YOURSAY 'It won't be too long before we get to see a government-funded movie where truth is deliberately distorted under the guise of ‘creative licence'.'

Zahid fears Chin Peng's ashes would lead to memorial

Bystander: My peers knew very little about this man called Chin Peng but recent publicity has spurred us to google and read more about him.

Thanks to Najib Razak, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Hishammuddin Hussein, Khairy Jamaluddin and many other Umno bigwigs for bringing back the lost glory of this brave and righteous man, who incidentally died on Malaysia Day. Very befitting however you look at it.

KSC: What a laughing stock we will be. Cops examining bags at the airport or at the Thai border for "ashes" contraband.

They are going to have a tough time determining whether it is cigarette ashes or worse, someone else's ashes.

Suppose if the family really wants to bring it back, they could split the ashes into several lots. What would the government do then? Even if they could confiscate the ashes, what then? Destroy it or send it back to Thailand?

Anonymous #02382443: Dear Zahid, the age of McCarthyism (the communist witch hunt in the 50s) is long over. Please don't live in the past and be frightened by your own shadow.

Communism is long gone with the only exception of North Korea and Cuba. United States has long forsaken their fight against communism, now replaced by its war on terrorism.

We humbly suggest that you divert your energy to other more resourceful work.

MinahBulat: Honestly I did not know Chin Peng was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by the British. I was under the impression that he was just another rag-tag communist.

But I was quite taken aback to see Thai generals comparing him to Ho Chi Minh, and an ex-Thai PM as well as the Thai princess paying their last respects to him.

Perhaps a monument as large as Saddam Hussein or North Korea president Kim Il Sung should be build in the Peace Village in southern Thailand facing Malaysia to remember this man.

Capricorn-asia: If the Malaysian government did not make such a hoo-hah about this, there would have been no idolism because few people had known about Chin Peng and his significance.

Since the government has made this hoo-hah, people are beginning to realise the place this man has in the history of Malaysia. So maybe, the Malaysian government has done a good deed to the dead man. Poetic justice perhaps.

Apa Ini?: The amount of publicity over Chin Peng's passing, the number of dignitaries at his funeral, Malaysian and Thais, all testify to his place in Malaysian history.

No monument is necessary. More certainly, if one were to be built, ashes or no ashes, people like Zahid would tear it down. RIP (rest in peace) in Thailand, sir.

Hblee: I am pleasantly surprised by former police chief Abdul Rahim Noor's comments. In retirement, at least he has the sense of what is right given the historical facts as he knew them.

Perhaps Zahid and his ilk in Umno should retire and reflect deeply of what it is to be humane and civilised.

Rajakera: So Chin Peng did fight the Japanese and the British for Malaysia's independence. He must be a hero for doing that. Maybe he has different ideology. That is democracy.

Why should the minister think there will be memorial. So what? We have memorials everywhere. Let those who want to pay him homage do so.

Where does it pain the minister to allow this? I suppose it's because he cannot charge entrance fee for those visiting the memorial.

OMG!!: Deep inside, the ruling elite is scared that the people would eventually come to know that they are not the real freedom fighters as claimed by them.

Malaysian Born: It is not up to Zahid if the people want to put up a memorial or a dart board - this is neither in his power nor any of his business.

From a non-issue, Zahid and others have turned Chin Peng into a cause celebre by their unnecessary criticism and resistance. And yet, they have allowed gangsters, rapists and thieves to be buried in the country.

With VVIP attendees, the pomp and ceremony afforded his funeral in Thailand, it would be best for our politicians to just shut up.

Nothing they say will diminish the man's reputation nor stature. It will however make us look truly foolish and I believe there has already been enough of that.

Oriole: It's interesting that so much is said of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) killing local people. But history records atrocities and killings by the Japanese and the British.

And history also records that locals collaborated with these tyrannical regimes. Read TN Harper's ‘The End of the Empire and the Making of Malaya'. Why no outcry against local collaborators who conspired with these invaders?

Anonymous #02382443: Yes, this man caused lots of hardships and miseries, depending how one views his actions in the pursuit of his ideology.

But in Sarawak, didn't the Brookes also created lots of miseries. How come Anthony Brooke's remains are allowed in to be buried at Fort Margerita in Kuching?

History tells of his grand uncle slaughtering thousands of Chinese up the river from Kuching to Bau. Depending on how one looks at history, wasn't this atrocity committed by the white rajah equally disgusting?

The Stig: I guess it won't be too long before we get to see a government- (rakyat-) funded movie called ‘Tanda CPM' where truth is deliberately distorted under the guise of "creative licence".

Black Mamba: The more you talk, the more awareness it has created and Malaysians know that while Chin Peng and CPM fought against Japanese and the British for independence, it was given on a platter to Alliance/Umno/BN without any resistance as they collaborated with them.

You don't need ashes to build a memorial

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