Umno’s version of history teaches us that Chin Peng was an enemy of the nation and thus has been banished. The irony of the matter is here is a freedom fighter who gave the best years of his life to the country to expel colonisers and invaders only to find himself being judged and deemed unsuitable and unworthy of returning to his home and to the country for which he put his life on the line.
Instead, we have a cadre of and generation of self-absorbed, over-inflated egos who could never fathom the meaning of the word sacrifice, let alone put their foot forward to genuinely serve the needs of the people, being self-righteous about judging Chin Peng. A man who was in the trenches fighting for our nation is being judged and deprived of his birth-right by some who have acted like political prostitutes by having sold-out the rights of large segments of the citizenry.
These political prostitutes – and the political pimps they have served – have done immeasurable harm to our nation socially, economically, and politically. Nevertheless, they remain empowered to exert the kind of arrogant contempt for one who should rightly be regarded a freedom fighter and a living legend.
Many of these power-obsessed politicians of today, born with a silver kris in their hands and a golden spoon in their mouths, and who wrap themselves up in the garb of a vile and toxic nationalistic rhetoric, lack any comprehension of the meaning of sacrifice for the good of the nation and its people.
Our politicians claim to want to put the saga with the CPM behind them; so they sign a “peace” agreement with Chin Peng and the CPM. Yet, the regime continues to shamelessly politicise the matter and milk the issue for its political mileage. If Chin Peng’s alleged actions were so treacherous and unforgiveable, why dignify the man and his principles by consummating a “peace” agreement with his movement? Surely a “peace” agreement with the CPM means this regime is intent on moving forward and healing past wounds. But I suppose we all know how problematic it can be to trust our politicians to live up to their commitments.
Of course there is no problem for our political prostitutes and pimps to get in bed with our former colonisers, because it serves their interests to do so. But they cannot do the right thing for taking the nation forward by showing to the people that they have it within them, despite differences, to move on for the greater good of the country.
In the words of the old freedom fighter himself, “It is better to let the people of Malaysia judge if I had done good or bad things to the country. Let the people make their own evaluation.”
Surely the words of the man himself provide a revealing glimpse into his character. And no matter his politics, I’m sure of one thing: Chin Peng has more integrity than the politicians who rant and rave, and who like to flaunt their pathetic and parochial-minded politics. The above words of that old freedom fighter are the kind you’d be hard-pressed to hear uttered by those who have been political prostitutes, pimps and plunderers of the nation.
One can only hope that we the rakyat have the audacity and good sense within us to judge Chin Peng fairly.
G. Krishnan
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