ormer police chief Abdul Rahim Noor said the return of Chin Peng's ashes to Malaysia should not be an issue because the Communist Party of Malaya is no longer a threat.
He told Malaysiakini that CPM's struggle had been over since the party signed the Hat Yai Peace Accord with the government in December 1989, ending its 21 years of armed struggle.
He said the peace agreement itself showed that the country wanted to let bygones be bygones and move forward after peace was achieved.
Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua, was the secretary-general of CPM until it laid down its arms in 1989. He died in Thailand in 2013.
Rahim, who was directly involved in the peace accord then, as the chief of the police Special Branch, said the terms of the peace treaty also allowed all CPM leaders to return to Malaysia, including Chin Peng. However, he said, it was the decision of Chin Peng and several other senior CPM leaders not to return.
