View Full Version : Chin Peng-The LastCommunist?
The movie 'The Last Communist' was shown at the Berlin Film Festival. My interest in this is having visited the Malaysian Communist community in Songkhla Province Nattawee District. Chin Peng was mainly based at Betong in Yala Province. Both communities dug tunnels to hide in during Thai Army attacks:-
http://www.fdk-berlin.de/en/forum/program/main-program/the-last-communist.html
Lelaki Komunis Terakhir (The Last Communist)
A semi-musical documentary road movie inspired by the places and events in the early life of Chin Peng, Secretary General of the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya.
All right, we all know it’s banned, it’s a danger to us all, and it might resuscitate communism and send it trampling all over the fragile edifices of our prosperity like a big red Godzilla. It’s strange when people assume that silence will change history, because it won’t. Any Malaysian lucky enough to see this film will realise that all Malaysians should see it, because it elucidates parts of our history that are locked out of our school syllabuses.
http://lastcommunist.blogspot.com/
If anyone knows the whereabouts of copies of this movie or Chin Peng's autobiography in Thailand, please let us know.
This article wonders why Chin Peng's autobiography is freely available in Malaysia at the same time as the film is banned: -
http://www.aliran.com/content/view/59/11/
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IF22Ae01.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IF22Ae02.html
Introductory extract only. Follow links above for full article:
Page 1 of 2
Malaysia's homesick revolutionary
By Andrew Symon
SINGAPORE - Malaysia is gearing up to celebrate half a century of independence, but the multi-ethnic country is arguably still not at peace with the often turbulent history that led to the end of British colonial rule.
Resurrecting those controversies is the latest bid by Chin Peng, the onetime leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), to return to Malaysia. The ethnic-Chinese former rebel, who now lives in exile in Thailand, finally gets his day in court on Friday.
Once described as the most wanted man in the British Empire, and now at 83 years of age the last of the great post-World War II revolutionary leaders in Southeast Asia, Chin Peng led a full-scale guerrilla war against British and Commonwealth forces in the late 1940s and 1950s and thereafter a decades-long ideological struggle against Malaysia's new indigenous rulers in Kuala Lumpur.
...........
I'm wondering whether Chin Peng is resident in the Khao Nam Kang MCP village in Songkhla Province or the Betong MCP village in Yala Province. I suspect the former, and think I may even have seen him there when I visited about 10 years ago
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IF22Ae01.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IF22Ae02.html
Introductory extract only. Follow links above for full article:
I'm wondering whether Chin Peng is resident in the Khao Nam Kang MCP village in Songkhla Province or the Betong MCP village in Yala Province. I suspect the former, and think I may even have seen him there when I visited about 10 years ago
Most of the evidence suggests that he lives in Betong. Indeed, the faction in Khao Nam Khang seems to have split from the Betong faction in the 70s. However, I imagine that the two groups are largely reconciled by now, so it is not impossible that Chin Peng may have been seen at Khao Nam Khang, given that it's closer to the Malaysian Consulate in Songkhla - which is probably his conduit to the Malaysian government.
The guy I spoke to briefly 10 years ago was in his early seventies, which would concur with Chin Peng's current age. It was only AFTER I visited the village that I learned that Chin Peng was still alive and resident in Thailand.
Chin Peng asked to produce papers for action against govt
By CHELSEA L.Y. NG
SHAH ALAM: Former communist leader Chin Peng will have to produce his birth certificate and citizenship papers before he could proceed with his legal action against the Malaysian government, the High Court ruled.
“Chin Peng’s main application was made based on the claim that he is a Malaysian.
“Therefore, it is relevant and important for him to produce his birth certificate and citizenship papers,” ruled High Court judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.
A lawyer for the 84-year-old former leader of the Communist Party of Malaysia (CPM), Darshan Singh Khaira, said the ruling was as good as throwing Chin Peng’s case out of court because those documents had been seized by the government a long time ago.
“He cannot produce the documents anymore. The court should allow him to prove his citizenship through his relatives or acquaintances here.
“One should also look at the treaty signed between the CPM and the Government in December 1989, where some of the former CPM leaders’ names were mentioned,” he said.
Lead counsel Raja Aziz Addruse said they would be appealing against the ruling.
Darshan Singh said he hoped that the appeal could be heard early such as before this year’s Independence Day celebration.
Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua, currently resides in Thailand.
In the originating summons filed on March 4, 2005, the octogenarian asked for a declaration that he and other CPM members be allowed to enter and live in this country.
Apart from the government, he named the home affairs minister, the inspector-general of police and the armed forces chief as defendants.
