Chin Peng’s Remains Finally Brought Back To Malaysia: Chinese Win, Malays Lose

Actually, the Chinese do not really care about Chin Peng. But bringing Chin Peng’s remains home to Malaysia symbolises Chinese victory over the Malays. For years the Malays blocked Chin Peng and then blocked his remains from being brought back to Malaysia. And now that his remains have been brought back, that means the Chinese won and the Malays lost.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It has been the vision and mission of Attorney-General Tommy Thomas — first to get the government to allow Chin Peng to return to Malaysia and later, after Chin Peng died, to bring back his remains to Malaysia.

Well, that was done quietly two months ago on 16th September 2019 without any fanfare or public ceremony because they “did not want to cause any issues”, reported The Star. (16th September is Malaysia Day and Chin Peng opposed the creation of Malaysia).

Hence, they knew that bringing Chin Peng’s remains home is controversial and would “cause issues”, especially on Malaysia Day. That is why they did it secretly and are only telling the public now, more than two months later.

Why even bother announcing it? Since it is controversial and would cause issues, why not just keep it a secret? After all, no one would know if they did not announce it. And even if the secret is leaked and it becomes an issue, just deny it. Since the remains have been scattered all over Perak there would be no evidence anyway. It is not like there is a body buried in a grave.

This symbolises a Chinese victory over the Malays and proves Pakatan Harapan is not Malay-controlled

Chai Kan Fook, the leader of the committee handling Chin Peng’s remains, said, “We are only informing the public now just to let people know what we have done.” The Star added that the former Barisan Nasional government had said they would not allow Chin Peng’s ashes to be brought back to Malaysia.

So there you have it. They want to make it known that the previous Umno-led Barisan Nasional government barred Chin Peng’s remains from being brought back to Malaysia while the current DAP-led Pakatan Harapan government has done the opposite. Hence the bottom line is Pakatan is good while Barisan is bad: at least to the Chinese.

According to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Chinese are angry with Pakatan Harapan because they have the impression that the Malays and not the Chinese control Pakatan Harapan. So now they need to announce, although more than two months later, that Chin Peng’s remains have been brought back to Malaysia.

This would have not been possible without the help of Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, Chin Peng’s lawyer

So, the message they are sending out is: what more evidence do you need that the Chinese and not the Malays control Pakatan Harapan? And with DAP raising the freehold land for Chinese in Perak issue, this shows that the Pakatan Harapan government is very much Chinese controlled and not Malay controlled as some may think.

Yes, Pakatan Harapan needs to play up more Chinese issues to get the Chinese to swing back after the disaster in the Tanjung Piai by-election. The banning of Jawi in Chinese schools, the conversion of TOL land to freehold land in Chinese villages, bringing back Chin Peng’s remains, etc., are just some of the “Chinese issues” aimed at winning back the hearts and minds of the Chinese.

But then how will this affect the support of the Malays? Would the Malays see Pakatan Harapan as too Chinese and will this cause them to swing to Muafakat Nasional?

Mahathir henchman Shahidan Kassim wants PPBM, Umno and PAS to form a new government minus the Chinese DAP

Currently they need to work on the non-Malay support first. Once they can get back 97-98% Chinese support and 80-85% Indian support they can work on the Malays. The Malays are more badly divided with Umno, PPBM, PAS, PKR, Amanah and a few other splinter parties slugging it out so it is a bit more complicated than the Chinese-Indian issue.

Shahidan Kassim, a known Mahathir henchman, wants Umno, PPBM and PAS to form a new coalition. That may still not be good enough to take over the government unless PKR (or at least half of PKR) together with Sabah and Sarawak join this new coalition.

One way would be to try to get Parliament to endorse Mahathir to serve a full term until GE15 expected around mid-2023. If that rumour is true and it happens, then Shahidan’s proposed Muafakat Nasional of Umno, PPBM, PAS, PKR, Sabah and Sarawak may happen. Then it would not really matter what the Chinese and Indians do or do not do.

Actually, the Chinese do not really care about Chin Peng. But bringing Chin Peng’s remains home to Malaysia symbolises Chinese victory over the Malays. For years the Malays blocked Chin Peng and then blocked his remains from being brought back to Malaysia. And now that his remains have been brought back, that means the Chinese won and the Malays lost.