The Australian co-authors of the controversial memoirs of former communist leader Chin Peng are expected to take legal action against Nanyang Siang Pau next week for alleged breach of contract.

According to sources, the Malaysian lawyers of Ian Ward and his wife Norma Miraflor have finalised their preparations to sue the newspaper for allegedly failing to serialise eight chapters of the memoirs and "to translate, publish, distribute and sell" the book in simplified Chinese language, as stipulated in their two contracts.

The original version of the memoirs titled - Alias Chin Peng: My Side of History - was written and published in English.

Ian and his wife are now living as permanent residents in Singapore. Besides co-authoring the memoirs, they also published the book in the name of their company, Media Master which specialises in military and war histories in Malaysia and Singapore.

Ward was a Southeast Asian correspondent for London's Daily Telegraph from 1962 to 1987, and covered, among others, the Vietnam War and the 'Second Emergency' in Malaysia in the 1970s.

Norma was the founding editor-in-chief of Singapore's MPH Magazine from 1974 to 1985 and remained the group's editorial consultant until 1990.

Home Ministry's 'advice'

Sources told malaysiakini that the two contracts were entered into by Media Masters and Nanyang Siang Pau on Sept 27 last year but in January this year, the daily allegedly claimed that it was not able to perform the obligations as the result of both verbal and written "advice" from the Home Ministry.

However, the original English version of the memoirs has not been banned and remains on the shelves of bookshops nationwide.

A source in the book distribution industry told malaysiakini that about 22,000 copies have been sold in Malaysia and Singapore, and it still remains in the list of top ten.

Chin Peng, is the nom de guerre of Ong Boon Hua, 79. He was the 11th secretary-general of the once powerful Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

The party's armed struggle, which began in June 1948, ended with a peace agreement signed between CPM and the governments of Malaysia and Thailand in 1989.

According to the peace agreement, CPM pledged loyalty to the constitutional monarchy and declared the cessation of armed struggle. The Malaysian government promised to allow the combatants, who were living in jungle camps in southern Thailand, to return home.

However, the government's foot-dragging with Chin Peng's application to come back to Malaysia has resulted in the former communist leader staying put in Thailand.