PEOPLE upset over the return of late Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leader Chin Peng’s ashes to Malaysia should remember history, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said.

Echoing Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s view on the subject, Anwar said it should not be made an issue.

He said Malaysia’s previous leaders had established and strengthened ties with the Communist Party of China, while bilateral relations with Beijing continue.

“The matter is under police investigation but my view is: you should know history, know the problems of terrorism, know the battle that was fought, and know the sensitivities and feelings of the police and army (who fought).

“However, we should also know that peace has been achieved.

“Tun Razak began talks with Zhou Enlai,” Anwar said, referring to the beginning of Malaysia’s diplomatic ties with China, by second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein in 1974, after a few years of “friendship” talks between officials of both governments prior to that.

“Najib had good ties with the Communist Party of China, and now Dr Mahathir continues this bilateral relationship. I also have met the Communist Party.

“So, I don’t think Chin Peng’s ashes should be turned into an issue,” Anwar told reporters in the Parliament lobby today.

Under the Najib government, Malaysia had also sealed several major infrastructure projects with China, some of which are being continued, although at reduced cost by the Pakatan Harapan administration.

The ashes of Chin Peng, the former CPM secretary-general who died in Thailand in 2013, were brought into Malaysia in September by a group of his friends and scattered in his home state of Perak.

Even in death, he remains a reviled figure by Malaysians who lost loved ones during the communist insurgency, which ended in 1989 with the signing of the Hat Yai Peace Agreement between the CPM, Malaysia and Thailand.

Umno and PAS politicians faulted the PH government over the return of the ashes, but Putrajaya denied granting any permission for their return.

Dr Mahathir recently slammed the opposition for politicising the return of the ashes, saying that, in death, Chin Peng no longer had any influence. – December 2, 2019.