PUTRAJAYA, July 27 – One of the last surviving members of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), Chin Peng, has failed again in his latest bid to clear his name in court but his lawyers vowed to continue fighting for justice for the aged ex-guerilla fighter.
The Court of Appeal here dismissed today the 85-year-old ex-CPM secretary-general’s bid to collect damages from the Malaysian government for alleged slander.
The panel of three judges unanimously ruled that the federal government did not breach the conditions of a 1989 peace agreement that saw the end of a decades-long insurgency in the country when it allowed the publication of statements describing him as a “terrorist communist”.
“We have closely scrutinized this particular Item of the Administrative Arrangement but we are unable to accept that Item 1.2 provided for the non-publication of all manner of slander, rather, we find Item 1.2 only limited to the non-publication of words to the effect of ‘mass surrender’ and ‘capitulation’,” Court of Appeal judge Datuk Sulong Mat Jerai said in his ruling.
The exiled Chin Peng has maintained that Item 1.2 of the lengthily-named “Administrative Arrangement Between The Government Of Malaysia And The Communist Party Of Malaya Pursuant To The Agreement To Terminate Hostilities”, was intended to safeguard the reputation of CPM members in their voluntary laying down of arms 21 years ago.
The particular item of the one-page document states: “All press statements issued by either Party thereafter shall be in the spirit of the Agreement and shall not contain any slanderous terms such as ‘mass surrender’ and ‘capitulation’.”
One of Chin Peng’s team of lawyers, Chan Kok Keong, told The Malaysian Insider, they plan to take the case up to the Federal Court, but will need to file for leave first.
Chan added that he has not yet conveyed today’s ruling to Chin Peng, now residing in Thailand, but will do so soon.
Born Ong Boon Hua, Chin Peng, had first filed to sue the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government in 2005 for making him out to be a ruthless villain, but lost at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur last September.
The Sitiawan-born man who sees himself as a freedom fighter against colonial British rule wants Putrajaya to stop painting him as the bad guy.
