In farewell letter, Chin Peng tells of his regrets

Former communist leader Chin Peng who died last week had three main regrets in life.

In a moving farewell published as a memorial booklet, In Everlasting Memory: Dare to Struggle, Dare to Sacrifice, Chin Peng expressed regret that he had come as a stranger into the lives of his grown-up children.

Chin Peng also recalled that he could not pay his final respects to his parents who are buried in his hometown in Sitiawan, Perak, as well as not being able to return to Malaysia - an issue which continues to be debated even after his death.

Chin Peng, who was appointed secretary-general of the banned Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) at the age of 23, said that his two children had no choice but to face the harsh reality just like the families of martyrs and comrades.

"They too have to endure hardship and suffering not out of their own doing, but out of a consequence of our decision to challenge the cruel forces in the society which we sought to change," he writes in a letter titled "My Last Wish".

But he took comfort in the fact that his two children were willing to take care of him, describing himself "a father who could not give them family love, warmth and protection ever since their birth".

Chin Peng wanted to be remembered “as a good man” who dared to spend his entire life in pursuit of his ideals to create a better world for his people.

But whether he succeeded or failed was irrelevant, he said.

"At least I did what I did. Hopefully the path I had walked on would be followed and improved upon by the young after me. It is my conviction that the flames of social justice and humanity will never die."

Chin Peng said he was persuaded to write the letter following media reports in October 2011 on rumours of his impending death at that time.

Chin Peng, whose real name was Ong Boon Hua, died in a Bangkok hospital on Malaysia Day, a month short of his 89th birthday. He had repeatedly voiced his wish to be buried in his hometown of Sitiawan.

He fled to China in 1961 and later settled in Bangkok where he was granted an alien passport. Before his death, he reportedly moved to Haadyai, making trips to Bangkok for cancer treatment.

Umno leaders including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has rejected calls to allow Chin Peng's remains to be brought back.

Their stand is that thousands of Malaysians died or suffered at the hands of the communists.

But in death, Chin Peng drew unlikely sympathy from MCA leaders and a former police chief.

MCA pointed out that the government had allowed the bodies of two Malaysians accused of terrorism to be buried in their hometowns in Malacca and Johor. The reference is to Dr Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top, both shot dead by Indonesian security forces.

While former Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor warned that Malaysia risked becoming a laughing stock of the world if it refused Chin Peng’s ashes to be brought back to be interred.

“If the government succumbs to this public pressure not to allow Chin Peng's ashes to be brought back, I think, we are making Malaysia a laughing stock to the whole world,” said Rahim, who was part of negotiations which led to Putrajaya's peace deal with CPM. - September 21, 2013.