Another " half-past-six " statement on history

The Star today reported Home Minister Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (picture) as saying that allowing Lelaki Komunis 'Terakhir' to be shown is "like allowing a film portraying Osama Bin Laden as a humble and charitable man to be screened in the United States". It is another half-past-six statement made by yet another setengah-masak politico in the tradition of Saigon SOBs.

As Chin Peng does not even appear in the film, how can he be portrayed as "a humble and charitable man"? And comparing Chin Peng with Osama bin Laden is even more stupid because it shows the setengah-masak minister can't even distinguish between terrorism and wars of national liberation in the aftermath of World War II which happened not only in Malaya, but also in many other ex-colonies like Indonesia, Vietnam and Cuba.

Would Mohd Radzi dare to publicly compare Ho Chi Minh, Sukarno, Dr. Mohamad Hatta or Fidel Castro to Osama, even though Ho Chi Minh was also responsible for the founding of the Communist Party of Malaya, as the first modern anti-colonial political movement in Malaya, in a workers' quarters of a rubber plantation in Negeri Sembilan's Kuala Pilah on 30 April 1930?

The government of the United States has never signed any peace treaty or accords with Osama bin Laden or Al Qaeda. But, the Governments of Malaysia and Thailand did officially sign the Haadyai Peace Accords with the Communist Party of Malaya, of which Chin Peng is a signatory, on 2 December 1989. The Communist Party of Malaya had also had treaty relations with British military command at Fort Canning, Singapore in 1941 as well as Allies' South East Asia Command (SEAC) in 1943 and it was recognised as a legitimate negotiating partner in the 1955 Baling Peace Talk and the 1988-1989 Tripartite Truce Talks involving Bangkok as well as Kuala Lumpur.

I really do not think the governments of Britain, Australia and Singapore would allow Osama to conduct archival research at Kew's Public Record Office, Cambridge University's Rhodes House Library, Imperial War Museum and Australian War Memorial, or to address the Institute of South East Asian Studies. Canberra's Australian National University (ANU) would never invite Osama as a Visiting Fellow.

Attending a seminar on economy of China

This morning, I attended a seminar on China's economy held in Berjaya Times Square Hotel's Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur. The 3-hour public lecture delivered by Professor Justin Lin Yifu (picture) was really comprehensive and in-depth ranging from growth rate, income and wealth distribution, currency management, rural-urban divide, trade, banking, international relations and many other themes.

Professor Justin Lin, although coming from a communist country and is himself a close adviser to the top leadership of China's central government and the Communist Party of China, is also very frank and honest in critically assessing the failures, limitations, shortcomings and inadequacies of the fastest-growing economy of the world, including maldistrubtion of income and wealth between urban and rural areas as well as between the rich and poor.

According to his resume circulated among the 700 particpants, the Taiwan-born Professor Justin Lin holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Chigago and is the founder and director of China's most influential economic think-tank, China Centre for Economic Research at Beijing University. He is also the first Chinese economist invited by Cambridge University's Marshall Lectures to talk about China's economy.

To be frank, even though I am a former politician who used to be a public speaker, I still admire his public speaking skill which enabled him to deliver the 3-hour lecture without looking at any prepared text. His presentation was clear, coherent, systematic, professional and simple enough for laymen to follow.

Earlier, before the public lecture began, I met up Tan Sri Lim Guan Teik (picture) again over coffee. The former President of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) and me know each quite well for many years as a common friend of Pak Said Zahari.

Like Pak Said, Tan Sri was also one of the many victims of repression accross the Causeway in the 1963 Operation Cold Store. He was then a progressive student leader of the now defunct Nanyang University in Singapore. Pak Said (picture) used to tell me that he learnt Mandarin from people like Tan Sri while under detention and it was he who taught Tan Sri and other detainees from the Nanyang University Bahasa Melayu.

As a rule, I do not usually like to 'polish shoes' for rich men or women but I must make an exception to the rule in the case of Tan Sri. He certainly belongs to the rare breed of successful and scandal-free businessman who always respect intellectuals. During the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis, his secretary called me several times to say Tan Sri enjoyed my commentaries published in Sin Chew Jit Poh because the articles provided alternative perspectives to the crisis.

