Our government is afraid that his body or ashes might be brought back to Malaysia.
Home Minister Zahid Hamidi is afraid that if his ashes were brought back, a memorial might be built for him. IGP quoted the law barring ashes because of the risk of bringing back diseases!
Utusan Malaysia even claimed that his date of death was falsified to coincide with the birth of Malaysia!
Kee Thuan Chye, concludes in his article 'Chin Peng and the Dignity of man':
'Is it not enough that our government lacks dignity? Must it also lack logic? Where is its sense of social justice, its kinship with the dignity of man?'
Excerpt of his article:
'The dignity of man. That was what Chin Peng bargained for at the Baling Talks held in 1955 with Tunku Abdul Rahman, David Marshall and a few others in a bid to negotiate peace. And because they would not grant him and his comrades of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) that, because they would not accord them dignity but instead insist that they surrender and subject themselves to detention, the talks failed.'
'To Chin Peng, however, “this question of restriction of freedom … is a question of principle”. And he, therefore, could not accept it.
He added: “For the dignity of man, if this principle is insisted upon, then we can only carry on with the struggle.”
Marshall then asked him: “… but what are you struggling for?”
“It is very simple,” Chin Peng reiterated, “just for the dignity of man.”
Marshall failed to understand what Chin Peng meant by “the dignity of man”. Chin Peng clarified it for him: “While we are in the jungle, we are free. Why should we come out to be detained?” '
'He promised the Tunku that when the latter’s Malayan government were given charge of internal security and national defence, the CPM would no longer call itself “National Liberation Army”. The CPM’s fight was “for the independence of Malaya”, he said, so once the Malayan government was independent, the CPM would no longer fight against it.
That being so, Chin Peng again made a case for no detention, no restriction of movement. He asked that he and his comrades be allowed to go home. If this was granted, it would be acceptable for the Government to investigate them. “But if we were to be enclosed in one place and investigations are carried out, that amounts to surrender,” he said.
Again, he showed he was willing to compromise. But as it turned out, the Tunku was not. He insisted that “as far as restriction of movement is concerned, we must have it”. He also repeated at the end of the talks the sentiment he had expressed at its beginning: “Unfortunately, although you do not like the word ‘surrender’, I have got to be frank with you and say that you have got to surrender.”
This left Chin Peng with no choice. He had already stated: “If you demand our surrender, we would prefer to fight to the last man.” So he left the talks a disappointed man.
But what about the Tunku? Was he disappointed?
According to journalist Said Zahari, who was covering the talks for Utusan Melayu, he managed to ask the Tunku that question after the proceedings had ended. Only he and Umno man Syed Jaafar Albar were present when the Tunku replied, “No, no, not at all. I never wanted it to be a success.” '
'Whatever it was, Chin Peng got played out.
And although he was to be played out again a few times afterwards, for example, when he made numerous unsuccessful attempts to settle in Malaysia after the Government had signed a peace agreement with the CPM in 1989, it seems he never compromised his dignity.'
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Home Minister Zahid Hamidi is afraid that if his ashes were brought back, a memorial might be built for him. IGP quoted the law barring ashes because of the risk of bringing back diseases!
Utusan Malaysia even claimed that his date of death was falsified to coincide with the birth of Malaysia!
Kee Thuan Chye, concludes in his article 'Chin Peng and the Dignity of man':
'Is it not enough that our government lacks dignity? Must it also lack logic? Where is its sense of social justice, its kinship with the dignity of man?'
Excerpt of his article:
'The dignity of man. That was what Chin Peng bargained for at the Baling Talks held in 1955 with Tunku Abdul Rahman, David Marshall and a few others in a bid to negotiate peace. And because they would not grant him and his comrades of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) that, because they would not accord them dignity but instead insist that they surrender and subject themselves to detention, the talks failed.'
'To Chin Peng, however, “this question of restriction of freedom … is a question of principle”. And he, therefore, could not accept it.
He added: “For the dignity of man, if this principle is insisted upon, then we can only carry on with the struggle.”
Marshall then asked him: “… but what are you struggling for?”
“It is very simple,” Chin Peng reiterated, “just for the dignity of man.”
Marshall failed to understand what Chin Peng meant by “the dignity of man”. Chin Peng clarified it for him: “While we are in the jungle, we are free. Why should we come out to be detained?” '
'He promised the Tunku that when the latter’s Malayan government were given charge of internal security and national defence, the CPM would no longer call itself “National Liberation Army”. The CPM’s fight was “for the independence of Malaya”, he said, so once the Malayan government was independent, the CPM would no longer fight against it.
That being so, Chin Peng again made a case for no detention, no restriction of movement. He asked that he and his comrades be allowed to go home. If this was granted, it would be acceptable for the Government to investigate them. “But if we were to be enclosed in one place and investigations are carried out, that amounts to surrender,” he said.
Again, he showed he was willing to compromise. But as it turned out, the Tunku was not. He insisted that “as far as restriction of movement is concerned, we must have it”. He also repeated at the end of the talks the sentiment he had expressed at its beginning: “Unfortunately, although you do not like the word ‘surrender’, I have got to be frank with you and say that you have got to surrender.”
This left Chin Peng with no choice. He had already stated: “If you demand our surrender, we would prefer to fight to the last man.” So he left the talks a disappointed man.
But what about the Tunku? Was he disappointed?
According to journalist Said Zahari, who was covering the talks for Utusan Melayu, he managed to ask the Tunku that question after the proceedings had ended. Only he and Umno man Syed Jaafar Albar were present when the Tunku replied, “No, no, not at all. I never wanted it to be a success.” '
'Whatever it was, Chin Peng got played out.
And although he was to be played out again a few times afterwards, for example, when he made numerous unsuccessful attempts to settle in Malaysia after the Government had signed a peace agreement with the CPM in 1989, it seems he never compromised his dignity.'
More:
2 comments:
No man is perfect!
Seem like even Tunku was playing to the tune of the colonial masters!
Is that the reasons why our local history books r so afraid to even openly critical about the period, covering the emergency?
Malaya is independent & yet the governing 'leaders' were still been pupeteered by the old masters.
If I could imagine the mindset then, communism was much feared by the west with the belief of 'domino theory' if any country were to fall to it. On the one hand, Britain had made full use of the resources from the region and was not really prepared to stretch their resources to defend her colonies. In a way, by being a threat to peace and security, some people believed CPM helped Tunku in achieving independence.
Problem with present leaders and their supporters is that they are trying to change history to suit and credit only their past leaders, and even took the opportunity to condemn anyone who spoke any good of any communist leader as his sympathiser. Even if a memorial were to be built and it attracted many visitors, there is not going to be a movement which can gather momentum to threaten our present system of government.
Logically, if communism were to be condemned, then we should cut all ties and trades with communist China, and other communist countries.
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