Lawyer: Chin Peng ashes dispute 'not a legal matter'

The dispute over whether Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general Chin Peng’s ashes should be allowed into Malaysia is “not a legal matter”.

“Why should it be? Look at whether or not there is a threat to security to a nation or person. What is the primary reason for any bar?” lawyer Yaw Wai Leong asked.

Met at Chin Peng’s wake in Bangkok today, Yaw, however declined to give his legal opinion over what the family can do following the bar by the Malaysian authorities.

He said that this is because the deceased’s family had not sought his legal advice.

Yaw (right) also stressed he is speaking in his personal capacity and not as part of the legal team led by Raja Abdul Aziz Addruse who fought the case for Chin Peng to be allowed to return to Malaysia.

Chin Peng - whose real name is Ong Boon Hua - lost the case in 2008 when he failed to show the Court of Appeal identifying documents to prove his citizenship.

Yesterday, Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar reportedly said that there is no law barring the ashes of Chin Peng from entering Malaysia.

However, the government has taken the stand not to allow them in as it fears that supporters will build a shrine where his ashes are interred.

Wan Junaidi, who fought the communists as a police officer in Sarawak during the Emergency, said the fear is that this will spark a revival of communism in Malaysia.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak earlier said that Chin Peng’s family can sue the government if they are not satisfied.

Chin Peng will be cremated tomorrow at the Wat That Thong temple in Bangkok, where he died in exile on Sept 16.