He never forgets his old friends like the late Usman Awang and Pak Said Zahari and he always make it a point to attend Pak Said's simple Hari Raya open house once a year. When we met this morning, the first question he asked me was Pak Said's state of health.

Despite his many business concerns and connections, he is never afraid of speaking up as a social critic if and when necessary on issues of public interest. For example, in 2001, he publicly opposed MCA's takeover of Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press.

Just before we went into the conference hall for the public lecture, he whispered to me:"Yong An,when the Q-&-A session begins, shoot some sharp questions to stimulate everyone's minds. I know you can." I did.

Berita Harian discovers WMD in Merbok ... :)

A: Believe me, the man in the picture (right) is absolutely evil ... Go home tonight and check whether he has been hiding under your bed or inside the store room in your house ...

B: Sir, there is nothing in the empty space which you call a picture ...

A: Yes, just believe me. You are either with me or against me.

B: Why should I believe you? Even President Bush's and Prime Minister Blair's claim about WMD in prewar Iraq has been, to put it diplomatically, " shown to be inaccurate".

A: How dare you say I am no different from Bush and Blair ? ! I am an Assistant Editor of Entertainment of Berita Harian !

Root cause of Malaysia's " half-past-sixness "

A: Who told you the space (right) is a painting showing a river flowing into the sea and the sky is blue with a seven-colour rainbow?

B: I have read about it for many days already in Berida Halian and my neighbours who watch local TV news also confirm what I know from Berida Halian. Some YBs have also said they like this oil painting very much.

A: Did the YBs tell you that ?

B: No. It is reported in Berida Halian and local TV news.

A: YBs, why did you say you like this 'oil painting very much' ?

YBs: Didn't the media say the people like its colourful portrayal of nature very much?

Discourses under a " half-past-six " regime

A: The woman in the picture (right) is very pretty.

B: I think she looks very ugly !

C: Who say the person is a woman? It's a man !

D: All of you are wrong. It's a cat.

E: No, no, no ... it's a tiger.

Forty six years after "defeating" Chin Peng ...

According to news reports, Amir Muhammad's Lelaki Komunis 'Terakhir' is now confirmed banned even after the Film Censorship Board, SB and MPs who have watched it see no reason why it should not be released, although some bigots who have not seen it insist that it is bad for everybody. Then, there was a dispute of whether it is the Cabinet or Umno Supreme Council which should have the final say.

Now, the question is, since the film is now banned, is it legal for any members of Umno's Supreme Council to watch it either in their private houses or in meetings in Wisma Umno? May be the next Umno Supreme Council meeting should be held in Bangkok, Singapore or Hong Kong where the legality of watching the film is assured.

Meanwhile, Amir has become the most famous Malay film maker in the outside world and most of the blogs which sell Sabun Cap Chin Peng, including Freedom in Solidarity, seem to have recorded marked increases in viewership. The ultimate truth on earth, however, remains that Chin Peng does not even appear in the film and his photographs are nowhere to be seen in the mainstream media :->

Pak Rashid's " mental revolution " in London

One dimension of veteran communist Rashid Maidin's character I intuitively liked when I met him for the first and only time so far was his terus-terang and street-wise sense of humour. For example, what I termed theori konspirasi, he just called it cerita hantu.

In his memoirs, Memoir Rashid Maidin - Daripada Perjuangan Bersenjata Kepada Perdamaian (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2006), he finds no difficulty at all in admitting that he did not mix with intellectuals in the prewar years because they mostly moved in towns while he was only a local labour activist around Batu Gajah (p. 17). That, according to him, was the reason why he was not a member of prewar Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM). In the very beginning of Chapter 1 of his memoirs, Rashid Maidin also without difficulty tells of how his orang tua or father came to Malaya from Indonesia in a wave of immigration, and finally ended up in Gopeng's Kampong Gunong Mesah where he was born in November 1917.

When he told me about his admiration and respect for his mentor Toh Lung San (杜龙山), I thought he merely tried to please me as a Chinese visitor in front of him.

