http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/guerrillas-home-call/story-e6frg6so-1226156391320
Guerrilla's home call From: The Australian October 03, 2011 12:00AM A FORMER communist guerrilla fighter in Malaysia who has been living in exile in Thailand is critically ill and should be allowed to return home, his lawyer says. Chin Peng, who led a bloody guerrilla campaign after World War II and left Malaysia soon after the end of the 1948-1960 "Emergency", has been hospitalised in Bangkok. "He has been sick for two months. He's in critical condition," his lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira said. He said several Malaysian family members had visited the 86-year-old former leader of the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya. Born Ong Boon Hua in Malaysia's north, Chin Peng was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and won two medals for helping the British fight the Japanese in Malaya during World War II. He later led the communist party, backed by China, in a campaign against the British colonial and Malaysian governments before and after Malaysian independence in 1957. In 2009, Malaysia's highest court rejected a bid for him to come back, but his lawyer said Prime Minister Najib Razak's government should now allow his return. "I hope they let him in now . . . as a saving grace for Najib," Mr Khaira said. "They should let him in to die among his loved ones." Mr Khaira has insisted Chin Peng has the right to return under a 1989 peace agreement between the CPM and Malaysian government, which allowed several high-ranking communist leaders to do so. But the government has rejected all appeals, fearing Chin Peng's return may open old wounds and anger those whose family members were killed during the Emergency. Last month, a Malaysian court charged an opposition politician for criminal defamation over an alleged pro-communist remark, suggesting tensions still run high. Opposition leaders and activists slammed the charge as undermining a pledge by Mr Najib to grant greater freedom of expression. AFP [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
