The history books call it the 'Emergency'. The year was 1949, and fear of the 'red peril' was sweeping the world as China fell to the communists. In Malaya, as it was called then, the British colonialists responded by rounding up the Chinese who lived in 'communist-infested' areas and locking them in fenced villages under the threat of deportation if they were found to be aiding the communists.
Out of this threat, the Malaysian Chinese Association was born. Now, as the MCA marks its 60th anniversary today, having grown from humble beginnings as a welfare agency to a political party in Malaysia's ruling coalition, the Chinese community has planted roots firmly in its adopted country.
Despite overcoming many challenges, Chinese continue to struggle against national policies that favour ethnic Malays in their fight for equal opportunities through all sectors of society.
While Chinese traders had been sailing around the region since the 12th century, it was not until the late 18th century that large numbers of Chinese workers began arriving in Malaya.
Brought by the British to work in the tin mines and rubber plantations, the mainly single men were expected to return to their homeland after their work was complete. However, history intervened to alter not only the course of their own lives and subsequent generations, but the makeup of modern Malaysian society.
According to James Chin, who has written extensively about Malaysia's Chinese community, many were afraid to return after China fell to the communists.
'They couldn't go back to China,' said Professor Chin, head of the school of arts and social sciences at Monash University, Malaysia. 'They became victims of circumstance.'