Chin Peng is dead, but the debate carries on

Teoh El Sen
September 17, 2013 13:15 MYT

A day has passed since the death of Chin Peng, the former Malayan Communist Party(MCP) leader who was once dubbed ‘Public Enemy No.1’.

However, intense and emotional reactions continued, with comments describing the deceased 90-year-old two polar opposites: from a hated villain to a national hero.

According to political analyst Ibrahim Suffian, it is believed that the majority of Malaysians reject the character who the government holds responsible for the killing of thousands of civilian and servicemen during the time of the country’s Emergency.

However, Ibrahim also stressed that Malaysians must confront history from all angles in order to move on.

“I think we should move on from looking at history from one perspective, the prevalent version of history. I think the nation is ready to have debate on various issues, ” Ibrahim told Astro AWANI.

Ibrahim said that while Chin Peng was seen in the context of the Emergency, “he also did a whole bunch of other things.”

“Now that he is not there anymore, it is an interesting project for historians to study what else is missing from the official narrative,” he said.

Asked if this was a dangerous proposition, Ibrahim replied in the negative. He explained that “communism is dead” and such a study was purely academic and should not be politicised. “nobody believes that communism can solve society’s problems. If we can’t confront May 13, at least we can confront the Emergency and how it contributed to the end of colonialism.”

“I’m not saying that what had happened, needs to be watered down, as we went through very dark days of the emergency. But things should be seen in full light, why things happen and so on,” he said, saying that such discourse would build “national confidence”.

However, Ibrahim’s views are not shared by all analysts or academicians. Prof Datuk Zainal Kling, who heads the history, heritage and socio-culture cluster in the National Professors Council, said that such a person should simply be “rejected outright”

“We reject this person. He has gone against the Malay states. He was the one who wanted to destroy the Malay government through war. Those are facts,” said Zainal.

“He wanted this country to become a communist state subservient to China, to destroy what the Malay kings had built.”

He further said: “That’s not an anti-colonialism fight but neo-colonialism. You can call it ‘out from the crocodile’s mouth, into the tiger’s’. He never contributed, but was in fact trying to rob us of our powers, even after Merdeka,” he added.

Political analyst professor Datuk Mohammad Agus Yusoff said that history cannot be erased, and Chin Peng has both brought good and bad to the country.

"How do we remember Chin Peng? As something good or otherwise?"

"One thing is clear to me, before Merdeka, MCP had its role in fighting for the country's independence, but after the Baling talks, it became a group that created a black mark in our history. That's all," Mohammad Agus said.

He said that there is no need to control the discussion:"Not that we talk about CPM, people will be communists. Nothing wrong with reviewing history and look at the role and struggle of CPM, the conclusion can always be debated, and we can agree to disagree."

On social media, the debate is no less divided. "Chin Peng" continued to be a 'trending' topic in Malaysia:

Cukuplah menjadikan Chin Peng itu modal politik murahan semata2.Carilah modal politik yg lain yg boleh menunjukkan perbezaan dengan kita.
— Djebat (@jebat_icon) September 17, 2013