‘No law to bar Chin Peng’s ashes from returning home’

Legal experts say his family can claim the cremated remains of the former Communist Party of Malaya chief as an individual property under the common law and the government can't stop them.

PETALING JAYA: The is no law to bar the cremated remains of Chin Peng from being brought into the country, legal experts said today.

They said the family of the former Communist Party Malaya leader can bring his ashes into the country as it would be deemed as individual property of the family and that the government had no legal rights to interfere in this process.

PKR vice president and human rights lawyer N. Surendran said cremated ash of a person is not a recognised part of the human body, hence the government cannot site any law to block the remains from being brought into Malaysia.

“If it is the whole body, then they can block it under the Customs or Immigration Acts because it gives rise to biological and identity issues.

“But they cannot stop ashes from being brought in. It is an individual property, it belongs to the family. I don’t see any legal right for the government to block it,” he said.

Chin, the former Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general died in-exile at a Bangkok hospital yesterday. He was 90.

In an immediate reaction, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said that Chin Peng’s remains will not be allowed into Malaysia because of the atrocities he created during the height of communist insurgency in the 1960s and 1970s.

Following this, the Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said all border checkpoints are being watched to ensure Chin’s remains is not smuggled-in.

Commenting on the matter, Bar Council immediate past president Lim Chee Wee said he is unaware of any legal prohibition in transporting ashes from overseas to Malaysia.

“The ashes can be claimed as an individual property based on common law,” he said.

A legal expert in the funeral industry echoed the argument, but she cautioned that the “treatment” that is to be received by Chin’s family could be different since the government has come out with such a ruling.

She however said the family could bring in Chin Peng’s remains by many ways since it is only ashes.

“They can claim that it is only powder…they can bring it in their luggage, who can tell?” she said.

According to the normal procedure, Malaysian citizen who dies in foreign country has to apply for a permit with the Malaysian embassy to transport the remains to Malaysia.

The remains or ashes of an individual would be allowed for burial should the family produced the certificate of death from the doctor.