I refer to malaysiakini report, " Plans to invite Chin Peng for book launch scrapped ".

While I think the government has done the right thing for not banning Chin Peng's memoirs, it has to also explain why Chin Peng is not allowed to return to his homeland just to launch his memoirs.

The Cold War was long over. Malaysia and communist China have improved relations as evidenced by the recent visit of Pak Lah there. The Soviet Union is no more and Russia is now just another Western country.

In fact, so many communist leaders have been visiting Malaysia since the late 1970s. For example, the late Chinese supreme leader Deng Xiaoping visited Malaysia in 1978 and Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2001. Both of them were once guerilla leaders like Chin Peng.

The question is why foreign communist leaders can visit Malaysia but Chin Peng - who is born in Malaysia and fought for the independence of the country - not allowed to return home just to launch a book?