Picture 1)Communist recruits training in a camp at an undisclosed location in Malaya. — Straits Times picture
Picture 2)Men of D Company of the First Battalion, the Fijian Infantry Regiment, pictured with the bodies of five communist terrorists they killed in a plantation area in Batu Pahat district, Johor in Sept 1953.
Picture 3) Some Tanjung Malim residents going into the jungle to urge five communist terrorists hiding in the area to surrender in August 1957. — Straits Times picture
I was to go to Myanmar but have to postpone my trip. Very Sad, if not i would have completed my task and hopefully my future is more certain. I have to delay for a month until I am given a green light to go there. In the meantime i will be perhaps attending a luncheon hosted by Proton for us Old Frees this coming Tuesday. The MD is an ex mate so i am looking forward to it. The paper is still incense with Chin Peng and Communist, now even the English edition is joining the fray. Two news from two different papers one is an editorial and one is a story but both try to dissuade the public(liberal) who read their papers to support the government wishes!!! The Story confirm the fact that we kill more commies than they us and the editorial is more subtle and to my liking. Both make a good read and so I will republish it here.
Sunday June 7, 2009
Into the wrong side of history
ON THE BEAT
By WONG CHUN WAI
Chin Peng and CPM rebels who fought government forces during the Emergency were from the era of colonialism and class struggles which have no relevance to today’s generation.
IT’S an unfinished war for many older Malaysians but for the young generation, it is a war that they never knew.
As for those who fought against the communists, especially members of the security forces, they still have the physical scars to show for it.
The children of soldiers and estate owners speak bitterly of their parents who left home and never returned.
As such to allow Chin Peng, the head of the CPM, to return to Malaysia would be unimaginable; not in their life time, at least.
Following the court rejection of Chin Peng’s application to return to Malaysia, the Malay newspapers have highlighted this issue with stories of Malay veterans who suffered in the fight against the communists.
The impression, unfortunately, is that it is the Malays who cannot forget the Emergency.
We seem to have forgotten that the same sentiment is shared by many Chinese too as the campaign against the communists would not have been successful without the effective infiltration of the CPM by the Special Branch, comprising mainly Chinese policemen.
Secret wars
Until the 1970s, not many realised that secret wars were being fought between the police and CPM, even in suburbs like Petaling Jaya.
In 1974, Tan Sri Rahman Hashim, the Inspector-General of Police, was assassinated by CPM terrorists and an attempt was made to blow up the National Monument.
Those who remember these events would have to be in their late 40s and 50s – they are not even mentioned in our history books in schools.
The late Tan Sri CC Too, the head of psychological warfare for 27 years, refused to attend the Haadyai Peace Accord in 1989, to mark the end of the 41 years of armed struggle.
Until the last days, he was suspicious of the intentions of Chin Peng and CPM, saying the peace accord was not a CPM surrender but a truce and merely “temporarily suspending” its struggle.
The late Aloysius Chin, a former deputy director of Special Branch (Operations), reminded this writer that “Malaysians must remember that the final victory over the CPM is not yet over.” It was the same line he wrote in his book The Communist Party of Malaya: The Inside Story.
He wrote that “the avowed aim of the communists all over the world is to destroy the existing political and economic systems in non-communist countries and to replace them with a World Union of Communist Republics.”
Many of the key strategists in SB are no longer around. Chin Peng, or Ong Boon Hua, would be 85 years old this year.
The house where he was born, in Sitiawan, is said to be a Sports Toto outlet now. He expressed regret over this in his book Chin Peng: My Side of the Story.
In short, the world has changed. The Cold War – the continuing state of tension and competition between the Western world led by the United States and the Communists led by the Soviet Union – ended in the 1990s.
For the young generation, they only know of Coldplay – the British rock group led by Chris Martin, not the Cold War.
The Soviet Union has collapsed and the Russians have embraced capitalism. So has communist China – which ironically, is expected to rescue the world from the effects of the financial crisis.
No country including Malaysia can ignore China because it is one of the largest markets. Nearer to home, our investors have kept themselves busy in Vietnam, technically a communist state.
In Cuba, the days of Fidel Castro are numbered while Bolivian leader Che Guevera is certainly more iconic than Castro.