But, I was wrong: Rashid later devoted the entire Chapter 3 of his memoirs to solemnly express his gratitude to Toh Lung San calling him "my true teacher in politics" and declaring him "the best son of the people of Malaya who had sacrificed his young life for the anti-Japanese struggle and the liberation of the people of Malaya" (p.14) When asked why he decided to learn English and Chinese, his very humble and straightforward answer was: "nak cari makan".

I think another very engaging part of his memoirs is his recollection of what he did and thought in his voyage to London in 1947 and during his stay in London itself. You must buy and read the memoirs to know how Rashid Maidin felt when his shoes were being literally polished by a white Briton and what was his secret thought when he saw there were ALSO white beggars in the City of London.

What did Tunku secretly tell Rashid Maidin in London? (in Chinese)
http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/42561

Rashid Maidin's memory of the anti-fascist war (in Chinese)
http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/38990

Why didn't Abdullah CD join Umno* at all ?

It is now crystal clear that the first modern political organisation that struggled against British colonialism was the Communist Party of Malaya which was founded in a rubber estate in Kuala Pilah on 30 April 1930, 16 years before the formation of the original Umno in Johor Baru on 11 May 1946. There were then Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) inaugurated in Kuala Lumpur in 1939 and Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM) formed in Ipoh on 17 October 1945.

One of the very important persons who was a member of the prewar KMM and founder of PKMM is Abdullah CD, the veteran communist who signed the 1989 Haadyai Peace Accords with the Government of Malaysia as the Chairman of the Communist Party of Malaya. He joined the Communist Party of Malaya in May 1945 together with his friend Seman in the latter's house in a kampong in Perak's Lambor. In his memoirs Memoir Abdullah CD (Bahagian Pertama): Zaman Pergerakan Sehingga 1948 (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2005), he recalls that the ceremony did not even need to be kept secret because at that time, the penghulu and the imam as well as the villagers in Lambor were all supportive of the party and its guerilla forces (p.55)

Abdullah CD also recalls that when he was first accepted as a CPM member in May 1945, there were already other Malays in the party like Rashid Maidin, Baharuddin Tahir, Osman, Mokhtaruddin, Khatijah Ali, Harun, Zulkifri Auni and Arshad Ashaari. So, while you are waiting for the ban of Amir's film to be lifted, why not buy and read Abdullah CD's memoirs to learn more facts and details ?

In fact, his latest memoir is only the first installment. A second one is being written. Also, he wrote two other books which are still available, viz Darurat Dan Kemerdekaan, 1948-1998 (Hong Kong, Nan Dao, 1998) and Perang Anti-British Dan Perdamaian (Hong Kong, Nan Dao, 1998). These two books are still relevant as antitodes to bodoh- sombong propaganda.

* "Umno" in this entry refers to the original Umno founded in 1946 which was declared an illegal organisation in a court verdict in 1988, not the present "Umno" which was registered in 1988 as Umno Baru.

History of the Malay Left
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/48827

A tale of two Malay communist memoirs
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/33401

Utusan-UKM lock horns over CPM memoirs
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/31784

Why did Abu Samah quit UMNO *, join CPM ?

Why did Abu Samah, a descendant of a great anti-colonial Malay hero Datuk Bahaman and the Umno* Youth chief of Pahang's Semantan branch as well as a committee member of the movement's Temerloh division, quit Umno* and join the Communist Party of Malaya in March 1948? Why did he take up arms to become a guerrilla after 20 June 1948 ? Why did he continue the fighting after 31 August 1957 until 2 December 1989?

To understand the circumstances in 1946-1948 and find out the reasons, you have to buy and read Abu Samah's memoirs Sejarah Dan Perjuangan Kemerdekaan (Hong Kong, Nan Dao, 1996).

It is still available in both its original Bahasa Malaysia and translated Chinese editions.

Abu Samah bin Mohamad Kassim, 80, is still alive in southern Thailand. We met on 20-21 February 2005.

* "Umno" in this entry refers to the original Umno founded in 1946 which was declared an illegal organisation in a court verdict in 1988, not the present "Umno" which was registered in 1988 as Umno Baru.

