No law to stop Chin Peng’s ashes being brought back, says Deputy Home Minister
Even as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak rejected calls for the remains of former communist leader Chin Peng to be allowed into Malaysia, a deputy minister today reminded Putrajaya that it has no legal power to stop anyone from doing so.
“There is nothing any of the authorities can do. We have no laws to stop the ashes from being brought in or penalise anyone carrying the ashes in,” said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pic) after closing a career carnival at the Islamic complex in Kuching today.
His statement closely followed a warning by former police chief Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor that Malaysia risked becoming a laughing stock to the world if it refused to allow Chin Peng’s ashes to be interred in the country.
Chin Peng, who died in Bangkok on September 16, had repeatedly voiced a wish to be buried in his hometown of Sitiawan, Perak.
Wan Junaidi, who fought the communists at the height of the Malayan emergency in Sarawak, said he wouldn't know how the authorities would deal with anyone found carrying an urn with Chin Peng's ashes at the airport.
“I can't imagine it," he said, adding he was not aware of any law to stop such an act.
And even if there were such laws, it would be difficult to prevent the ashes from being smuggled by those determined to do so, he added.
“There's nothing the government can do about it,” said Wan Junaidi, a lawyer.
Najib had on Friday said Putrajaya would not budge from its stand and challenged those unhappy with the decision to seek legal redress.
"The government has decided and those unhappy with the decision can challenge it in court," he said.
Wan Junaidi said that Putrajaya feared that allowing Chin Peng's remains into the country might have repercussions. He said the government feared Chin Peng's supporters would build a shrine at the site where his remains would be interred, even adding that such a site could stir a communist revival.
Wan Junaidi denied that the government's decision was racist, a charge made by Barisan Nasional's key partner, MCA. The Chinese party had contrasted the decision to the stance taken by Putrajaya in letting the bodies of two Malaysian terrorists be returned from Indonesia to be buried in their hometowns.
“It's not a question of race. It's all about his fight, his struggle and who he fought. If Chin Peng was a Malay, an Iban, a Kadazan or a Dusun, his ashes too would not be allowed back into the country. He was a communist who fought against the government of the day. He did not only fight the British.
“If he had stopped fighting after the British left, then history would have been different. He did not. He fought well into the 80s, well after Malaysia was formed,” explained the former deputy speaker of Parliament.
MCA publicity bureau chair Datuk Heng Seai Kie, in making the comparisons, had referred to the late Dr Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top, both accused of bombings in Indonesia between 2002 and 2005.
This was immediately countered by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who said: "Those terrorists did not kill our military or police personnel, or our people."
Chin Peng will be cremated in Bangkok on Monday according to Buddhist rites. – September 21, 2013.
No law to prevent Chin Peng’s ashes from being brought in’
Borneo Post on September 22, 2013, Sunday
KUCHING: The Home Ministry is in a bind over what law to use against any individual(s) who carts back the cremated ashes of communist leader Chin Peng, who died in Thailand, into Malaysia.
According to Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, there is no law which could stop the ashes of Chin Peng from being brought across the Malaysian border and immigration checkpoints.
“I really discourage any attempts to bring the ashes into Malaysia as it might spark the communism ideology,” he said when met by reporters at the Sarawak Islamic Complex yesterday.
He also said that certain individuals were quick to take advantage of Chin Peng’s death to gain political mileage by questioning the government’s pre-emptive effort to discourage the bringing of the cremated ashes into the country.
Among the remarks and comments, said Wan Junaidi, is the racial profiling of Chin Peng which was said to have determined the decision of the government on how to deal with his cremated ashes.
“This is not a question of race. Chin Peng is a communist leader and any other race will also face the same fate and treatment,” said Wan Junaidi who is also Santubong MP.
In an unrelated event, Wan Junaidi said the recent meeting on Trans Border Crime held in Laos and attended by home ministers from the Asean region looks very promising.
He said among the crimes discussed during the meeting were human trafficking, smuggling and cyber crimes.
“To prove the strong cooperation among the countries, Japan and South Korea have agreed to lend their expertise and technologies to curb cyber crimes within the Asean region,” he said. He also said South Korea and China had also agreed to provide and develop another source of income for countries within the Asean golden triangle which depends on drugs to sustain their economy.
Government adamant about decision on Chin Peng’s ashes – Zahid
September 23, 2013, Monday
KUALA LUMPUR: The government is adamant that it will not allow the ashes of former Communist Party Malaya (CPM) secretary-general Chin Peng to be brought back to Malaysia.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi said the decision was to prevent any group from building a memorial in his recognition.
“We need to take into consideration the feelings of army and police veterans and their families who were the victims of Chin Peng’s atrocities when he headed the party,” he told the media at the Parliament lobby here Monday.
He said furthermore Chin Peng had never taken the opportunity to return despite two offers from the National Registration Department to do so after the Hatyai Treaty on Dec 2 1989.
Chin Peng, whose real name was Ong Boon Hua, 90, died of old age in a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand on Sept 16.
On the same day, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the government would not grant permission for Chin Peng’s remains to be brought back to Malaysia due to the atrocities he committed.
Meanwhile, queried on the competition he is facing in defending his Umno vice-presidency post on Oct 19, Zahid placed his fate in the hands of the delegates to make the best choice for the party.– BERNAMA
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