Mohd Kassim Ahmad said he's sick of the libertarian views on malaysiakini for proposing Chin Peng's return to mainstream Malaysian society, albeit to launch his memoirs .

Never mind Kassim's banal about Deng Xiaoping and Fidel Castro not waging war against Malaysians (not sure where Kassim got that gem from, since such a case has never been documented anywhere in the annals of world history, let alone Malaysia's).

But Kassim's complaint is more about Chin Peng being in 'Malaysia' then, leading Kassim to condemn as 'evil-doers' the Communists Party of Malaya.

Perhaps Kassim would do well to read his own country's history better.

First, yes: Chin Peng was in 'Malaysia', but then it was called 'Malaya'. Second, there is no historical verification that "thousands" of Malay regiment soldiers were killed by the CPM. The best known 'unofficial' records say only that scores were killed or injured.

Third, Kassim says thousands of Chinese villagers were 'relocated' to New Villages. Rubbish. They were herded into these so-called new villages for the simple fear by the then authorities that many, being ethnic Chinese, could easily be communist sympathisers.

Curiously Kassim dislocates a number of historical contexts. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and China was in full swing in the wake of the Korean War in the first half of the 1950s. Things were also heating up in Vietnam against the French colonisers in a war of nationalism.

In Malaya, David Marshall, the then Singapore chief minister, and Tan Cheng Lock (then president of the Malayan Chinese Association), in conjunction with Tunku Abdul Rahman (then the Federation chief minister), had agreed to negotiate with and indeed meet Chin Peng on the condition that the CPM would "sink your pride for the welfare of the people of Malaya".

Chin Peng responded with agreement to cease CPM activities but never to give up the goal of ultimately establishing a Communist People's Republic of Malaya. In the meantime, Chin Peng confirmed to the Tunku that the CPM's immediate focus was to drive the British colonisers/imperialists from Malaya.

All of this was revealed in documents related to the Baling talks in 1955.

What's more, as the first Alliance election loomed, Tunku withdrew amnesty for the communists, knowing full well he had the military backing of British and Australian commandos who were operating behind enemy lines to destroy or capture the communists. Moreover, the Tunku has already secured London's promise for Malaya's independence by 1957.

Did Chin Peng and the CPM have Soviet support in its Malaya campaign? No. Did the CPM have China's support? Apparently it did, but the nature of that support is something only Chin Peng knows best.

And another thing: whether Kassim likes it or not, there were Malays who had joined the CPM. Musa Ahmad was made CPM chairman in 1956, albeit no more than a titular figure. There were also Indians in the CPM.

Frankly I see nothing wrong with Martin Lee's call . His reasons were perfectly valid, intelligent and forward-looking. Here's a chance for all Malaysians to learn more about their country's history, better still by someone who had directly contributed to it, irrespective of his background and irrespective of whether people loathe Chin Peng or otherwise.

Many loathe what the Japanese war criminals did but Malaysians have been embracing them and their capital. Same with the Germans, though they're not to blame for the Nazis. And despite what the Americans have done in Vietnam and elsewhere, Malaysians embrace them, their capital and their markets, including the prime minister.

So why the hypocrisy, Kassim? Unless, like Shahrizad Akashah , Kassim has ideas of whitewashing more of Malaysia's history that has already been so nefariously whitewashed by the country's inexpert 'historians'.