前言：马华公会的成立背景    Introduction : History of Party Formation
 

一九四九年， 马来西亚还是英国人统治下的「马来半岛」。 由于马来亚共产党进行武装叛乱， 英国殖民政府于一九四八年中宣布马来半岛进入紧急状态， 实行军事统治。由于多数马共党员是华人， 结果华人便不幸成为英军与马共战争的「夹心人」， 受尽苦难。 许多华人被英军拘禁， 或被逐出境， 甚至被抢杀。几十万乡区华人被赶出他们生活了几代人的村子， 他们的屋子连同财物很多就这样被英军一把火烧掉。英政府还准备把这些已经两手空空的乡区华人集体遣返中国。 一九四九年二月廿七日， 为了拯救处在水深火热中的华人同胞， 马华诞生了!领导成立马华的人， 便是著名的已故陈祯禄爵士。 马华成立后， 成功阻止英政府驱逐华人返中国的计划; 接着 ， 设法筹款协助那些被集中新村的同胞， 盖搭栖身的木屋， 提供粮食、医药和金钱的援助， 并为他们争取一些最基本的民生设施， 如食水供应、流动诊疗所和设立华文小学、民众会堂、图书馆等。在华人最苦、最危急， 最须要援手的时刻， 马华公会适时成立， 挑起扶危解困重担， 这是马华公会成立的历史背景。

1949
马来西亚华人公会(简称马华公会)在本年2月27日假吉隆坡成立。 陈祯禄被选为首任会长。后获封赐「敦」荣衔。义务总秘书是杨旭龄，义务总财政为邱德懿。其他领袖包括政治青年妇女小组委员会主席李孝式，宣传小组陈修信，社交慈善及文化小组委员会主席梁长龄等。
敦陈祯禄在阐述马华成立主因时说:”我党之成立，近因主要就是因为效忠马来亚的华人在紧急状态下受到苦难，紧急状态不但危及许多华人的性命，威胁华人的切身利益，而且还使人怀疑我们对本邦的传统效忠诚意。其实，许多华人已把马来亚视为自己永久的家乡。”
 

The history of the Malaysian Chinese community can be traced to the 19th century or even earlier. In the 1940s, Malaya, as the country was known then, was a British colony. Because of the communist armed insurrection in the peninsula, the British Government declared a state of emergency and military rule in 1948.
The Chinese residents, sandwiched between the communists and the British Government, suffered miseries and hardships as the communists, who were mostly ethnic Chinese, waged a guerilla war against the British.
A large number of Chinese were detained by the colonial Government, many were deported to China and some were shot dead by the soldiers.
To isolate the rural Chinese community from the guerillas, hundreds of thousands of Chinese were evicted from their homes and re-settled in new villages set up by the British Government.
On 27 February 1949, the Malayan Chinese Association or MCA as it is popularly known, was born out of the need to save the Chinese in Malaya from being repatriated to China. The late Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock was the key man behind the formation of the MCA.
The British plan to deport the Chinese was halted with the birth of the MCA, which took immediate plans to build houses to help resettle the Chinese in the new villages. The MCA also provided food, medicine and monetary aid for these people. After the resettlement, the MCA also helped in securing electricity and piped water to the new villages. Chinese primary schools and public libraries were built for the people.

1949
The Malaysian Chinese Association (“MCA” in brief) was formed on Feb. 27 with Sir Tun Tan Cheng Lock as the inaugural President; Yong Shook Lin as Honorary Secretary and Khoo Teck Ee as Honorary Treasurer. Other founding leaders included H.S. Lee (political/youth/women sub-committee chairman); Tan Siew Sin (publicity sub-committee chairman) and Leong Chong Leng (social welfare/culture subcommittee chairman). Explaining the reasons for forming the party, Tun Tan said, ” The immediate reason for forming our Party was that the Chinese who are loyal to Malaya are made to suffer under the state of emergency. The emergency not only endangered the life of many Chinese, threatening the most basic interests of the Chinese, furthermore it also led others to doubt our traditional loyalty and sincerity to this nation where most of us have considered as our permanent homeland.”