An Old Comrade

Chin Peng meets Chairman Mao

Yesterday was the 10th Anniversary of the Hatyai Treaty signing. The date may have pass by insignificantly for most Malaysians, especially if they do not follow the news or historical matters of Malaysia. For one man in Thailand, he would have marked that day as a significant one for the past ten years. It reminded him of his long-fought battle to return home. Now almost 86 years old, Chin Peng is a pale shadow of his notorious younger days when he was one of the most feared and wanted man in Malaya. The days as the Secretary-General of the Malayan Communist Party and guerilla fighting in the jungles were long gone and now replaced with a life of serenity. Chin Peng's repeated attempts to return back to Malaysia has often drawn debates and it remains an interesting case study on how history has been presented.

Chin Peng's legal battle to return has hit a stumbling block now where the courts demanded that he prove that he was a Malayan citizen in the first place by producing his birth certificate. Chin Peng claims that he lost his birth certificate after he left home to fight against the Japs in the war. In 1989 when the Hatyai Treaty was signed, the Malaysian government actually put into contract, or a written agreement or promise that MCP members would be given another chance to return back to Malaysia. It was not a popular decision for former policemen and army men who operated during the Emergency but the government went ahead anyway with the signing of the treaty with a clauses which allow former members of MCP and their relatives to return back to Malaysia.

The common argument that was brought up to deny Chin Peng's request to return was that MCP has committed too much of atrocities during the height of their power and that the victims of the MCP would not want him to return. This I believed can be a valid argument if the Hatyai Agreement had not being signed. But in any case, the Malaysian government DID sign it even with consideration of the MCP's actions in the past. The signatures of between both parties meant that the Malaysian government would have consented to wipe clean the slate of any grievances that may be present.

Thus, prominent MCP leaders like Abdullah CD, Rashid Mydin and Shamsiah Fakeh were allowed to retun home. Yes, contrary to popular belief that MCP consisted only of the Chinese and nothing else, there are actually Malays in the top leadership of the MCP. In fact, the whole of the 10th regiment of the Malayan National Liberation Army consisted predominantly of Malays. It must be understood that in the context that is formulated during the post-war period, the road to independence is pursued differently by different individuals. Most individuals with their burning nationalist desire would have to come to terms in choosing a path if they want to liberate Malaya from the yoke of colonialism. Malays in the upper class like Tunku Abdul Rahman and Dato Jaafar Onn chose non-confrontational ways through UMNO while common folks like Shamsiah Fakeh decided to join more radical parties like PKMM. Shamsiah belonged to the group of left-wing Malay nationalists who perceived that UMNO is right-wing and pro-British since their leaders are English educated. My opinion is that Shamsiah may not have subscribed to a pure Marxist theory but coming from a non-elite background would have influenced her to be more left-wing minded. The other thing is that most Chinese in Malaya did not actually pledge in full support for MCP because many of them are land and business owning people. There is no way they are gonna support communist manifestos since that would spell suicide for their businesses or private enterprises.

So, back to the Chin Peng business is that if the government wants to be consistent to its stance towards the damage and attrocities that MCP had done during the Emergency years, they shouldn't have sign the Hatyai treaty. It brings in unnecessary racial strife considering those that were allowed back were the Malay leaders of MCP and Chin Peng, being a Chinese was perceived to be "sold out" in the agreement. The question is, why the double standards? I'm sure that at some point of time, leaders like Abdullah CD or Rashid Mydin would have made decisions which would have cause the loss of lives of innocent people. People are bound to find patterns and come out with conclusions based on their observations. Such prejudiced conclusions does not bode well for future generations. If you forgive one, make sure you forgive all. If Chin Peng is unforgivable because of what MCP had done, so are the rest of the leaders, regardless of what race they are. The Hatyai Treaty doesn't exclude out certain individuals and in fact it covers all members of MCP. Another point to note is that MCP leaders and members are bound together not because of their race but because of their ideological and political beliefs.

At what price is the Malaysian honour is being staked? If the Federal government thinks that preventing Chin Peng from coming back would prevent him from being viewed as a "Chinese hero", I think it's producing the Streisand effect where people are paying even more attention to him now that they continuously deny his request. The call to allow Chin Peng to return back to his hometown in Setiawan is not an act of condoning what the MCP had done nor it's the younger generation soft stance towards Chin Peng just because they didn't live through the Emergency. It's just the simple act of honouring an agreement that was made in the Hatyai Treaty in 1989. The people who are whining that Chin Peng should not return or about MCP atrocities should instead question why the government had signed the Hatyai Treaty in the first place if they do not plan to pardon MCP.

This case is a classic case where history is being written by the winners. Like Ho Chi Minh who was championed alongside with the communists as the true nationalist fighters of Vietnam, the story would have otherwise changed if the South Vietnamese and America had won the war. The winners will get to influence a whole generation with their version of academic history while the losers will be damned with whatever remnants of reputation that they have. For Chin Peng, time is running out for him and his frail body would not last the test of time much longer. Perhaps his final battle lies in his dead body, where his only wish is to be buried in the land that he was once willing to die and spill his blood for.