Abu Samah - the ex-British child soldier
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/35027

Abu Samah's alternative history of Merdeka (in Chinese)
http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/39779

Komunis Melayu warisan Bahaman
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/12781

Lubok Kawah: kampung kecil yang melahirkan pejuang besar
http://duridanapi.blogspot.com/2006/05/lubok-kawah-kampung-kecil-yang.html

A challenge to "Umno's" version of Merdeka history (in Chinese)
http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/40547

Who is afraid of The 'Last' Communist ?
http://lastcommunist.blogspot.com/2006/05/who-is-afraid-of-last-communist.html

A truly subversive movie now in CD, DVD

The Gods Must Be Crazy (I) is now available in CD and DVD. Think of the empty Coca-Cola bottle as Amir's Lelaki Komunis 'Terakhir' and all the parallels and similarities would strike your minds. Suddenly, you see similitudes of Berita Harian's "public" and spokesmen of "the people" cracking their heads to discover the real meanings and impacts of the empty bottle they've found in the desert.

Radzi: Umno to decide fate of The 'Last' Communist movie
http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=14186

Chin Peng honours memory of Sybil Kathigasu

I have just finished reading the 20-page essay by Chin Peng, The Papan Guerrillas and Mrs. K in a new 240-page book, Faces of Courage (Singapore, Media Masters, 2003) which he co-authors - once again - with Ian Ward and Norma Miraflor. While already freely available in Singapore since a few weeks ago, Faces of Courage has not been approved for release by the Home Ministry in Malaysia.

All the names of Ipoh's street Chin Peng mentions are certainly familiar and intimate to me because I was born and grew up in that part of the town.

Although Mrs. K or Madam Sybil Kathigasu passed away in Scotland 14 years before I was born in Ipoh in 1962, she has never been a strange or alien character to me because when I was very young, grandmother had taught me to be forever grateful to the Christian Eurasian woman who gave father free medicines and treatment while he was a sickly and poor young refugee in Papan.

The legend of her courage and dedication to help the oppressed and fight oppressors had also been an important part of my informal moral education around No.24, Clare Street during the early years of my character-formation.

I also remember Uncle Ho Thean Fook @ Moru as a occasional customer of our coffeeshop in the 1970s.

Despite the differences in belief-system, political philosophy, ethnic background and lifestyle, Madam Sybil Kathigasu obviously admired the courage of the communists who fought the fascists. She had always been respected by them. By remembering and honouring the sacrifice of the "incredibly God-fearing" woman, Chin Peng reaffirms the tradition of my old neighbourhood.

Last August, many grateful residents of Ipoh gathered at the Yok Choy Old Boys' Association to pay respect to the great Christian in conjunction with the launching of the Chinese-language translation of her wartime memoirs No Dram of Mercy as well as the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Japanese fascism and liberation of Ipoh.

Another 'Chin Peng book' held up
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/51364

Memoirs of Ipoh’s WWII heroine being reprinted
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/45452

May the name of Madam Sybil Kathigasu liveth forever more
http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/38385

In search of more dimensions of true history

One of the Berita Harian's racist and bodoh-sombong sophistries yang bukan-bukan against Amir Muhammad's internationally well-known semi-musical documentary Lelaki Komunis 'Terakhir' or The 'Last' Communist is that veteran communist Chin Peng is not a Malay hero ( in any case, the film which has been publicly screened and reviewed all over the world outside Malaysia does not even feature Chin Peng, either with interviews or images, at all ).

If this is the only 'reason', then the next 'logical' thing for Amir or other independent film directors or producers to do is to make movies with themes based on the memoirs of Abdullah CD, Rashid Maidin and Abu Samah who are still alive in southern Thailand. Veteran communist Abu Samah is a former Umno Youth leader in Temerloh in 1946-1948 and descendant of Pahang's anti-colonial aristocrat Datuk Bahaman Tok Noh.

The experiences of the anti-fascist and anti-colonial struggles, both peaceful and armed, of Abdullah CD, Rashid Maidin and Abu Samah are no less interesting and mind-opening than Chin Peng's.

From their narratives, one could derive more stories about, say, Ibrahim Chik, Kamarulzaman Teh, Mat Indera, Mat Amin @ Rosli and Abdullah Sudin. From them, one may even discover new information about former DPM Ghafar Baba and former Umno Wanita chief Aisha Ghani as well as the dark side of Dato' Onn Jaafar.

