Cops on alert for return of Chin Peng's remains

Within hours of the death of former Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng in Bangkok yesterday, the police in Malaysia were on alert to prevent his remains from being returned to the country.

Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said all checkpoints are being watched to ensure that his body is not smuggled in.

"All entry points into Malaysia monitored and men alert to prevent  remains of Chin Peng to enter the country," he said in a Twitter posting late last night.

Khalid also locked horns with other Twitter users over his insistence that the remains being repatriated, saying that Chin Peng was responsible for the death of many police and army personnel during the Emergency.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng had pointed out that Sulu intruders from the Philippines, who had killed nine members of the Malaysian security forces during their incursion into Sabah early this year, had been buried in the state.

To this, Khalid replied: "We will exhume the Sulu terrorist bodies when there are claimants to it. That is the arrangement.”

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak yesterday ruled out that Chin Peng's remains would be allowed to be buried in Malaysia.

Chin Peng's comrade Fang Shan had said that it was the wish of the deceased that his ashes should be buried in his hometown of Setiawan, Perak.

However, Home Minsiter Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said even his ashes would not be allowed on Malaysian soil.