But if you ask the young Malay boys hanging around Pertama Complex who wear T-shirts with Che on them, they think he is a rock star or equate him with Bob Marley.
Today, most of the ex-CPM members who are still alive live in the Peace Villages in south Thailand.
Instead of the guns they once toted, they carry handphones. Many depend on small businesses and tourism for a living.
Academics specialising in alternative history have given them a lease of life over the past few years with books recording their side of the stories.
A blog has even been set up with blurry videos of their activities.
In many cases, it was abject poverty and alienation, and even failed love relations, which made them join the CPM.
It was not all about abstract ideology and the new generation of leftists would have to admit that Karl Marx, the father of Communism, got it all wrong in his 1848 The Communist Manifesto – he failed to see the birth and expansion of the Middle Class, which embraced consumerism and all things capitalist.
In short, the CPM veterans are people of a different generation and political setting, who were caught up in the world of colonialism and class struggles, which have no relevance to us.
World of black-and-white
Their world was of just black-and-white – like the classic movies of their era.
Today, Islamic radicalism has taken over where communists have left off, with security agencies tracking the likes of Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorists.
Courses in communism would probably be offered in the history faculty instead of the political science classes, where Islamic radicalism would be a compulsory subject.
The Malay CPM veterans – who would have once regarded themselves as atheists – have returned to religion, realising that they would soon be meeting their Creator.
In their last days on earth and for all the killings they have committed, it is best they seek peace and forgiveness.
They are probably too proud to admit that it was a serious mistake to chose the revolutionary path and too late to talk about “what if.”
Contrary to public perception, many ex-CPM members of Chinese origin have returned to Malaysia.
Some veterans become Thai citizens and have no problems returning to Malaysia as tourists.
In many cases, it was reported that their first visits were to pay respects to their dead parents’ graves in Malaysia and soon, they went on holidays to Europe, as a preferred destination.
In his book, Chin Peng said 330 ex-CPM members opted to return to Malaysia immediately after the peace agreement.
In the case of Chin Peng, he said he made applications in 1990 to return to Malaysia but the authorities disclosed that he did not show up for the interview.
Eventually, it became a court battle, which must have made it more difficult for the Home Ministry to meet his request. It is not clear what passport he is holding as he has made Bangkok his base.
Ironically, come December, it would be the 20th year of the Peace Accord in Haadyai, where the architects of the agreement are still alive.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his Thai counterpart, Chavalit Yongchaihudh played the leading roles while the police representatives were former IGPs Tan Sri Rahim Noor and Tan Sri Norian Mai, with retired Gen Kitti Rattanachayam representing the Thai army.
Chin Peng, in his book, said he wanted to die in Malaysia, which he said he was “more than willing to die for”. But for families of those who died in the fight, they have still not forgiven him.
It is a price he has to live with, even in his twilight years.
NewsFocus: Stopping the Red terror
2009/06/16
Within hours of Walker's murder, 50-year-old J. M. Allison and his young assistant, Leonard Christian, were killed in cold blood at their office, also in Sungai Siput, with their hands bound behind their backs.
The CTs' plan was to cripple the country's economy. Their initial targets were rubber estates in Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor and Pahang.
A month before the merciless killing of the European planters, the CTs were attacking locals working in these estates.
Their killings were described in newspaper reports as "industrial or political murders by Chinese gunmen".
Following these murders, High Commissioner Sir Edward Gent declared a state of emergency on June 16, 1948. It covered Ipoh and Sungai Siput police districts in Perak and Kluang, Muar, Kulai and Plentong police circles in Johor.
The Straits Times then reported that the essential emergency power regulations were introduced "in view of the serious state of lawlessness now prevailing in those areas" and would continue until Gent considered the emergency to have ended.
The new regulations provided for the death penalty for unauthorised possession of firearms, ammunition or explosives.
In addition, they confer special powers to, among other things, arrest, detention, exclusion from particular areas, assembly of persons, imposition of curfews, search of persons and premises, closing of roads, paths and waterways, requisition of buildings, vehicles, boats, seizure of seditious documents and any article which can be used as an offensive weapon.
