The government has rejected a request from an ageing former communist guerrilla leader to be allowed to return home from exile, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in remarks published today.

Chin Peng, 79, the ex-secretary-general of the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), wants to return for the launching of his autobiography "Alias Chin Peng: My Side of History" and to visit his parents' graves.

But permission could not be granted because Chin Peng was still linked to a banned organisation with a "history of perpetrating terrorism in this country," Abdullah was quoted as saying by local media.

The CPM waged a guerrilla war against the British colonial and Malayan governments between 1948 and 1960.

Third party

"I was informed about his request from a third party," Abdullah said. "Chin Peng said that he wished to come back now. I replied that at the moment, the government's stand is not to allow him to return."

Chin Peng, born Ong Boon Hua in Sitiawan in Malaysia's northern Perak state, now lives in exile in Thailand.

The Ex-Servicemen's Association of Malaysia called on the government to ban him from entering the country.

"If the government allowed Chin Peng or other former CPM leaders to return, it would only rekindle the painful memories of our soldiers who were killed," said the association's president, Mohamad Abdul Ghani. - AFP