Wednesday November 25, 2009

Let’s not remain trapped in the past

I REFER to the article “So close and yet so far” by Eddie Chua and Foong Thim Leng in StarMag on Sunday, Nov 22, 2009, which contains a significant omission.

It mentions that Tunku Abdul Rahman and the then Chief Minister of Singapore, David Marshall, were present at the Baling Talks to negotiate with Chin Peng.

All photographs of the Baling talks show that my grandfather, the late Tun Tan Cheng Lock, was also present at the Baling talks. However, his name has been omitted from your article.

This omission is significant because, unlike Tunku Abdul Rahman and David Marshall, my grandfather was a victim of the communists’ violent tactics.

On April 10, 1949, two months after he formed the MCA, the communists threw a hand grenade at my grandfather in Ipoh. Although his shoulder was severely wounded and his shirt was soaked in blood, my grandfather survived this assassination attempt.

My father, the late Tun Tan Siew Sin, also received death threats from the communists. He had to visit the family’s rubber plantations escorted by the police. When my mother saw my father leave for work every morning, she said she never knew whether he would return home that evening.

Although he and his family were targeted by the Communists, my grandfather never held a personal grudge against them.

When the communists sent a letter to Tunku Abdul Rahman requesting a meeting – a request that led to the Baling Talks on Dec 28 and 29, 1955 – my grandfather readily agreed to meet the man who had probably masterminded his attempted assassination.

Furthermore, my grandfather was a humanitarian and a staunch follower of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. One of the central tenets of Confucius’ teachings is ancestral worship – the ritual of visiting the graves of ancestors, burning joss sticks and offering prayers and food.

Both my grandfather and father observed this ritual and both instilled in their children a belief in its overriding importance. When my father was a Cabinet minister, he seldom if ever failed to observe the 12 ancestral worship ceremonies each year.

For these reasons, I believe that if my grandfather were alive, he would argue that Chin Peng – given his recent apology to innocent victims – should be allowed to return to this country to visit his parents’ graves.

Admittedly, Chin Peng is unlikely to be a follower of Confucius. But his desire to visit his parents’ graves suggests a belated acknowledgement of his duty as a filial son.

Some may argue that allowing Chin Peng to return to this country – even if briefly to enable him to visit his parents’ graves – would dishonour the memory of the thousands from all ethnic groups who were either injured or killed during the Emergency.

The fact is that under the peace agreement the Government signed on Dec 2, 1989, with the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), out of 442 communists who applied to return to this country, 406 were allowed to do so, as Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusof said recently.

Chin Peng also submitted an application but failed to attend the interview fixed for Oct 31, 1992, the Deputy Minister added. That Chin Peng was called for an interview suggests the Government was prepared to consider his application and did not reject it outright.

Ex-CPM leaders like Abdullah C.D., Shamsiah Fakeh and Musa Ahmad have been allowed to return to this country, according to news reports. Their return – as well as those of the other 403 successful applicants – failed to trigger any significant storm of protest or criticism, either then or now.

Some may claim the 406 returnees were not involved in any terrorist activity. Given the fact that guerilla organisations like the CPM are notoriously lean, it is hard to believe that all 406 individuals allowed to return to this country were all non-combatants.

Furthermore, Malaysians’ magnanimity has also been extended to the Japanese. During the Japanese Occupation, unspeakable atrocities were inflicted on Malaysians, causing many to suffer from ill-treatment and torture while the death toll was high.

When then Crown Prince Akhito, now Emperor, visited this country, he was warmly welcomed even though the war was waged in the name of his father Emperor Hirohito. This admirable approach should be extended to all those who have hurt Malaysians in the past.

Malaysians should also emulate the example set by South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. When he became the first black president of post-apartheid South Africa, his main priority was reconciliation with South African whites rather than prosecuting past leaders of the apartheid regime.

Although Mandela is now lionised worldwide, it is often forgotten that in the early 1960s he was often demonised as a communist and a terrorist. He was the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC, whose acts at times resulted in civilian casualties.

Like Mandela, Malaysians should look forward to the future – rather than remain trapped in the past – and allow an 85-year-old man to return to pay his respects to his parents’ graves.

TAN SIOK CHOO,

Kuala Lumpur.

News Poll

Latest Jobs from Star-Jobs

Latest from StarProperty