Controversies
As a prominent Malay leader in the ranks of the CPM, Shamsiah was frequently demonised by the Malaysian press. In 1981, the defected chairman of the CPM, Musa Ahmad, claimed that Shamsiah had committed infanticide by killing her third child while in the jungle to avoid capture.
She subsequently denied the allegation in her memoirs and explained that she was convinced by fellow guerillas to give the child away to local villagers to be raised upon entering an unfamiliar district. It was only later that she discovered that the child had in fact been killed.
Read more about this topic: Shamsiah Fakeh