The Malayan Communist Party as Recorded in the Comintern Files

October 1929. In April 1931, the Comintern’s Shanghai networks dispatched a three-man mission
to Singapore. Headed by J. Ducroux (who will appear again later), the mission also consisted of
Teo Yuen-foo ( 张 然 和 ) and Wong. 9 Ho Chi Minh also returned to Shanghai in late June 1930. 10
Thereafter, until his arrest on 6 June 1931 (after being implicated in Ducroux group), Ho stayed in
Shanghai and Hong Kong where he played a pivotal role as a transmission post for the Malayan,
Siamese and Vietnamese parties. 11
Onimaru Takeshi, who has made a detailed study of the FEB’s activities in Shanghai during this
period, observed:
In Shanghai, the Comintern had two organizations, the FEB and the secretariat of
the Pan-Pacific Trade Union. The head of the International Communication Division
(OMS) of the Comintern in Shanghai bore responsibility for various tasks. He was
to liaise with various Communist Parties, distribute funds to support the activities of
the relevant Parties, arrange meetings and the residences of the agents, and manage
the [Post Office] boxes. From April 1928 to July 1929, and from March 1930 to 15
July 1931, the day of his arrest by British police, Jakov Rundnik (using the
pseudonym of Hilaire Noulens) was the OMS’s head.
Each Party sent a mission to Shanghai to secretly receive directions and funds. After
they could establish reliable and safe connections with the FEB, funds were handed
to them by the FEB or later borne by a courier who visited one of the countries.
Connections to Shanghai were made through the postal service (and many P. O.
Boxes were used in this way), telecommunications or direct personal contact. Since
P. O. Boxes were constantly under the surveillance of the British police, members of
the parties using this method to maintain contacts had to do so with extreme caution.
The FEB’s correspondences with the Comintern were sent in cipher through Berlin.
Among the staff working in FEB were Ho Chi Minh, Tan Malaka, Joseph Ducroux
(alias Serge Lefranc), 12 Fu Tai-keng (who was dispatched by the CCP Guangdong
Regional Committee to Singapore at the end of 1928 or in early 1929), 13 Bassa (alias
Teo Yuen-foo) 14 and Wong Muk-han (Huang Moh Hang). 15 Towards the end of
1930, when the letters of Shieng Kien Chu and Wang Yung Hai were written, Ho
was either in Hong Kong or Shanghai, and Bassa and Wong Muk-han were in
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