Legendary Malayan freedom fighter finally comes home to rest

[Rogue Trader]

Exiled Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng's ashes returned to Malaysia

Chin Peng led the armed struggle of the Communist Party of Malaya against the colonial British authorities and then the Malayan government after 1957.PHOTO: ST FILE

PUBLISHED
NOV 26, 2019, 4:45 PM SGT

PETALING JAYA - The ashes of Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leader Chin Peng, who lived in exile in Thailand after the CPM was disbanded, has been brought back to Malaysia six years after his death, the Malaysiakini news website reported on Tuesday (Nov 26).

The report said his ashes were brought back from Thailand to Malaysia on Sept 16, said Mr Chai Kan Fook, 81, who belongs to a group that coordinated the return.

A memorial ceremony was held on the same day in the town of Ipoh in the state of Perak, Malaysiakini reported.

Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua, led the armed struggle of the Communist Party of Malaya against the colonial British authorities and then the Malayan government after 1957.

The hostilities ended only in 1989 with a Thailand-brokered peace accord.
Chin Peng died of cancer in 2013 at the age of 88.

He had been living in exile in Thailand after the 1989 peace accord, and his attempts to return to his birthplace in Perak had been stymied by the Malaysian courts on the basis that he did not have citizenship papers.

The country's former prime minister Najib Razak had also called him a "terrorist leader" and said that his ashes would not be allowed into the country.

It was unclear, however, whether the return of his ashes had been sanctioned by the current government or if the group had sought permission to do so.

Mr Chai told Malaysiakini the ashes were scattered in the sea near the coastal town of Lumut in Perak and in the jungles of the Titiwangsa mountain range.

 

[laksaboy]

A dead communist is a good communist.

I remember reading about him in history textbooks, alongside his comrade Lai Teck.

 

[Victory2016]

Lai Teck was the world's greatest Double Agent who worked for the French, British, and Japanese Intelligence, in spite of his position as a top communist leader.
He changed the course of Malayan ( and Singaporean) history.
=================================

Lai Teck steered the Party on a course of non-confrontation with the British and wholly embraced the Communist International's new line of co-operation with the United States and the Western European powers against Nazi Germany and Japan.

Although many of the CPM's top personnel managed to flee Singapore before it fell, Lai Teck did not and was picked up in a Japanese sweep shortly after. Although most communists were executed by the Japanese, Lai Teck walked free a few days later. Based on later evidence, including documents in Japanese archives, it now appears most likely that Lai Teck saved his life by promising to act as a Japanese agent.

On 1 September 1942, more than 100 senior CPM and MPAJA members gathered at the Batu Caves just north of Kuala Lumpur for a secret conference. The Japanese, however, had been tipped off and staged a surprise raid at dawn. In the ensuing lopsided skirmish most of the CPM and MPAJA high command were destroyed. Lai Teck, who should have been at the meeting, wasn't. Subsequently, he claimed that he had been unable to attend because his car broke down.

In 1946, faint rumours which had been circulating within the party about disloyalty on the part of Lai Teck began to receive more substantiation. This was exacerbated by the restlessness of the rank and file, especially the younger members, who favoured radical action. Lai Teck was removed from some sensitive posts, and an investigation was begun into his activities. A full meeting of the Central Executive Committee was scheduled for 6 March 1947 at which the complaints against Lai Teck were to be aired in his presence. Lai Teck did not attend but instead absconded with the bulk of the Party's funds, hiding first in Singapore, then going to Hong Kong and later to Thailand.

With Lai Teck gone, the party elected a new leader, Chin Peng. According to Chin Peng, he was told by the Thai Communist leader that Lai Teck was accidentally killed in Bangkok some time in 1947 when three Thai Communists tried to capture him. Lai Teck was suffocated during the struggle; he was later put into a gunny sack and tossed into the Menam River.[11][12] It is heavily suspected that Chin Peng himself called for and executed the assassination of Lai Teck, although he vehemently denied this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_Teck

 

[Rogue Trader]

Lai Teck was the world's greatest Double Agent who worked for the French, British, and Japanese Intelligence, in spite of his position as a top communist leader.

This guy is as close to a Bond villain as you can get. According to Chin Peng's memoirs, Lai Teck (Mandarin translation from his original name "Wright") came from Vietnam and, with an appointment letter from the Comintern, claimed himself as the leader of the Malayan communist party. Since it was the 1930s, no one could truly verify this claim with the Comintern in Europe, he just assumed the role. Stayed in a bangalow in Katong.

After organising the Batu Caves meeting which wiped out the central committee of the MPAJA, Chin Peng became the most senior ranking member and became the leader at 23 years old.

I think Lai Teck's greatest moment came right after the Japs surrendered. He gave very clear orders for the MPAJA to stand down and wait for the British troops to arrive in Malaya. During this time the MPAJA was armed and could easily have controlled the peninsula but this order made them miss the chance.

Chin Peng went after Lai Teck after the bastard ran away with party funds.. and only heard of his accidental killing by the Thai communists. His body was dumped in the river so there was no proof of their accounts. Money was never recovered too.

i think the fucker bribed the Thai commies and made it to Hong kong and then the UK where he drank tea and ate crumpets for the rest of his life. I've been hoping the MI6 would declassify this guy's file and someone write a proper biography on him. Or even make a movie.

 

[whoami]

Well done DAP. Just carry on provoking the Malays.