Former Sarawak chief minister Abdul Rahman Yaakub has apparently been ticked off for praising Bong Kee Chok, an ex-communist leader who signed a peace treaty with the state government in 1973.

Sarawak Ex-Police Association chairperson Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said that politicians should not offend the feelings of ex-servicemen who fought to defend the country's security during the insurgency.

He however did not mentioned Abdul Rahman by name.

Yesterday, Abdul Rahman said that ex-Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng could not be compared to Bong - the former leader of the Pasukan Rakyat Kalimantan Utara - with whom he had signed the Sri Aman Agreement 36 years ago to end the communist threat in Sarawak.

Abdul Rahman claimed that this was because Bong had not done much harm, in terms of innocent lives lost.

Following the peace agreement, Bong and his former comrades were offered land, facilities and government help to reintegrate into the mainstream of Sarawak society.

They're in the same league

But Wan Junaidi was not in a mood to forgive and forget.

"As far as I am concerned, they (terrorists) went to the jungle, killed people unnecessarily, created a situation unnecessarily and to me, Chin Peng and Bong Kee Chok are in the same group (league).

"How can anyone speak nicely about one terrorist and so badly about the other... The only difference was that Kee Chok was willing to come out (of the jungles) as soon as he found out that he could not beat the government and security forces and therefore, surrendered," Wan Junaidi, who spent four-and-a-half years in the jungles while in the police force, told a news conference here today.

"We, in the police and military, have put our lives on the line. Nobody talks about it," he said, adding that he had seen his platoon members killed.

Wan Junaidi said he had written to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on the need to give a token of appreciation to ex-members of the police force in Sarawak for their struggle in fighting against the Azahari Rebellion in 1962, Indonesian Confrontation (1962-1963) and the Communist Insurgency (1965-1973).

He said about 3,000 former policemen had yet to receive their RM1,000 token of appreciation from the government, simply because they were unable to produce their leave certificate or record of service.

- Bernama