s/pores Exclusive: Hai Fan Reflects on His Early Writings, and Discusses His Forthcoming Projects
(Translated from Chinese, original version below)
s/pores:
Please tell us about the making of your first book of short stories What the Rainforest Tells You (2014). This volume contains six short stories, followed by selected diary entries from 16 January to 17 April 1990. These entries were written after the demobilisation of CPM soldiers in South Thailand, following the Hai Yai Agreement.
The short stories were published between 1978 and 1987 in Torch 《火炬》the MCP paper circulated within the army. The versions in What the Rainforest Tells You had been edited some years earlier. The four stories in the book on guerrilla life are included in the collection Delicious Hunger (2017).
Hai Fan:
Writing and publishing were part of our lives, on the premise that the environment is relatively stable and not too turbulent.
The stories in What the Rainforest Tells You first appeared in various issues of Torch.
The MCP soldiers had been waging guerrilla war in the jungle against British colonial military and police forces since 1948. Over a course of more than 30 years, the major units entrenched in the Malayan-Thai border region had, under relatively stable conditions, developed a form of community life. Peripheral civilian support teams were responsible for procurement, propaganda, and intelligence gathering. The military forces organized farming to supplement their supplies. Camps housing one to two hundred soldiers had work teams dedicated to various functions: administration, medical care, communications, munitions, and cultural activities.
The 3rd Company of the 12th Detachment to which I belonged had the additional duty for propaganda which included producing Torch. Each issue was around 40,000 to 50,000 words long. From its revival in 1976 until 1989, a total of 28 issues were published. I was involved in the editorial work for a considerable period in addition to my regular duties. Hence I found myself writing quite copiously, (around 70-80 pieces across various genres) including the short stories.
Guerrilla warfare demanded of its soldiers a far greater degree beyond the usual military levels of discipline and hardship. Without deep ideological commitment and equally of comradeship, it would not have been possible for us to face up to gunfire, hunger, injuries, loss of life– every type of extreme hardship.
I had a complete set of the 28 mimeographed copies of Torch but hesitated to bring them with me on returning to Singapore. What I did was to bind my own stories into a booklet, which I kept. I edited them with the intention of publishing them in 2009, the twentieth anniversary of the Hat Yai Peace Agreement. Following the birth of my second daughter two years earlier, I had started to write again, under the pen name Xin Yu on the bygone rural areas of this place in the past, and modern city life in the new century. However I was unable to proceed with the volume of short stories to mark the end of my writing on the rainforest because of the demands of working life at the time.
The volume finally appeared in 2014. My aim was to provide a perspective grounded in personal experience as a counter-narrative to the often idealized accounts. The title, “What the Rainforest Tells You” alludes to this intention.
What eventually became “Mysterious Night”《迷离夜》 is the first piece I wrote on guerrilla warfare. It is a battle story. I had been assigned to carry supplies from the border to the south for one or two months to support the assault forces on many occasions. It is the account of an actual operation where the assault team was scheduled to rendezvous with our supply team. I knew the assault team members, and was familiar with such operations. The story was well received when it appeared in Torch under the title “Mist”《迷雾》.
I cannot say that I had absolutely no reservations about publishing What the Rainforest Tells You. I used a pen name that only my former comrades in the guerrilla army could recognize: Hai Fan, and published and distributed the book in Malaysia to give the impression that the author was an ex-guerrilla from Singapore who was living in Malaysia. My identity would of course come to light sooner or later. However, I took heart from the fact that the short stories and excerpts from my diary are nothing more than a record of the emotional and spiritual in my rainforest life. I was not speaking on behalf of any person or group, but wrote based on my experience and understanding of the daily lives of my comrades— whether they were the noble, ordinary, or even despicable. I also came across grievances and injustices endured in silence, and felt it was important to write about the poignancy of these sacrifices as well.
For example, “Mountain Rain” (titled “After the Rain” in Torch) is a short story I particularly like, one that wasn’t entirely politically correct at the time. A female comrade who is physically weak is treated by her comrades as a nuisance to work with, and a burden. She deeply feels out of place, but manages to find the will to stay on by recalling how and why she enlisted in the guerrilla war in the first place. My focus was to bring to light those lives lived in pursuit of a meaningful existence.
