I remember watching Bukit Kepong as a kid, deeply moved by the patriotism of the police officers and their families fighting against the communists. I remember thinking the communists were Japanese. When I learnt otherwise, I became confused. The vivid images from the film convinced me that Parti Komunis Malaya was dreadful.

I had no idea that PKM fought against the Japanese. When I did, I became like a curious cat. I had one question in mind: were Chin Peng and PKM really that bad? I tried to understand the other side of history that I never knew. I read and watched documentaries and films but to no avail. My opinion is still the same as it was when I first watched Bukit Kepong. I still think Chin Peng is an enemy of the state, the terrorist, the Persona Non Grata. I just cannot see him as the great hero who fought against the Japanese. He may have fought against the Japanese but he killed lots of other innocent people too, how can he be a hero?

The issue here that is abuzz right now should not be whether he is a hero or not, nor whether or not he was given a fair story inside our history books. The issue here is whether he should be allowed to come back?

Other communists have been allowed to return to Malaysia. If Chin Peng is not allowed to come back, what about Rashid Maidin, Abdullah CD, Shamsiah Fakeh and Shamsiah Fakeh’s China born and bred children? The three are important members of PKM, equally as influential as Chin Peng. Is it because they are Malays that everything is okay with them, regardless of who they were before?

The government said that Chin Peng does not have any proof of citizenship but hey, didn’t they allow that lady in Korea to come back and meet her children? I followed the articles and TV shows about her and correct me if I’m wrong but she did not have any documentation either. Why the double standard?

Wouldn’t it be easier if the government said that they do not like Chin Peng? The government should not hide behind the law to do things like this. Didn’t the government sign a treaty with the Thai government PKM in 1989 that allowed the members of PKM to come back? By refusing Chin Peng entry, isn’t it like going back on their words?

I think the government should take a majority vote and decide based on the votes. Communist leaders like Castro can visit us (or did we visit him?) and Najib even went to China to kiss Hu Jintao’s ass so why can’t Chin Peng visit Malaysia, for instance to visit his father’s grave etc?

I don’t really care whether Chin Peng comes home or not. To me, he is not relevant anymore.

If the government is afraid that his comeback will spread communism, well I have news for you. Even amongst normal citizens, how do we really know whether that person is a communist? The late Tan Sri Samad Ismail once said that he would always be a communist. Did he revolt against the government? Did he form a secret society based on communism, did he invite others to join this secret communist society? Not that I know of. Communism was just his ideology.

The thing is, communism is no longer appealing. Most communist countries are just communists by name. China is now more capitalist than those who claim to be capitalists. Cuba is opening up. The only country that is a staunch Communist that I can think of right now is North Korea and I don’t even understand why they are what they are. Not many people nowadays even know what is communism.

Socialism on the other hand, is like the white witch of this ideology of welfare state. Sweden, Denmark are socialists and they are not bad countries. DAP, PAP are all socialists. Tony Blair, and most labour parties are socialists. It just means that the welfare of the people are better protected by the government so that it will not be that much of a free market. I even read somewhere that since it was vague on the type of government Muhammad had in Medina, there is a huge possibility that Medina was a socialist state because the concept of equality and welfare were the most important aspects in his government. I don’t know. Even socialism has problems. If you have read Animal Farm, you would know what I mean.

Of course, in a free society like ours, the notion of one being more equal than others is not uncommon. It seems it even goes to the extent of our so-called enemies. In the case of Chin Peng and other PKM members, those who were allowed to return are more equal than Chin Peng.

Note : Nora Ahmad is the pen name of an in-house legal eagle in a corporation which doesn’t like its employees having individual opinions.

16 replies on “Chin Peng go home (like “ET go home”)”

  1. Thanks for the comments. As I've mentioned, the issue whether CP is a hero or traitor or terrorist or whatever is not an issue. I didn't say that CP is a hero, read again. The gvt has signed a treaty with them that allowed them to come back, why can the others come back and he can't? Oh well, lets just agree to disagree.

  2. So Charles that's answered my question; if Chin Peng is a hero then my late grandfather was traitor.

    Please, please go read the history on Bukit Kepong (yes, CPM attack on Bukit Kepong was led by a Malay named Muhammad Indera) and other stories about communist insurgency that led to the enactment of ISA which is now being misused by the government before you make such accusation..it's not just about UMNO, not about Malays, it's all about CPM…

  3. The attack on the Bukit Kepong police station took place on 23 February 1950.

    It was a British colonial police station.

    Would it not more reasonable to say that those who attacked this police station were those who were fighting for indepndence of Malaya from the British?

