Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Jemut Masing said the military flying some 180 village chiefs from Sarawak to meet Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in Putrajaya was a way to show appreciation for their efforts in fighting communists in the past.

According to Bernama, Masing, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, said a third of the delegates who flew to Kuala Lumpur using the military aircraft were from Kanowit, who had fought the communists in the 1970s.

“That is the least the army can do as payback time to those people who have fought the communists during the communist threat,” he was quoted as saying.

Other village chiefs came from regions including Song, Kapit and Belaga.

Yesterday, Masing (photo) said he had sought the military's help to fly the village chiefs to Putrajaya as it was more affordable than commercial flights.

The village chiefs flew on two Airbus A400M Atlas planes.

Masing, in the Bernama report today, also slammed the opposition for criticising the use of military aircraft to ferry the village chiefs.

Those were the people who were ungrateful to those who had fought to protect the state, he was quoted as saying.

Masing said Najib was grateful for the village chiefs' visit and had brought them for lunch at Sri Perdana.

“Sri Perdana is a place where the prime minister entertains heads of states of foreign countries, which shows that the prime minister was very grateful for their sacrifices in defending the country from communist threat,” he said.

During the visit, Masing added, the village chiefs asked for more development in their communities, particularly on the need to build more roads.