A day later, Gent and the then commissioner of police, H.B. Langworthy, each held a meeting to decide on "action to be followed in the Federation of Malaya under certain contingencies in the present political emergency".
At Gent's executive council meeting, he was given a complete picture of conditions existing in the Federation.
"Certain unofficial members of the Executive Council spoke strongly and urged wide action," the Straits Times reported.
Meanwhile, Langworthy's meeting was attended by all chief police officers except those of Kelantan and Terengganu -- who were not summoned as their states were not as fully involved as the west coast states -- and of Malacca, who was ill. No statements came out of the two meetings.
It was a month later on July 22 that Officer Administering Government Sir Alec Newboult declared Emergency nationwide.
The CT plan was becoming clear. They first started attacking places of employment, such as estates, mines and factories, under the guise of industrial unrest.
Then, it changed to a direct attack on the lives of the management and estate staff, both European and Chinese. The attacks then moved on to places such as police stations, where success would weaken public morale.
"The enemy will not go for the well and strongly defended places because their immediate purpose is not to inflict a material loss on us as much as to discredit and disorganise the government machine and so bring about the condition of unrest and chaos and that dislocation of the economic life of the country, which is their primary purpose," Newboult said.
Under the new emergency rule, European police officers of the Malayan Police, who were on leave in Britain, were recalled with instructions to return by air.
The army was to co-operate with the police, whereby the former had been asked to allow as much decentralisation as possible so that spot decisions may be made by the chief police officer and the military commanding officer in the territory.
The police were also armed with Sten guns against the CTs. Guns were also distributed to planters.
Planters and estate labourers were also asked to form special constabulary corps under the direct orders of the chief police officer of each district. The chief police officer in each district also had the discretion to issue guns to Europeans and Asians sworn in as special constables.
The nationwide emergency rule also saw the introduction of national registration and the issue of identity cards in the Federation.
It was not introduced nationwide immediately but in certain areas. Fingerprints and photographs of each person in the registration areas were taken to help the police and military in their battle against terrorism.
Upon registration, an identification card was issued in which the holder must carry with him and produce on demand.
It was 12 years later on July 31, 1960 that the government declared the end of the Emergency period. By then, Chin Peng had left south Thailand for Beijing where he was accommodated by the Chinese authorities in the International Liaison Bureau, where many other Southeast Asian Communist Party leaders were housed.
During the conflict, it was reported that security forces killed 6,710 guerillas and captured 1,287.
A total of 2,702 guerillas surrendered while about 500 more did so at the end of the conflict.
A total of 1,345 Malayan troops and police were killed during the conflict, as well as 519 Commonwealth personnel. A total of 2,478 civilians were killed, with another 810 recorded as missing.
Association slams Anwar over Chin Peng statement
OPPOSITION leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's open support for the return of former communist terrorists' leader, Chin Peng, is an act of betrayal against the country.
Stressing that the opposition leader was playing with fire and that his recent support for the terrorist' return to Malaysia was a political gimmick to win over the Chinese community's support, the Ex-Servicemen's Association chided Anwar for his illogical, desperate statement.
"We call upon Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to stick to the government's long-standing decision to bar the terrorist from our soil.
"Anwar is just interested or rather worried about his dwindling support, particularly among the Chinese community.
"This is betrayal. Anwar might be clever but he is not intelligent," Ex-Servicemen's Association president Datuk Muhammad Abdul Ghani said.
Speaking at a press conference at the association's office in Kota Baru yesterday, Muhammad said an increasing number of former soldiers and family members of those who were killed by communist terrorists have contacted the association to protest the opposition leader's irresponsible statement.
"I'm sure others, including the entire Armed Forces and our colleagues in the Royal Malaysian Police force, are also against it.
"We'll teach Anwar and Parti Keadilan Rakyat a lesson through the ballot box. We will be seeking an appointment with the prime minister to convey our strong views against allowing the return of the terrorist."
He also didn't rule out the possibility that Anwar was purposely creating explosive issues to divert people's attention away from the ugly internal crisis in PKR and Pakatan Rakyat.
Two days ago, Anwar urged the government to forgive and forget Chin Peng's atrocities and allow him to return to Malaysia.
posted by wan zaharizan b wan zan at 11:41 PM
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