exclusive

Former key leaders of the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) have all but given up hope of returning home to Malaysia after a fruitless 12-year wait despite having signed a peace treaty with the government in 1989.

According to ex-CPM secretary-general Chin Peng, 76, the foot-dragging on the Malaysian side has resulted in former party leaders opting to stay put in Thailand.

Chin Peng, who is now living in Bangkok, told malaysiakini that he too had decided to seek Thai citizenship.

Former army commander of the partys 10th Regiment Rashid Maidin also lamented that little attempt had been made to assist party leaders to regain entry into the country.

A year became two years, three years and now, it is more than 10 years. We have waited but there has been no word from the government ever since the agreement was signed, said the veteran politician who now lives with his wife Salamah Abdullah, 72, in Yalas Chulaporn Village, about 60km from the southern Thai town of Haadyai.

His comrades-in-arms such as ex-CPM chairperson Abdullah CD, 79, propaganda chief Suriani Abdullah, 77, and former army commander of the partys 10th Regiment, Abu Samah Kassim, 76, have also decided to remain in Thailand.

Peace bargain

The ex-CPM central committee leaders, who are still evidently healthy in their 70s and 80s, maintained that they have kept their part of the peace bargain, which is to disband their armed units, the Malayan Peoples Army, in 1990.

We gave our life and blood to the struggle for independence, but after Merdeka [in 1957] we are not allowed to reap the harvest. Whats wrong with speaking to us if it is for the good of the country? asked Rashid in an interview with malaysiakini in Haadyai, 90 km from the northern Malaysian border.

The peace agreement between the party and the Malaysian government marked the end of the armed struggle by the communist party and more than 1,000 of its members accepted the Thai governments offer of land near the Malaysian border.

A number of the former party members have since resettled in Malaysia after security clearance was given by the authorities.

According to Rashid, key party leaders had remained at the Thai-Malaysian border after the peace treaty was inked to ensure that their comrades  hundreds of ex-army men and women of the CPMs 10th Regiment  resettle in Malaysia.

However, when it was time for them to return to their motherland, these leaders were told by Malaysian officials to wait and see.

We now prefer to stay in Thailand as we have been treated fairly by the Kingdom, Rashid added.

Political party

The peace treaty also allows the former communists to participate in politics and form a legitimate political party in Malaysia.

According to the agreement, the government is to expeditiously consider any application that may be submitted by ex-CPM members for the registration of any political party.

Chin Peng, who hails from Perak and whose real name is Ong Boon Hua, said that there had been plans in the past to form a political party which could pave the way for its leaders to stand for elections.

But it would not be a party based on Marxist theory, he said, adding that it was now too late to re-initiate such a move.

Asked why the plan did not materialise, Chin Peng declined to comment as this could offend the two other parties in the peace agreement  Malaysia and Thailand.

Read it all in my memoirs, he quipped, adding that his comrades are also documenting their personal account in the jungle and their historic, and sometimes bloody, struggles for independence and later against the post-Merdeka government.

This is the second of a three-part series of an exclusive interview with former leaders of Communist Party of Malaya.