DAP man urges ‘cruel’ Putrajaya to lift ban on Chin Peng’s ashes
Putrajaya’s refusal to allow the ashes of Chin Peng to be brought back after more than two decades of signing the peace treaty that ended the communist insurgency is regrettable, says Penang deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy.
"It is very cruel. What is wrong with letting his ashes be brought home? We don't have to subscribe to communism.
"He is dead and gone. Can his ashes bring back communism?" the DAP leader told The Malaysian Insider.
The 21st Century Malaysia Friendship Association on Saturday urged Putrajaya to honour the Hatyai Peace Accord it signed on December 2, 1989 with the CPM and the Thai government.
One of the terms in the peace accord signed in Hatyai, which is in southern Thailand, was that Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) members of Malayan origin would be allowed to return to live in Malaysia, if they wanted to.
But, CPM secretary-general Chin Peng, whose real name was Ong Boon Hua, was barred from returning. Even after his death, his ashes are not allowed into the country.
Bernama reported Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying that Putrajaya would never allow Chin Peng's ashes to be brought back to Malaysia.
He said Putrajaya was sensitive to the feelings of the families of soldiers, policemen and others killed or maimed by CPM.
Today is the 25th anniversary of the signing of the peace accord. Chin Peng was one of the three CPM senior leaders who inked the agreement for the party.
Ramasamy said despite Chin Peng's communist background, the man was in his way a nationalist like Sukarno and Ho Chi Minh, who fought for independence.
"He also fought against the Japanese and was honoured with an OBE (Order of the British Empire)."
Ramasamy also asked why some CPM members like the late Rashid Maidin and Shamsiah Fakeh were allowed to return home but Chin Peng was not.
"I think this has to do with racism," he said, adding that it was disappointing that Barisan Nasional component parties like MCA and Gerakan have not spoken up on the matter.
Ramasamy said he wanted to state his views on the issue because his family and Chin Peng's used to be friends.
"I am not saying this because I am a politician. I am also from Sitiawan, Perak, like Chin Peng. My father and his father were friends.
"I was about six or seven when my father took me to Chin Peng's father's bicycle shop, where I got my first bicycle.
"Unfortunately, our families lost touch over the years. I don't think his family’s bicycle shop is there anymore."
Chin Peng first applied to return to Malaysia in late 1990, but his application was rejected in December the next year.
After some of his CPM comrades were given permission to return home, he made further efforts to see his hometown, including to the then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on June 14, 2004. It was unsuccessful.
He turned to the courts and lost his final bid in the Federal Court on April 30, 2009.
Chin Peng lived in exile in Thailand until his death in a Bangkok hospital on Malaysia Day last year. – December 2, 2014.
