4,700 in 43 years versus 100,000 in 3 years

4,700 people, Malaysians as well as foreigners, died in 43 years of The Malayan Emergency. What the government calls the CTs (Communist Terrorists) who started the war would of course be considered evil although the CPM (Communist Part of Malaya) would argue that it was not a war of aggression but a war of independence from Britain.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

IGP: many died at the hands of Communist Terrorists

A total of 1,437 police personnel died while another 1,883 were injured during the 43 years the communists terrorised the country, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar.

In addition, 639 soldiers died and another 1,697 were injured while 2,558 members of the public were killed and 1,490 others were injured, raising the total number of those killed to 4,688 and while those injured were 5,070.

"They had died while defending the sovereignty of the country from communist threat during that time," he told reporters at Bukit Aman, here today.

He said this when criticising the statement by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu who claimed that the communist terrorists who attacked and killed police personnel during the Bukit Kepong tragedy were the real heroes in the struggle for the country's independence.

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It is good that we remember those who died for their country. Many, in fact, are dying for their country in Iraq and Afghanistan even as you read this. And many of those dying are innocent non-combatants like women, children and old folks.

To the ‘Allied Forces’, of course, these are traitors and terrorists and their family members who also died are, unfortunately, ‘collateral damage’ -- but ‘necessary’ deaths in wars such as these. However, to those who died and their family members who now need to mourn their deaths, they are patriots who were martyred in the defense of their homeland.

Nevertheless, whether the US is the defender of freedom or the invader of a sovereign nation is a matter of interpretation. The butcher and the slaughtered cow would never come to an agreement on the matter either. So how can we expect the slaughtered citizens and the slaughterer of the citizens to also agree?

Ultimately, the winner decides what to call it. And the now united Vietnam of what was once North and South Vietnam would write their history books accordingly. And you can bet that the American and Vietnamese versions of history would not agree on what to call the Vietnam War -- a war of aggression or a war of independence.

4,700 people, Malaysians as well as foreigners, died in 43 years of The Malayan Emergency. What the government calls the CTs (Communist Terrorists) who started the war would of course be considered evil although the CPM (Communist Part of Malaya) would argue that it was not a war of aggression but a war of independence from Britain.

But that is for historians to decide and since the CPM lost then the victors would decide what to call it. If the CPM had won, it would have been called something else altogether, of course.

While we remember and mourn the 4,700 who died over 43 years during The Malayan Emergency, what do we want to do about the 100,000 who died over three years during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya?

Japan too, just like the CPM, claims that they did not embark on a war of aggression but were trying to free Malaya from British colonial rule. But Japan, just like the CPM, also lost the war. And they killed many more people in three years compared to the Communists in 43 years.

It is good we condemn the CPM and the militant arm of the CPM, the CTs. After all, 4,700 died because of them over a period of 43 years. But why do we not also condemn the Japanese when because of them 100,000 people died in just three years?

Japan is now our friend. Why? Is it because they surrendered and signed a peace treaty so the 100,000 deaths can now be forgiven? The CPM also surrendered and signed a peace treaty. But they are not forgiven.

The British too killed many people when they colonised Malaya for almost 200 years. Many of these people killed were freedom fighters who opposed British colonial rule. And many were innocent non-combatants like women, children, old folks and villagers.

Somehow, the British and Japanese have been forgiven even though they killed more people than the CTs did. But the CPM is not forgiven. We have buried the hatchet when it comes to Britain and Japan. We refuse to do the same when to comes to the CPM.

This is what I fail to comprehend. And why is the US and their allies still our friend when they invade sovereign nations and kill its citizens in numbers that far exceeds what the CPM did? This, I also can’t seem to understand.