Politicians were behind yesterday's protest against former Communist Party Malaya (CPM) leader Chin Peng's application to return to Malaysia, claimed his lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira in a police report.

Terming it as an 'illegal assembly', he questioned why the authorities did not act against the some 100 ex-army personnel who staged the 30-minute protest outside the Penang High Court building, where the application was being heard.

The protestors carried banners and placards condemning the 81-year-old exiled former Communist leader as a murderer, traitor and terrorist. They also chanted anti-Communist and anti-Chin Peng slogans.

In the report lodged with the Lebuh Pantai police station in Penang, Darshan also claimed that a police officer at the scene told him that no permit had been issued for the protest.

"I asked him (the police officer) why he did not take action and he said, 'I will ask the special branch'," added the lawyer in the report, a copy of which was made available to malaysiakini .

According to him, the demonstrators had chanted slogan such as 'Chin Peng is a murderer and should not be allowed to return' .

"Why the authorities have allowed this to go unhindered has to be investigated when even small demonstrations by the non-governmental organisations are met with police force and truncheons.

"There are politicians who are inspiring, encouraging and inciting these people to act against the law," he claimed in the report without citing names.

Subjudice, contempt of court

Darshan said the protest could be deemed as subjudice and contempt of court since his client's application was still pending. He also noted that the illegal assembly was against several acts and could amount to sedition and treason.

"The demonstration was also against the agreement (the Haadyai Peace Accord) signed on Dec 2, 1989 by the government whereby members of the CPM are allowed to enter and reside in Malaysia," he added.

The Penang High Court yesterday heard the Attorney-General's Chambers application to transfer the hearing of Chin Peng's application to the Kuala Lumpur High Court as all government departments are located in the federal capital.

Judge Mohd Noor Abdullah later set July 25 to decide on the application and another four applications, consisting three from Chin Peng and one from the AG's Chambers.

In his affidavit filed on March 4, Ong Boon Hua @ Chin Peng had applied to be allowed to return to Malaysia with hundreds of his former CPM comrades. He is currently living in Thailand.

He had also filed a supplementary application seeking a court order allowing him to enter the country temporarily and attend the legal proceedings of his application.

Chin Peng, who was born in Sitiawan, Perak, has also applied to the High Court to order the government to produce the list of ex-communists who had signed up to return to Malaysia.

The AG's Chambers applied for a court order to get Chin Peng to produce his Malaysian birth certificate and citizenship.

According to Darshan, nearly 300 ex-communists, including Chin Peng, had signed up within a year after the 1989 Haadyai Peace Accord, to return to Malaysia.

Chin Peng was the 11th secretary-general of the once powerful CPM, which fought against British colonial rule, the Japanese occupation, and the independent government of Malaya (then comprising Malaysia and Singapore) for more than 40 years.

Even though the CPM's armed struggle ended with the peace accord, the government had rejected his entry, claiming that Chin Peng was linked to a banned organisation with a history of perpetrating terrorism in the country.

The premier's office has left it to the court to decide the matter.