THE ashes of late communist leader Chin Peng should not be made into an issue as he is now dead, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir said.

“He is dead. Yes, he killed a lot of people, but we also killed a lot of people… it was war time,” Dr Mahathir told Malaysian reporters in Seoul, where he is on a working visit.

“It’s only his ashes (that have returned to Malaysia).

“What do you want us to do, pick up all the ashes that have been scattered and send them back overseas?” he said regarding the return of Chin Peng’s ashes in September by a group of people handling his remains after his death in Thailand in 2013.

His ashes have been scattered in the sea off Lumut and in the jungle areas of the Titiwangsa mountain range in Perak, Chin Peng’s birth state.

The group revealed their actions in a press conference two days ago, which is now the subject of a police investigation.

The news has sparked outcry by opposition MPs from Umno and PAS, which accused the Pakatan Harapan government of allowing the ashes to return

However, Dr Mahathir said those blaming the PH government were using the issue for their own agenda.

“What do you want to raise such an issue for? This is a small matter that is used to make the government look bad.

“Similar things happened under Najib (Razak) before, but nothing happened. Now, everything is PH’s fault.”

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin have both said the government did not approve any request for Chin Peng’s ashes to be brought back.

Dr Mahathir added today that it was difficult to detect when the ashes were brought back across the border.

“If the ashes were kept in a flask, how are we to know? If they want to scatter the ashes, let them.”

Dr Mahathir also said, while Malaysia had allowed the return of other members of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), such as Shamsiah Fakeh, the government had not allowed Chin Peng to return because he was a leader.

“It’s only his ashes that have returned. We allowed Shamsiah Fakeh to return and no one complained. Why, because she was Malay, perhaps? There were others also (who returned).

“It was only Chin Peng we did not want to accept because he was the leader,” he said.

Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua, was CPM secretary-general.

He died aged 89 on September 16, 2013, while living in exile in Thailand.

Under a peace treaty signed by Malaysia, Thailand and the CPM to end the communist insurgency, CPM members and leaders were allowed to return to Malaysia, with conditions.

Chin Peng had filed a case in the Malaysian courts on his right to return under the peace treaty, but this was quashed by the Federal Court in 2009.

His lawyers said he had repeatedly written to the Malaysian government asking permission to return, but was always denied. – November 28, 2019.