Although Samsiah Fakeh finally estranged herself from the CPM in late 1960s, her memoirs nevertheless are still more or less honest about the early stage of the anti-colonial armed struggle when the romantic girl from Kuala Pilah, like so many of her contemporary such as Maimun, Hitam, Asiah, Zahura, Aminah Hj. Hassan, Ropiah Mat Yatim and Siti Mariam was compelled by colonial perfidy and repression to retreat into the jungle of Pahang after 20 June 1948.

Last but not least, the stories of RG Balan, SA Ganapathy and P Veerasenam and what had happened to them are yet to be explored with more and greater details. Trade unionist SA Ganapathy, for example, was hanged by the colonial authorities on 4 May 1949 for allegedly in illegal possession for firearm but whether he indeed carried the firearm said to be in his possession illegally or whether death sentence was mandatory are still open to debate and re-examination.

Time-tested faith is invulnerable to calumny

Just finished sembang-sembang over the telephone with my sister Rachael on the Da Vinci Code film controversy.

Without much difficulty, we agree with each other that the controversial film should not be banned by any governments and mature Christians must not demand any governments to ban it, although it should be classified as being not suitable for children.

Rachael told me that she has even watched the fictional movie to laugh at the concoctions and distortions with contempt.

She said, the core beliefs of the Church has survived the persecution of Pagan Rome, barbarian invasion, internal schisms and many other challenges, including its own mistakes and errors, over the last 2000 years. There is no fear that the wild imagination of the writer and director of Da Vinci Code could undermine the time-tested and timeless message of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Again, I agree.

This was what I wrote in this blog on 12 February 2006 in response to a Muslim friend's question at the height of the worldwide controversy over the Danish cartoons:

Dear Mo,

Let me answer your question now.

What if my God is " insulted " ? My answer is clear and unapologetic: I believe my God is so self-confident, great and perfect that He cannot be insulted by any mortal human beings as well as His other creatures on earth even if they intend to do so and I trust He is so powerful and wise that, even if He really feels insulted, He alone knows best how - and when and where - to deal with those who insult Him. Moreover, I believe He is also merciful and forgiving enough not to punish any real (according to His own judgement which mortal human beings may not fully comprehend) offenders who have already said sorry.

Memoirs of a multi-dimensional communist

Do you know the most influential book that caused Suriani Abdullah aka Eng Ming Ching to become a communist was not Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto or Mao Zedong's On Contradiction, but the Chinese-language translation of American journalist Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China?

Do you know the former Ipoh MGS girl can write Bahasa Melayu not only in Rumi but also Jawi? Do you know she can play electronic organ and acted as the main character in the opera Swan Lake while she was a student? Do you know Jawaharlal Nehru visited Ipoh in 1946 and she represented the Communist Party of Malaya to deliver speeches to crowds in public rallies welcoming the leader of India's independence movement?

Do you know when she went into jungle again after the outbreak of the anti-colonial war in June 1948 and rejoined Abdullah CD's Malay guerilla unit in central Pahang, they mostly spoke to one another in English? Why?

What did Suriani and her husband Abdullah CD say or do when they met HRH Sultan Azlan Shah for two hours in a palace in Kuala Lumpur on 1 December, 1998?

Buy and read Setengah Abad Dalam Perjuangan - Memoir Suriani Abdullah (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2006) to explore more dimensions of a real, not tiruan, imaginary, hallucinatory or stereotyped, anti-fascist and anti-colonial fighter.

An evergreen quotable quote from Germany

" When the Nazis came for the Communists, I remained silent; I was not a Communist. When they locked up the Social Democrats, I remained silent; I was not a Social Democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews, I did not speak out; I was not a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out. "

Martin Niemöller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niemoeller

Telling a great story of Malaya in Singapore

(With new links added) On 5 September last year, I was in Singapore participating as a panel speaker at an international conference, organised by Nanyang Technological University's National Institute of Education and hosted by the Singapore History Museum, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. On the same panel with me (left) was history reseracher C.C. Chin (centre) as another speaker and Leon Comber (right) as the chair. I spoke on why the Ipoh-centred Kinta Valley became the center of the war of resistance to Japanese occupation after the fall of Singapore while C.C. Chin delivered a very comprehensive and systematic picture of the organisations and activities of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) throughout Peninsular Malaya.

