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| Southeast Asia |
| Ex-leftist loses bid to return to M'sia |
| 2007-08-01 |
| AN AGEING communist guerrilla who led a revolt that convulsed Malaysia for three decades has suffered a setback in a two-year legal battle to return home, his lawyer said yesterday, but vowed to fight the judgment. He fought the law and the law won Chin Peng, 83, led a guerrilla campaign against Japanese, British colonial, Malaysian and Thai forces over three decades, from the 1940s until well into the 1970s, when it was finally crushed. Stubborn, ain't he? Only in 1989 was a formal peace treaty signed. Chin Peng, who now lives in Thailand, became the most wanted man in the British Empire in 1948, at the age of 23, soon after being named secretary-general of the Communist Party of Malaya. Memories of the communists' revolt are still a sensitive topic in multi-racial Malaysia, prompting the government to ban the 2006 film, The Last Communist, which was inspired by Chin Peng's early life and legacy. Drawn by memories of his parents, who are buried in Malaysia, the ageing former revolutionary now wants to return home, but a Malaysian High Court yesterday gave him 14 days to submit documents proving he was born in the country. However, Chin Peng's position is that the documents should be issued by the government. "This is the end of the road in the high court," his lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira said. "But we must carry it to the Court of Appeal. I will file a petition in the Appeal Court." In his autobiography, Chin Peng: My Side of History, the former guerrilla paints a picture of a 12-year anti-colonial war he says he waged against British and Commonwealth forces in the jungles of what was then called Malaya. Darshan Singh said his client had several times asked the government for permission to return, but his requests had been rejected. Good |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 He had a rare rookie card in the '44 Betle Nut pack. |
| Posted by: Abu Maxis 2007-08-01 20:00 |
| #1 Poor old commie. Probably never even got his own t-shirt... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-08-01 13:13 |