This intention is also reflected in the revisions made to certain short stories. The most obvious and significant revisions were made to “Misty Night”. When I wrote the stories, I was of course completely unaware of the excesses of the widening the ‘elimination of counterrevolutionaries’ purges. It was absolutely taboo, and brought on the harshest punishment.
I subsequently learnt that the comrades on whom the characters in “Misty Night” were based had in fact endured interrogation in ‘elimination of counterrevolutionaries’ trials. Naturally I brought that into the story when I revised it for publication, weaving a plotline about the insidious and widespread purges in the name of the ‘elimination of counterrevolutionaries’ into the lives of the main characters caught in its snare.
The real-life counterpart of the key protagonist ‘Lao Jiang’ is identified in a diary entry included in What the Rainforest Tells You as my source. He had also voiced scepticism that comrades whom he mentored could be guilty of counterrevolutionary activities.
I first learnt about the purges within our ranks a month or two before the Hat Yai Peace Agreement. A trusted comrade recounted how, upon joining the revolutionary forces, he was surprised and puzzled when an elderly and respected comrade said to him, “Why have you come back? Isn’t it better for you to stay in the underground?” Such statements were dangerous. It fell into place when soon after, he learned that his older brother, who had joined the forces earlier, had been executed during the purges.
I shocked by the revelations.
When I edited the stories in 2009 I changed the story’s title to “Mysterious Night” to capture the enigmatic and haunting atmosphere of the narrative.
The rampant purges took place between May 8 and June 10 1967, with the last case of the period occurring on 23 July 1969; a second wave lasted from December 1969 to June 1970. The victims were the so-called ‘semi-old semi-new’ comrades who took up arms in significant numbers in the 1960s.
Following the demobilisation of the troops with the Hat Yai Peace Agreement, the Party secretary general Chin Peng visited South Thailand and declared that with the war over, the “elimination of counterrevolutionaries” was no longer a forbidden subject. In the face of kin demanding accountability for missing relatives, the Party accepted responsibility for the so-called trials and ensuing killings of innocent comrades. The hearings quickly overturned the verdict of the vast majority of cases and recognised the victims as martyrs. As with the other teams, the working group of the12th detachment visited the families of its 71 comrades to tender official apologies and to give each family 20,000 baht in compensation, bearing with the wrath and public abuse they met with.
In the years after my return, I tried to learn as much as I could about the purges. 21st Century Press in Malaysia which put out publications that defended the Party had to compete with critical analyses and memoirs of survivors. I have also sought out former comrades who were willing to talk. Differences over the purges continued to plague leaders who have remained in Southern Thailand vying to control the narrative of party history.
I have come to realise that large-scale and systematic internal purges have been a phenomenon among communist parties whether underground, in the opposition, or in the ruling party.
Thus in my first novel Out of the Rainforest 《雨林的背景》 (2023) I wrote a chapter detailing a gruesome execution and highlighted the lifelong grief and guilt haunting those who were pressured into taking part in the torture inflicted on the accused in the name of making the person realise and confess to their betrayal. The horror would never be overcome. The wounds live on.
The periods of widespread ‘elimination of counterrevolutionaries’ trials and killings cannot be forgotten, or simply omitted from the history of the Party.
Nor should it overwhelm the Party’s record– the fight against Japanese occupation and the British colonial power, the struggle for independence. A significant number of people were prepared to sacrifice their lives, their youth to struggle for the ideals of equality of treatment, justice and democracy. This has to be acknowledged.
s/pores:
With five books out on the rainforest, what lies ahead for Hai Fan?
Hai Fan:
I intend to craft short stories, drawing on poignant and evocative experiences encountered in the contemporary urban context. My work will also explore themes of ecology and the natural world.
Eco-writing. I am exploring that. To start with, I am sorting out what I have learnt about rainforest vegetation, with a view to presenting the material as popular science. At the same time I will tell stories of common everyday plants as a part of life in our history.
