Ong Boon Hua aka Chin Peng was a freedom fighter, and he should be allowed to return just to see his family in Sitiawan (capital of Manjung, replacing Lumut since the era of former Perak Menteri Besar Ramli Ngah Talib).

Even Tunku Abdul Rahman who had every reason to loathe communism (after the Tsar of Russia and his family were shot dead, for communists hate royals like Tunku and his family) actually respected Chin Peng's struggle and was prepared to call him a nationalist, albeit one who adopted the wrong ideas.

It was British pressure on the Alliance leaders which made them appear very anti-Chin Peng, and seemingly want him to totally surrender.

The Alliance/Barisan Nasional only warmed up to a free Chin Peng during the time of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, not because Mahathir is more democratic than the Tunku (he certainly was not!), but because Mahathir has a soft spot for Chinese communism (and its single party-ism, unlike Soviet communism which has successfully tolerated multi-partyism as in Kerala, India).

Mahathir, furthermore, is not a royal, and only half an aristocrat (his mother was descended from Kedah's chief ministers). He would not face persecution under communist rule.

But more importantly and more seriously, Deng Xiaoping and Mahathir became close friends since 1985. This friendship between the two great leaders made Deng pressure Chin Peng to give up the struggle, and Mahathir became convinced that Chin Peng would no longer pose a threat, political or otherwise, to Malaysia.

This is why Malaysia under Mahathir finally agreed to sign a peace treaty with Chin Peng, and this was only concluded when Chin Peng promised Malaysia that he would not participate in politics.

I would fully agree with Farah Fahmi 's stand on Chin Peng. As for Fatimah R 's stand, I would beg to differ.

Chin Peng would not have been acceptable for Malaysia at all, even though he was a freedom fighter. Chin Peng stood for abolition of the monarchy, strict equal rights for all Malaysians (rendering Malays as equal as Chinese, which was not fair at all during those days, because Malays, who are true natives of the land descended from Orang Asli, suddenly had to become a mere community with two others, the Indians and Chinese).