In June, Chin Peng withdrew two side applications he had filed namely his bid to attend the hearing of his main action and his application to compel the government to provide a copy of his birth certificate and other related identification documents.
The main reason cited was that Chin Peng did not want to prolong the matter.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/31/nation/20070731174734&sec=nation
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/31/nation/20070731174734&sec=nation
2008/04/22
'Chin Peng's right based on 1989 pact'
PUTRAJAYA: Chin Peng's right to return and live in Malaysia is based on the 1989 peace agreement signed by the government and the Communist Party of Malaya, the Court of Appeal was told yesterday.
Counsel Raja Aziz Addruse said Chin Peng's right to come back was also based on the fact that he was a Malaysian.
He said his client had also satisfied the terms of the agreement to live in Malaysia.
"It is wrong to compel Chin Peng to produce his birth and citizenship certificates just because he is a Malaysian."
Raja Aziz said Chin Peng was born in Sitiawan, Perak, in 1923 and his citizenship was never revoked.
He said Chin Peng had stated in his autobiography that the Special Branch in the then Malaya had seized his birth certificate during a raid.
On July 31 last year, Chin Peng was given 14 days to produce the certificates.
The High Court had allowed the government's application requiring Chin Peng to provide the documents as they were important to support his claim that he is a Malaysian.
On March 4, 2005, Chin Peng, also known as Ong Boon Hua, sought a declaration that he be given the right to enter and stay in Malaysia and that the government comply with the terms of the agreement.
He also sought an order from the court to issue him with documents to enter Malaysia. He had named the home affairs minister, the inspector-general of police, the armed forces chief and the government as defendants.
Chin Peng, 84, is in Thailand where he has been residing since 1989.
Senior federal counsel Azizah Nawawi said the onus was on Chin Peng to produce the documents because he had attested that he had never given up his citizenship and neither was it revoked.
Azizah said Chin Peng must produce his citizenship certificate as this was relevant to issues between the disputing parties.
Judgment was reserved.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/2220329/Article/index_html
2008/06/20
Chin Peng loses appeal
BERNAMA
PUTRAJAYA, Fri:
Former communist leader Chin Peng’s attempt to obtain a declaration to be permitted to enter and live in Malaysia was further hindered after the Court of Appeal here upheld a lower court’s decision compelling him to produce his identification documents to prove that he is a Malaysian citizen before he could pursue his legal action against the Malaysian Government.
In the 35-page judgement, Justice Datuk Abdul Malik Ishak said the two documents were important to ascertain Chin Peng’s status since the National Registration Department could not find any record of his (Chin Peng’s) birth.
A three-man panel led by Justice Datuk Wira Low Hop Bing unanimously held that the High Court was correct to compel the 84-year-old Chin Peng to furnish his birth certificate and citizenship to prove that he was a Malaysian citizen before allowing him to proceed with his application seeking declaration that he and other Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) members could reside here.
Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua and currently living in Thailand, claimed that he could not produce his identification documents because those documents was seized by the police when he placed them in the pocket of his suit and abandoned the clothes at the Tong Ching bungalow, outside Kampar on the evening of June 16, 1948 when he narrowly escaped capture by a British police raid on that residence.
Chin Peng claimed that he was entitled to come back to Malaysia because he was of Malaysian origin since he was born on Oct 20, 1923, in Sitiawan, Dinding, Perak and grew up in Malaysia. He claimed that his birth was registered and that he had once possessed a formal copy of the certificate. Justices Abdul Malik and Datuk Sulaiman Daud were the other two judges presiding together with Low.
“The failure on the part of Chin Peng to produce those documents sought for by the Home Minister for inspection was fatal,” said Abdul Malik when rejecting Chin Peng’s appeal to set aside the High Court’s decision compelling him to produce the two documents to prove his citizenship before he could pursue three of his originating summons against the government.
In his originating summons filed on March 4, 2005, he named the government, Home Minister, Inspector-General of Police and the Armed Forces Chief as defendants.
Senior Federal Counsel Azizah Nawawi had told the court during hearing of the appeal last April 21 that Chin Peng’s identification papers were not in their possession and she believed that the documents could only be in Chin Peng’s possession.
Abdul Malik said the memoirs written by Chin Peng containing full details of the raid on June 16 1948, entitled “Alias Chin Peng - My side of History" cannot be accepted as the gospel truth.
“Anything can be written in the memoirs. The bottom line is this: Where are your documents? The onus is on Chin Peng to produce them,” Abdul Malik said.
Lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira representing Chin Peng said he would file leave to the Federal Court to appeal against today’s decision. — BERNAMA
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/NewsBreak/20080620180443/Article/index_html
vBulletin® v3.7.1, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.