Chin Peng should be resigned to the fact that he will not be able to enter this country legally while he is still alive. Pak Lah has confirmed that the government would not grant permission as Chin Peng was still linked to an organisation with a history of involvement in violent activities.

Now, this issue has been subject to some interesting debate. In the first place, is Chin Peng actually a hero, battling British imperialism in his effort to attain independence for Malaya? Or is he no more than a communist terrorist, resorting to arms when other methods have failed to bring success to the Communist Party of Malaya?

Secondly, even if he is a terrorist, should the government show some mercy and allow this frail old man the opportunity to spend the last years of his life in his own homeland?

I think we should admire the fact that Chin Peng was willing to put his life on the line, fighting for what he believed in. Not many people are willing to do this. The question now, does the cause he was fighting for justify the means he employed in trying to achieve his goal?

"What do you mean?" you might ask. "The man is fighting for the independence of Malaya! What cause could be more worthy than this?"

Yes, in the beginning, he did fight against the British to achieve independence for Malaya. However, the struggle continued even after independence was achieved. Why? Because Tunku Abdul Rahman turned down Chin Peng's demand that there be no police screening of the party's members who turned themselves in to the authorities? Because Tunku did not allow the Communist Party of Malaya to operate as a legal entity? Does this not imply that the objective of the Communist Party of Malaya is not merely the independence of Malaya but a Malaya under communist rule? If this was the case, then Chin Peng is not a hero as some people would make him to be, but nothing more than a common terrorist.

I consider myself fortunate not to have endured life during the state of Emergency. As such, my knowledge regarding that era is based on whatever is portrayed in the media as well as conversations with my dad and old timers whenever I 'balik kampung' (return to my hometown). Whenever the conversation turned towards that period, I can still sense the bitterness and sadness they felt as they recounted the horrors they experienced during that time.

Let Chin Peng come home, some people say. Let us close that particular page of history. Let us be magnanimous in victory. Let us forgive and forget.

Forgive and forget? It is easy for us to say that as we did not personally experience the horrors of that era. Let us ask the survivors of that era what they feel about the idea; the widows, the children, the relatives and the friends of all the soldiers, policemen and civilians who were the casualties of the communist insurgency. Ask them to recount the sorrow and misery the death of a loved one has inflicted on them. How did they react to the loss of the sole breadwinner, the favourite brother, the loving sister? Are they so ready to forgive and forget?

Chin Peng might not have personally ordered all of the atrocities attributed to the communists. However, as the head of the movement, he is responsible for the action of its members. Wasn't his silence not a sign of tacit approval for all the atrocities committed under the flag of the Communist Party of Malaya?

Some people might say that Chin Peng should be tried for the crimes perpetrated by the communists during his tenure as secretary general of the Communist Party of Malaya. After all, other nations have done the same, prosecuting individuals for crimes committed during the war.

But our government did not do so. They did not pursue his head with zealous self-righteousness. All they did was to deny him entry. Is that not magnanimous enough?