For this, I have to be prepared to start studying from the basics. I have already penned a few such pieces, learning as I write. A series of titles is the plan.
s/pores独家：海凡回顾早期创作，畅叙未来计划
s/pores：
请谈谈你第一本书《雨林告诉你》（2014年）的创作过程。
这本书收了六个短篇小说，另外摘录了自1990年1月16日起截至4月18日的部分日记。这是随着签署《合艾协议》，马共武装部队在泰南解散之后写下的日记。
至于六个短篇，1978年至1987年期间曾在《火炬》——马共的军中刊物上发表。2014年《雨林告诉你》出版时，收在书里的小说是数年前改写过的版本。2017年出版小说集《可口的饥饿》时，该书描述游击生活的四个短篇也收了进去。
海凡：
在环境相对稳定、不太动荡的前提下，写作和出版是部队生活的一部分。
《雨林告诉你》书中的短篇小说，最初分别发表在各期《火炬》。
自1948年以来，马来亚共产党的武装部队一直在丛林中与英国殖民军队和警察部队进行游击战。坚守三十多年，马泰边境的马共主要部队，在相对稳定的条件下发展出一定的社区生活模式。外围的民运队伍负责采购、宣传和情报收集。部队本身组织农业生产以补充供应。容纳一两百名士兵的营地设有专门负责各种职能的工作组：行政、医疗、通信、军需和文化活动等。
我所属的第十二支队第三连也负责宣传工作，包括编辑出版《火炬》。《火炬》每期约容纳四五万字。从1976年复刊到1989年，总共出版了28期。除了负担日常的内外勤工作外，我在相当长一段时间里参与了编辑工作，因此写了一些作品（各种体裁约70-80篇），包括短篇小说。
游击战要求士兵具备远超普通军队水平的纪律和吃苦精神。没有坚定的信仰，严格的纪律和同志情谊，我们不可能面对枪林弹雨、饥饿、伤痛、牺牲——各种极端困境。
我有一套完整的28本油印版《火炬》，但回新加坡时犹豫着是否要带上它们。最后我做的是将自己的文章装订成册，保存下来。这么做，是想在2009年，即合艾和平协议二十周年之际把它出版。然而，在我第二个女儿出生后，我开始以笔名“辛羽”重新写作，记录本地过去的乡村和新世纪的现代城市生活。由于当时工作繁忙，我没有落实这个原来标志着告别雨林写作的短篇小说集出版计划。
该集子后来在2014年出版。目的是提供一个个人经验的视角，作为对通常理想化叙述的一种反叙事。书名《雨林告诉你》暗示了这一意图。
改名为《迷离夜》的小说，是我写的第一篇关于游击战的作品。这是一个战斗故事。我曾多次执行任务，跋涉一两个月，从边境去往半岛南方运送物资支援突击队。故事是突击队与我们补给队会合的真实行动的记录。我认识突击队的成员，熟悉此类行动。这篇小说以《迷雾》为题发表在《火炬》上时，受到了同志们的喜欢。
我不能说我对出版《雨林告诉你》毫无顾虑。我使用了一个只有我以前的游击队战友才知道的笔名：海凡，并在马来西亚出版和发行这本书，希望给人一种印象，作者是住在马来西亚的新加坡前游击队员。我的身份当然迟早会暴露。然而，我没有却步，因为我的这些短篇小说和日记，再怎么说只是我雨林生活的情感与身心记录，仅此而已。我不代表任何个人或团体，而是根据我的经历和对战友日常生活的理解进行写作——无论他们是高尚的、平凡的，甚至是卑下的。我也看到默默忍受的委屈和不公正，并觉得有必要写下这些凄美的辛酸和牺牲。
