Chin Peng, the 81-year-old legendary guerilla leader and former secretary-general of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) has sought a court order as his "last resort" to return home after exhausting all other avenues.

Our Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar when commenting on this, stressed that our courts were open to anyone and it was for the court to make a decision on the application.

Our Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also reiterated more or less a similar stand - for the court to decides whether Chin Peng had the right to file the application and return home.

The legal action taken by Chin Peng and the responses of Barisan Nasional leaders show that both parties are mature enough to let the controversy be settled once and for all by the court. What is important now is that all parties concerned should abide by the principle of the rule of law, and let justice prevail in the proceedings.

Strong points

In a statement filed with the suit, Chin Peng, amongst others, presents some strong points:

  • I and those affected have tried every way to get the authorities to comply with the terms agreed upon and allow us to return to Malaysia and live peacefully in our last days.

  • We wish to come back to be filial children and visit our ancestors, parents and family members' graves.

  • We are Malaysians, born in Malaysia and have always been Malaysians and (wish to) die as Malaysians, no one should deny and dispute this.

  • We have sworn our loyalty to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, we have renounced violence, armed struggle once and for all.

  • We hope the authorities will keep their word to us just as we have kept our word and complied with the spirit and letter of the agreements.

  • It is ironic that we, who fought for our country's independence and were more than willing to die for it, should now be denied entry and residence to die in our motherland.

    • The main bone of contention is whether it is true as claimed by Chin Peng, that 'The Agreement Between The Government of Malaysia And The Communist Party Of Malaya To Terminate Hostilities' and 'The Administrative Arrangement Between The Government Of Malaysia And The Communist Party Of Malaya Pursuant to The Agreement To Terminate Hostilities', allow CPM members who are Malaysian citizens or of Malaysian origin to enter and reside in Malaysia.

    Since both the agreement and the administrative arrangement are classified documents, only the court can have access to the said documents and find out the truth.

    However, it is no secret that some 330 former CPM guerrillas had returned home to Malaysia after the conclusion of the Haadyai Peace Agreement in 1989 and settled down here since then as law abiding citizens.

    Chin Peng's request that both parties comply with the spirit and letter of the agreement is of paramount importance, it renders the debate whether Chin Peng is a patriot or traitor, and whether or not he and his men should be allowed to come back, mere academic exercises.

    Historical facts

    Nevertheless, to be fair to Chin Peng and his men, the following aspects of historical facts should be highlighted.

    Firstly, the chief representative of the Malaysian government at the Haadyai Peace Negotiations, the then head of Special Branch Rahim Noor, had acknowledged CPM's contribution to the attainment of our country's independence, as recounted in Chin Peng's book My Side of History.

    MGG Pillai, for example, also stresses the same aspect: "As more public documents are available of those tumultuous post-war years, historians now view the role of the Left, Chinese and Malay, as pivotal in the attainment of Merdeka; that the Malay right, with their solid connexions with Britain, were pushed to form a political movement that could make the Left marginalized. As new research and records are revealed, the Left, especially the Malay Left, had an important role in the march to independence."

    Secondly, it is undeniable that the British colonialists were the exploiters and oppressors of our people before our national independence. Hence, by simple logic, Chin Peng who had been proclaimed 'Public Enemy No 1' of the British colonialists and an 80,000 Straits-dollar reward was placed on his head, simply could not be the traitor of the people at the same time.

    In Chin Peng's words: "When we worked with the British during the Japanese occupation and killed people essentially in Britain's interests we were neither bandits nor terrorists. Indeed, we were applauded, praised and given awards. Thus, you only become a terrorist when you kill against their interests."

    Thirdly, Chin Peng and his guerillas in fact agreed to lay down their arms, short of surrender, as early as 1955 during the Baling Peace Talks. Dennis Wombell, the platoon commander with the 2nd Malayan Police Field Force which was on security duty for the talks, has this to say in his recent article on the talks:

    "The cessation of the talks was marked by a statement, hand-written by David Marshall on behalf of the communist delegation and amended by Chen Tien (his amendments are in brackets) which read: 'As soon as the (elected government of the) Federation obtains complete control of internal security and local armed forces we will end hostilities, lay down our arms and disband our forces. (It does not amount to accept the present amnesty terms.)' "

    Undoubtedly, it was the British colonialists who insisted that CPM must surrender. However, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaya's then chief minister, who was allowed by the British to attend the Baling Peace Talks on two conditions - that he must not come to terms or shake hands with Chin Peng - had promised to hold second meeting with Chin Peng after his return form London.

    But Tunku failed to keep his promise, as observed by Prof Cheah Boon Kheng: "But events since the Baling talks had moved so fast that once independence was secured, Tunku saw no further need to have a second meeting."

    In retrospect, if the second meeting was granted to CPM as promised and terms similar to that of the Haadyai Peace Agreement 1989 were offered, the CPM and its guerillas would have laid down their arms 34 years earlier, and many lives should have been saved!

    During the Malayan Emergency, about 10,000 guerillas, British and Malayan military personnel and civilians were killed, and the largest casualties were communist guerillas and their supporters.

    Different reasons

    Different reasons had been given by the government on why Chin Peng was barred from coming home. In September 2003, the official reason was that he was linked to a banned organisation with a history of perpetrating terrorism in the country.

    In October 2003, Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin said in Parliament that it was due to Chin Peng's refusal to apologise.

    Now, Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar dismissed the possibility of easing the official stand as the government does not want to be perceived as being "too soft" with communists.

    Commenting on the issue, Prime Minister Abdullah reportedly said that Chin Peng was previously barred from returning due to protests from various parties.

    These reasons are mere pretexts to conveniently reject Chin Peng's requests to return to his motherland by right of birth and according to the terms and spirits of the Haadyai Peace Agreement 1989.

    In Thailand, land has been given by the Thai government to the former CPM guerillas to start their lives anew, and not only permanent residence is allowed, but they are even welcomed to apply to be Thai citizens.

    Compare this to the stand of the Malaysian government. How is it that we can be perceived as being 'too soft'?

    It is advisable to settle the law suit amicably outside court, true to the terms and spirits of the Haadyai Peace Agreement and terminate hostilities once and for all.