MCA: Muslim terrorists buried here, why not Chin Peng?

Turning up the heat ahead of Chin Peng's cremation, MCA questions the government’s double standard in reference to  the burial of two Muslim terrorists in the country.

The party's publicity chief Heng Sia Kee said the government should not appear as being racist and allow the former communist leader’s ashes to be brought back.

Heng was referring to the late Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top, both of whom were wanted by the Indonesian government for the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, attack on Jakarta's JW Marriott hotel in 2003, and on the Australian embassy in 2004.

They, too, were far from being Malaysian heroes, noted Heng.

"Whether Chin Peng is a hero or not is not an issue here. The government does not need any more bad publicity to be seen as making decisions based on racial lines," she added.

Furthermore, Heng said, both Azahari and Nordin could be considered the worst villains as they sought out innocent lives for destruction.

Azahari and Nordin were both colleagues in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Johor before allegedly climbing the ranks of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a terrorist network linked to Al-Qaeda.

Azahari was shot dead in Indonesia in November 2005. Nordin was at one point Indonesia's most wanted Islamic militant and said to be a key bombmaker for JI. He was killed in 2009.

"It should be pointed out that unlike the two terrorists as named above, whose goal was terrorism and targets were innocent tourists or anything deemed Western, Chin Peng's war was to secure Independence," said Heng, adding that this was no different from Indonesians resorting to an armed struggle against the Dutch.

She noted that while it was true that Malaysia rejected communist ideals, the  Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) fought mostly against security forces.

In view of this, she said, MCA appealed for the Sitiawan-born Chin Peng’s ashes to be brought back.

"On humanitarian grounds, we should honour this nonagenarian’s last wishes. After all, what harm can his ashes do to the country?" she asked.

Heng also pointed out that former CPM leaders like Syed Hamid Ali and Shamsiah Faekah were also allowed to return to reside in Malaysia as agreed to in the Hatyai Agreement.
                                      
Born Ong Boon Hua in 1924, Chin Peng was pronounced dead at 6.20am on Monday in Bangkok and he is slated to be cremated today in Bangkok.

Among others, government leaders have argued that Chin Peng did not accept the offer for Malaysian citizenship after the peace deal was inked in 1989.