One of my points of observation was that while the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore must take pride in the anti-fascist war, we must never forget that there were also Malays, Indians, Orang Asli and Eurasians who also participated in one form or another in the collective defence of our land and people. Of course, I brought alone the photographs I took with Abdullah C.D., Rashid Maidin, Suriani Abdullah and Abu Samah earlier in southern Thailand to illustrate or reinforce my points.

I was glad, and am still very grateful to, panel chair Leon Comber for his self-motivated willingness for recommending my book From Pacific War to Merdeka to the audience which consisted of many scholars from many countries like Japan, WWII veterans from Australia, Britain, China and India as well as history teachers from Singapore. The English-language booklet is a compilation of my interviews with veteran communists Abdullah C.D., Rashid Maidin, Suriani Abdullah aka Eng Ming Ching and Abu Samah who participated in the war of resistance.

Leon Comber, now a Research Fellow at Monash University's Asia Institute, was a Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking British Special Branch officer during the 'Emergency'. He was also attached to the British Army which returned to Malaya in Operation Zipper immediately after the war had ended. For older generations of Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore, Leon is remembered also as an ex-husband of leftwing English-language Chinese writer and close friend of Zhou Enlai, Madam Han Suyin (韩素音).

I also met Professor Wang Gungwu who delivered an opening speech for the conference. The Surabaya-born Professor Wang spent his childhood in Ipoh during the Japanese invasion and occupation. I have been reading his scholarly books and articles for many years to broaden the mind and reconnecting historical timeline. I also interviewed him several times for malaysiakini on the changing international relations of China and her neighbours in North East Asia.

Another scholar on Malaysian wartime history, Professor Yoji Akashi from Japan was also there. His works on the Malaysian wartime history always interest and thrill me because he masters a huge amount of materials from Japanese-language sources, including Kempetai records and dossiers. It seemed that he was not in good health when we met for the first time, although he was still very spirited in presenting new findings about Lai Te and Lim Bo Seng.

As the result of my presence at that conference, I have befriended many enthusiasts of wartime history of Malaysia and Singapore, including school teachers from Singapore, who still keep in touch with me through emails. Like it or not, Singapore has become an intellectually more honest, mature and open-minded society which is willing to patiently listen to and rationally discuss all sides of the great story.

Ex-IGP Rahim's happy hour with Chin Peng ...

After signing the 1989 Peace Accords on 2 December in Haadyai, former Deputy IGP (later IGP) Tan Sri Rahim Noor (right) seemed to have had happy hour with Chin Peng (left).

In a cocktail party, Abdullah C.D. (left) joined in. The face that appears directly behind Chin Peng (centre) belongs to Rashid Maidin.

Abdullah C.D, Chin Peng and Rashid Maidin signed the Peace Accords on behalf of the Communist Party of Malaya as its Chairman, Secretary-General and Central Committee Member respectively. Rahim Noor, among other signatories, signed on behalf of the Government of Malaysia as Deputy Inspector-General, Royal Malaysia Police. (see Kitti Ratanachaya., The Communist Party of Malaya, Malaysia And Thailand, Bangkok, Duangkaew, 1996)

Nine years later in 1998, Chin Peng accepted interviews with Malaysia's Chinese-language Sin Chew Jit Poh and UK's BBC.

In that year, he also went to Britain to conduct archival research on the 'Emergency' or Anti-Colonial Armed Struggle for the writing of his memoirs.

In 1999, Chin Peng became a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University (ANU). After his memoirs Alias Chin Peng: My Side of History has became a best seller in Malaysia and Singapore, he paid a three-day low-profile visit to Singapore and spoke at the Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) in October 2004. Last year, he filed his home-coming lawsuit at the Penang High Court.

Duri Dan Api
http://duridanapi.blogspot.com/

Dr. Farish Noor: Who is Afraid of The 'Last' Communist?
http://lastcommunist.blogspot.com/2006/05/who-is-afraid-of-last-communist.html