In Malaysia, politicians spar after return of communist leader Chin Peng’s remains

The ashes of the guerilla chief, who led one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies, were secretly scattered in his birthplace of Perak in September

He fled the country for China in 1960 and died in exile in Thailand in 2013, but his remains remain officially barred from being interred in Malaysia

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A Thai Buddhist monk walks past the coffin of former Communist Party of Malaysia leader Chin Peng in 2013. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:00pm, 27 Nov 2019Updated: 10:05am, 28 Nov 2019

Malaysia’s political leaders were on Wednesday grappling over the appropriate response to the revelation that the cremated remains of Chin Peng, the China-backed communist leader who led a bloody insurgency in the country, had been secretly returned to the country.

A group of Malaysians a day earlier said they had quietly brought back the guerilla leader’s ashes from Thailand and scattered them at a hill and in waters near his birthplace in the state of Perak on September 16 – six years to the day of his death at age 88 after spending more than half a century in exile.

The announcement appeared to catch officials in Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government off guard, as the official policy has been that Chin Peng’s remains are barred from being interred in the country. Former prime minister Najib Razak defended this policy in 2013, citing the “black history” of the insurgency led by Chin’s Malayan Communist Party (MCP).

Officials sought to distance themselves from the development but did not take a hardline stance. Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said no one had made a request for Chin Peng’s remains to enter the country, but added that the matter was sensitive because of the “sacrifice of our [military] heroes” during the guerilla war from 1948 to 1960.

Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu, asked to offer his views by opposition lawmakers in parliament, said he would reserve comment until after an investigation by the home ministry.

Earlier, other lawmakers engaged in a war of words after government MP M. Karupaiya, an armed forces veteran, said his private view was that there was “no problem” with the return of Chin Peng’s ashes to his country of birth.

That comment sparked a flurry of criticism from opposition MPs before the House speaker ticked off the lawmakers for using parliament to debate history.