The government must be commended, without qualification, for allowing the memoirs of the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), Chin Peng to be freely sold and read by Malaysians. My Side of History is now being sold like hot cakes all over the country.

However, according to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Chin Peng is not allowed to return to Malaysia "for the moment" because he is still believed to have "connections" with "an organisation promoting violence and terrorism here."

There is also another body of opinion, generated by some aging Cold Warriors and ex-servicemen, that Chin Peng's return would cause "bitter memories" to resurface. Both arguments could be counter-reasoned in an open society.

First, Abdullah has to name the "organisation" to which Chin Peng is alleged to still have "connections". Otherwise, it could be popularly construed as a pathetically poor attempt to create yet another bogey.

Bad record

The public record of the government in this regard is not very good. For example, the Inspector-General of Police, Norian Mai is on public record as justifying the ISA detentions of some Reformasi leaders and activists in 2001 with the allegations that they were believed to be in possession of "Molotov cocktails", "rocket-launchers" and things like that.

Eventually, the Reformasi leaders were released unconditionally without being ever charged in open court for the "crimes" Norian Mai implied they had committed. This proves that the stories of "Molotov cocktails" and "rocket-launchers" were, and still are, pure nonsense concocted to feed the wild imaginations of some gullible and neurotic Malaysians.

Another example is certainly the "Black Eye" of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. When the news of it first surfaced in the Internet, it was dismissed as a "rumour" circulated by "trouble-makers".

However, when the photograph of Anwar Ibrahim with the memorable "Black Eye" came into public media of the world, it was still claimed by some top political leaders to the effect that Anwar, while under ISA detention, purposely injured himself to gain public sympathy.

The empirical and factual truth that finally emerged from a Commission of Inquiry is that the former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister was severely assaulted by Norian's predecessor,

Rahim Noor, and the "Black Eye" was the result of that physical and criminal assault by the top law enforcer of the country.

Rahim Noor, who was later convicted and sentenced to a jail term, was also once quoted as giving public assurance that Anwar was kept in safe hands.

Positive of Rahim Noor

Given these not very ancient records, there is certainly a pressing need for Abdullah to be more specific and accountable by naming that "organisation", and the nature or natures of the "connection(s)", in order to be publicly credible.

It must, however, be put on public record that Rahim Noor has apologised to Anwar and his family and his apology was accepted. Above all, Rahim Noor must also be remembered as a man of peace in the arrangements for the signing of the 1989 Peace Accord between the Malaysian government and the Communist Party of Malaya.

Chin Peng has written fairly and very positively about Rahim Noor for his contribution to the process to attain the peace with dignity.

That body of opinion that suggests that the return of Chin Peng would cause "bitter memories" to resurface is, however, understandable.

Human beings being human beings, everyone has emotion and this explains why even Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad often cried in public when under intense stress and pressure, and Chin Peng still feels "very sorry" for Ian Christian, the young and innocent British estate manager who was killed by some overzealous insurgents in Sungai Siput in June 1948.

However, as modern warriors and soldiers, they must also learn to manage emotions and not to be personal. Modern warfare, as distinct to personal duels in the streets, is about institutionalised or organised fighting for larger causes, and when the larger causes have become historical, there is a room for personal and even national reconciliation.

Indeed, the relations between Chin Peng and John Davis are illustrative. Davis was a policeman in British Malaya and as such, he was certainly an institutional enemy of Chin Peng. It was clear to

both of them they served two different causes.

However, it was also Davis and his British colleagues in the Malayan Command and Special Operations Executive (SOE) who trained the Malayan communists for guerilla warfare in 1941-42. They worked together during the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945.

On different sides

When the Emergency or Anti-Colonial War commenced, Davis still served British interests in colonial Malaya, but that did not cause them to hate each other personally. On the contrary, despite the fact that they were in different camps, Chin Peng trusted Davis personally as a

friend in the arrangements for the Baling Talk in December 1955. It was Davis who guided Chin Peng, Rashid Maidin and Chen Tien out of the jungle and after the talk failed, escorted them back and guaranteed no harm would be done to them within a specific period of time.

Afterward, both sides fought again for the larger causes they then believed to be just.

In the First World War (1914-1918) in the Eastern Front in Europe, soldiers on both the opposing German and Russian sides stopped fighting during Christmas, and got together to offer each other cigarettes and sing together in the trenches.

During the Emergency or Anti-Colonial War, some British and Australian soldiers also sacrificed their lives, but this historical fact and bitter experience did not prevent the British and Australian

governments from allowing Chin Peng to visit London and Canberra freely and safely in 1998 and 1999 respective to conduct his researches on declassified Intelligence of the period.

Britain and Australia also have many war veterans who served in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore in the Malayan Campaign (1941-1942), Emergency (1948-1960) and Confrontation (1963-1966). They are certainly more magnanimous.

Chin Peng and his co-authors were allowed to even consult the British Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Public Records Office in Kew and other institutions, and meet and talk to journalists and academics.

The Cold War is long over. The magnanimity of the spirit, as shown so illustratively by the British and Australian governments and their soldiers and veterans, should prevail.

It is this magnanimity of the spirit that many American and Taiwan's Nationalist war veterans are allowed to visit communist Vietnam and China respectively.

Chin Peng is not applying for Malaysian citizenship or permanent residency. He is also not coming back to claim victory or to settle scores with anyone. He only hopes to come home for a while to launch his memoirs and to pay respect to his parents and ancestors who are laid to rest in Malaysia.

Although soldiers must fight in wartimes, they must also respect each other's spiritual and cultural needs as fellow human beings in time of peace.

It is also time for national reconciliation, and only magnanimity of the spirit can make it possible.

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM). Wong is a former member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily ). He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.