    In fact, the Malaysians who served the British Colonial Masters as police personnel should be considered the traitors.

    Jins Shamsuddin's 1981 movie, Bukit Kepong, turned things around and made these British police personnel the heroes, and the ones that attacked the station the 'crooks'.

    It also created an image that the policemen were Malays (assisted by the Malays auxiliary police) were the heroes – and they were attacked by the communist terrorists (all Chinese…mmm). Was it the Malayan National Liberation Army – or simply the communist party of Malaya that attacked the British police station in 1950?

  4. The root cause of this rejection of C/Peng's application to come back is corruption; in the form of mentally corrupted people.

    Not many people understand that after the country became independent in 1957, our national policy or ideology with regard to national security was that communism, corruption and chauvinism commonly known as the 3 Cs are our biggest threats to national security. They are of equal importance and should be eradicated at all cost to ensure the peace, security, economic progress and development of the nation. The government under Tunku/Razak and Hussein fought all these threats on all fronts.

    By early 1980s, the communist threat was neutralized with the signing of the peace treaty between CPM/Malaysia. Thus communism was no longer a threat leaving the country to deal with national threats in the form of corruption and chauvinism.

    It is easy to neutralize the communist threat because the Comm Terrorists mainly operated in the jungle and the whole nation were against them. There was clear demarcation between being a CT and the others. As far as the nation was concerned, when you confront or dealth wih CTs, they were told either to surrender or be killed.

    Corruption is a more bigger threat than communism. Like comm terrorism a lot of innocent people were being killed because of corruption. Military personnels were known to have been killed during operation because of corruption in that the government armed them with sub-standard weapons like the German's H&K which jammed and misfire during intense fighting. Corruptions in the police led to more killings where gangsters/loan sharks/drugs syndicates were allowed to operate without interference/crackdown on payment of monthly bribes. Guns from the police force are easily hired/rented to commit crimes. The list is endless and it permeates all aspects of government administration if you care to study them.

    Unlike communism where the enemies are clear-cut, it is not so in corruption where the enemies are within our midst and includes people right up to the corridors of power in Putrajaya. Imagine the difficulty in countering the CT back then if C/Peng then had allies in Putrajaya/ Bukit Onn. That is how difficult to fight corruption; a national scourge and a threat to national security. The perpetrators , like the communist, are traitors to the nation and the nation's no 1 enemy. But unlike the communists who operated in the jungle, the corrupt perpetrators operated in our midst and existed right up to Putrajaya, the seat of government admin.

    My argument here is simple. If C/Peng is not allowed to come back because of his previous involvement in communism which we have neutralized and which CT members have recanted, then what about the corrupt politicians/people who are still in power or in retirement enjoying their illegal and wrongful wealth which are still in this country and in our midst. They should like C/Peng be banished from the State and not allowed to return. Are they not like communist members, traitors to the nation. By their corruption they have caused untold hardship and deaths to the people of this country. At least the communist have long abandoned their armed struggle or ideology. The corrupt perpetrators are still in our midst.

    The hypocrisy of all this ie the C/Peng's issue is that those who rejected C/Peng's desire to return home are the very corrupt people who have stole and plundered the nation's wealth and who like the communist are a danger to the nation and society.

  5. Chin Peng first fought the Japanese, because the "orang Putih lari" British only knew how to run, so they asked Chin Peng and his communists to fight the Japanese. So, they had to say Chin Peng & his people were hero fighting the Japanese Facists.

    Later, Chin Peng and his people fought the British. The British had no gut to send their army to fight, so they employed the locals and Gurkas to fight, paid them to fight. Since these army and police were paid to fight, they help the British to kill Chin peng and his men. Because it was war, Chin Peng's men fought back and killed the British 'anjing lari' too.

    If u r talking about fighting the British and the fight for independence, who's the patriots? Who's the British lackey? But, because UMNO got the political power from the British, so they carried the British balls as well as their policies. So, things became upside down, lackey of British became patriot, those fought against British became terrorists!

    Well, remember the old days, Raja Maharajalela was terrorist, Datuk Bahaman was terrorist, Mat Kilau terrorist, Tok Janggut was terrorist. In Selangor, Raja Mahadi was bad guy and the Kudin, the Yap Ah Loy who carried the balls of British were 'good guys'.

    It wrong to think that UMNO people did treat the Malay communists well. The late Pak Rashid Mydin, Pak Abdullah CD and the late Pak Abu Samah are still in Sukirin of South Thailand. They are not allowed back, just like Chin Peng.

