Nasional — the successor to the Alliance Party that gained Malaya’s independence in 1957 — also took umbrage at Abdul Hamid’s assertion, saying it denigrated the contributions of non-Malays and the party in securing Malaya’s freedom.

Saying the former chief justice’s remark was a “complete insult” to MCA and its founding father, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, secretary-general Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said the former and Tunku Abdul Rahman had recognised the importance of Malay-Sino co-operation to dispel doubts by the British that Malaya could be independently administered.

“In Tunku Abdul Rahman’s condolence speech in Parliament after Cheng Lock passed away on 18 December 1960, he conceded ‘If not for the great support and contributions rendered by the late Tun Tan, I must admit that the struggle for independence for Malaya would not have succeeded. Perhaps we may have had to shed blood or pay a high price for that cause…’” Ong said in a statement today.

Ong also directed Abdul Hamid’s attention to the “landslide victory” the Alliance Party then comprising Umno, MCA and MIC had secured in the 1955 general election, which he said was pivotal to Malaya’s struggle for independence then.

“The victory might not have been able to come about easily without the support of the multi-racial voters,” he said.

The former minister also said that members of all communities in Malaya had fought with their lives in defence of Malaya during the Japanese Occupation, resulting in the death and torture of many at the hands of the occupying force during World War II.

These and other historical facts demonstrated that Abdul Hamid’s accusation that non-Malays only wanted Malaya’s independence to protect their own interests to by “false assertions”, Ong added.

On Saturday, Abdul Hamid was reported as saying that Malays had “demanded independence” as some of their number died fighting communists from 1948 to 1960.

In contrast, non-Malays decided to push for independence only after realising that it was imminent and will protect their interests, he added.

Abdul Hamid also reportedly claimed that the Federation of Malaya or pre-independence Peninsular Malaysia should have been given back to Malays.

Malaya achieved independence in 1957 and later formed Malaysia together with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in 1963. Singapore was later expelled in 1965.

The contributions of the various ethnic communities are regularly revisited by Malay groups who question the gratitude of non-Malays for the citizenships “gifted” to them during Merdeka.