Archive for June 2009
What I really think…
One of the bush fire wars away from the main theatre of war between the Barisan Nasional and the Pakatan Rakyat is the issue of whether the Communist Party of Malaya’s (CPM) former leader, Chin Peng (his real name being Ong Boon Huat) is to be allowed to return home or not.
I’m sick, so I’m not going to write a whole essay on this. So I’m going to make it as short as possible.
All-in-all, I think that Chin peng should be allowed back to Malaysia.
Why?
Firstly, is it his right to do so under the 1989 Agreement Between The Government Of Malaysia And The Communist Party Of Malaya To Terminate Hostilities.
Secondly, for Allah’s sake, he’s an old man. Let’s just forgive him and get on with it. He did take up arms to fight against the British colonialists (which a certain ruling party/coalition certainly didn’t) and he did profess to have an undying love for the country. Besides, what danger does he have to Malaysia?
From what I found of the 1989 Agreement from the James Wong’s site : http://jameswongwingon-online.blogspot.com/2006/12/1989-malaysia-cpm-peace-accords-in.html, all CPM members (my emphasis) are allowed to return to Malaysia.
Article 3.1 explicitly states that “Members of the Communist Party of Malaya and members of its disbanded armed units, who are of Malaysian origin and who wish to settle down in MALAYSIA, shall be allowed to do so in accordance with the laws of Malaysia”, while Article 4 reads “With regard to Article 3, the Malaysian authorities shall assist members of the Communist Party of Malaya and members of its disbanded armed units in order to help them to start their peaceful life afresh.”
Even more amazingly, in Article 3.2 actually states that “Members of the Communist Party of Malaya and members of its disbanded armed units, who are not of Malaysian origin, may be allowed to settle down in MALAYSIA in accordance with the laws of MALAYSIA, if they so desire.”
(All the emphasis to the articles above are mine)
This means that all CPM members regardsless of whether they were even Malaysian or not in the first place are hence allowed to settle and start a life in Malaysia. There should be no legal or political obstacles to this in any way.
However, statements from the Government that Chin Peng will never be allowed in Malaysia and the reasons that accompany them show the nature of the UMNO Government of deciding to play politics with an agreement that is explicit in black and white. An old man is now a pawn in a political fire fight. How low can they go?
It also dents Malaysia’s credibility abroad. How would anyone trust us now to sign agreements with them and expect them to be honoured? Not to mention from an Islamic perspective. Isn’t it un-Islamic -or for that matter even munafik- to say something but do something else?
Let’s not make this into another race issue, as just about everything in Malaysia seems to be whether genuine or not. Let’s get past this. Let him come back. Malaysia, I believe at large has forgiven him.
