Article from today’s The Star:

Saturday May 30, 2009

Ministry to stand by court decision to bar Chin Peng

PETALING JAYA: The Home Mi­­nistry will stand by the High Court decision to disallow former communist leader Chin Peng from re­­turning to the country because he had failed to present his identification documents.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wi­­­­­ra Abu Seman Yusop said the High Court was right in compelling Chin Peng, 85, to present his birth certificate and Malaysian citi­zenship to prove that he was a citi­­­­zen before allowing him to pro­ceed with his application for a de­­claration that he could reside in Malaysia.

“The Government will not bow to pressure from any group, especially those who want to recognise Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leaders as nationalists or heroes who had fought for the country’s independence from the British.

“The return of Chin Peng will spark uneasy sentiments among the people, especially those whose family mem­­­­bers were victims of the com­munist cruelty and en­­force­­ment personnel who had died while fighting the CPM insurgency,” Abu Seman said in a statement yesterday.

Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua, has been living in exile in Bangkok.

In George Town, Penang Umno Youth expressed support for the decision to reject Chin Peng’s ap­­pli­­cation to return to the country.

State Umno Youth information chief Hasbul Hazani Daud told a press conference that allowing the former leader to return would be akin to forgetting the sacrifices of the past generations.

Chin Peng’s counsel, Darshan Singh Khaira, claimed that the Government had failed to keep its word to allow CPM members of Malaysian origin the right to enter, visit and reside in Malaysia.

He said the peace agreement signed between the CPM and the Ma­­laysian and Thai governments on Dec 2, 1989 allowed CPM central committee members and ordi­na­­ry members to re­­turn and reside in Malaysia.

“Rashid Maidin, Abdullah C.D, Sham­­siah Fakeh, Zainon @ Ah Yan, Suriani Abdullah and Abu Samah Mohamad Kassim were all allowed in except Chin Peng.

“Under the agreement, which is an international treaty, there is no requirement to prove citizenship or birth in Malaysia. So, why is Chin Peng being denied this right when he has repeatedly said that he is more than willing to die for this country?” he told a press conference at his office yesterday.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 8:54 and is filed under History, Personality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.