    Malaysians shall live in hightmare when reading the history of Malaysia. So, u have the UMNO guys now having to dig out our pahlawan fighting against the British, but limited only to the pre-Japanese day. So, Dato Bahaman and others all became pahlawan now.

    I wonder what will happen if a day were to come when young Malaysians found out that Abu Samah, the number 3 Malay Communist was from Semantan, the homeland of dato Bahaman, and was indded the great grandson of the Pahlawan. So, when the great Dato foguht the British, he was first terrorist and now pahlawan, but the great grandson Abu Samah, was a communist terrorist!

    The irony is: The familiy of Dato Bahaman was banished to Chengmai of Thailand, never allowed to come home, but by the British, the colonialist, and Abu Samah stayed and died in Sukirin, South Thailand, was never allowed home not by the British, but by the UMNO government (not BN, some BN component parties wanted the communists back). A great joke, but you have a PM from Pahang, where Dato Bahaman had defended that land against the British, continuing the policy and disallow any more review on the decision.

    If you sign a peace treaty, then you must be working towards a reconciliation, like Mandela has done in South Africa, then you have to forget about the past and look forward. If you want to instigate your ex-armies to show the lost leg now and then, then don't sign any peace treaty, continue fighting till the end of the world loh. Just wonder how these still-living-in-the-barbaric-age peoplke going to survive in this modern world, imagine you have to deal with Malaysian government, who signed an agreement and refused to honour it, and still thick-skin enough to talk big. This is malaysia Boleh also ah?

  6. Why don't we simply say, UMNO is a racist political party!

    Chin Ping is Chinese and UMNO does not wish him to be seen as a hero, a nationalist and freedom fighter!

    Where were these so called UMNO nationalists when the Japanese invaded Malaysia…possibly hiding inside their sarongs.

    I do not condone what the communists did, neither do I admire Nationalist pretenders UMNO goons to bar a fellow Malaysian from returning to the country.

  7. Dear Nora Ahmad,

    Time have changed. Bumi/Malay like you (I presume) are beginning to think and see things from a rational perspective rather then be blinded by irrational emotion with nationalist, tribal and religious affiliation.

    Sadly there are too many blinded (brainwashed) by UMNO not to see their agenda of self interest. Is UMNO or BN fighting for the citizens of the nation or to protect each ethnicity?

    If it is ethnicity – I think UMNO has been hijacked by "constitutional Malay/Bumi" whereas MIC for indians, MCA for chinese. Unfortunately, others (lain-lain) are the forgotten ones.

  8. Ultimately, it boils down to the fact that this government is not honourable and untrustworthy and racialistic. We deserve better people to run this government than the present one.

  9. I fully concur with you..this is a true malaysian point of view…The fact that the communist fought the Japanese invasion is a fact and history will tells…Equally true is that the communist has also killed innocent citizens for their idealogy…it is akin to one party sabotaging the other for their personal reason..for this UMNO is no different…Likewise the opposition…

    The crucial point is why the disparity of treatment? Why decision is made along racial line? No wonder many of us who are not born malaysia but 3rd or 4th generation Malaysian of other races are disillusioned and those who can afford it or with qualification are migrating….This is real sad for a country that is bestowed with so much of natural resources and was ahead in progress in comparison with korea and Taiwan, as well as Singapore or even Japan…Look at them now…sigh…

  10. The simple reason is they don't like CP. In their mind and deduction made, there are enormous liking towards CP by the chinese. They fear should CP aligns himself with the opposition say DAP, the chinese support would swing 100% both in the east and west malaysia. MCA would collapse and BN will be in a fix.

    Support for CP in the east malaysian would also swing.

  11. PAP is socialist!!!??? Yeah right….how many rights do the workers have there may I ask? How many labour people were destroyed by the PAP post-independence?

    Anyway, a deal is a deal-Chin Peng must be allowed to return based on the 1989 agreement. If I have to accept the sultans as the heads of state as it is in the constitution whether I like it or not, the govt should allow him to return, whether they like it or not.

  12. A beautiful and well thought article. I salute you for your forward thinking and you speak like a true malaysian, not with racial stench which so many of our present day leaders do. After 52 years we are still not able to see light at the end of the tunnel. No wonder we a loosing so many bright citzens to us uk australia singapore canada and nz. Moreover why the double standard some CPM members a allowed and some not. Our leaders only have tunnel vision

  13. The truth of the state must be upheld. You cannot lift the veil and even let a little hair cannot be seen. The whole edifice might collapse. There is a conspiracy to tell it like we say it is. In UMNO they call "corruption" money politics. They create companies to buy on behalf of the government and commission become consultancy fees. Racialist policies become nationalist policies.

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