例如，《山雨》（在《火炬》中题为《雨后》）是我特别喜欢的一个短篇，尽管当时并不那么政治正确。一位身体虚弱的女战友被她的战友视为工作上的累赘和负担。她深深地感到不自在和委屈，但通过回忆她最初参军的决心和历程，设法找到了坚持下去的意志。我的主题是，让大家看见那些为追求有意义的生活而活着的人们。
这一意图也体现在对某些短篇小说的修订中。最明显和最重要的修订体现在《迷离夜》。当我在写这个小说时，我完全不知道发生过“肃反” 扩大化的事。当年那是绝对的禁忌，无论谁透露或谈论都将会受到最严厉的惩罚。
后来得知，《迷离夜》中人物的原型，实际上在“肃反”中遭受了审讯。自然地，我在为出版而修订时将这一点融入了故事，将以“肃反”为名的险恶和广泛的清洗，补写到陷入其中的主角的生活中。
《雨林告诉你》中收录的一篇日记，提到了主人公“老江”在现实生活中的对应人物。他甚至怀疑那些曾受过他影响的战友可能涉足反革命活动。
我是在合艾和平协议签署前一两个月，才第一次得知我们队伍内部清洗这事的。一位值得信赖的战友讲述了他加入革命队伍后，一位年长且受人尊敬的老同志对他说：“你为什么上来了？你留在地下不是更好吗？”他感到惊讶和困惑。这样的言论是危险的。不久之后，他得知比他早些时候参军的哥哥在清洗中被处决，这才恍然大悟。
我对这些揭露感到震惊。
2009年我进行该小说的编辑时，因此将标题改为《迷离夜》，以捕捉当中的神秘和诡异氛围。
猖獗的清洗发生在1967年5月8日至6月10日之间，该时期的最后一个案例发生在1969年7月23日；第二波清洗从1969年12月持续到1970年6月。受害者除了少部分老同志，大多是所谓的“半新老”的战友，他们主要是泰国籍的华裔，一大批年轻人于20世纪60年代拿起武器，上山打游击。
在合艾和平协议后部队复员前夕，党总书记陈平访问了泰国边境的部队，并宣布战争结束，“肃反”不再是禁忌话题。面对亲属要求为失踪亲人追究责任，党承诺对所谓的审判和随后杀害无辜的行为负责。听证会迅速推翻了绝大多数案件的判决，并承认受害者为烈士。与其他小组一样，第十二支队的工作组走访了该支队71名受害战友的家属，正式道歉，并向每个家庭赔偿20,000泰铢，面对家属们的愤怒并忍受着公众的辱骂。
在我回国后，多年来极尽可能地试图了解“肃反”事件。在马来西亚从事出版，为党辩护的21世纪出版社，不得不与幸存者的批判性分析和回忆录交锋。我也找到了愿意交谈的前战友。关于“肃反”的分歧，继续困扰着留在泰国南部争夺党史叙事权的领导人。
我逐渐意识到，大规模和系统性的内部清洗一直是共产党的一种现象，无论是否处于地下，还是作为反对派或执政党。
因此，我在第一部长篇小说《雨林的背影》（2023）中，写了一个章节，详细描述了一次可怕的处决，并突出了那些被迫参与对被告施加酷刑的人终生的悲伤和内疚。恐惧无法克服，伤口永存。
大规模“肃反”审判和杀戮不能被遗忘，更不能简单地从党的历史中省略。
与此同时，也不应该因此抹杀党的工作与记录——反抗日本占领，反抗英国殖民统治，争取民族独立。无数的热血青年准备牺牲他们的生命和青春，为争取平等、正义和民主的理想而奋斗。这一点必须得到承认。
s/pores：
署名海凡的雨林相关书写，目前已出版了五个集子。请问在同一署名下，今后还有什么写作计划？
海凡：
我打算继续创作短篇小说，从当代城市环境下辛酸和触动人心的生活经历汲取灵感。我的作品也想探索生态和大自然的主题。
生态写作。这是我正在探索的。首先，我将整理我所了解的关于雨林植被的知识，以便将这些材料作为科普作品呈现。同时，我在讲述游击生活的过往时将带出普通日常植物的故事。
为此，我必须做好从基础开始学习的准备。我边写边学，已经写了好几篇。写成一系列生态作品，是我下来的写作计划。