PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will not be attending a ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Haadyai Peace Agreement purportedly organised by Chin Peng and his representatives.

 

PKR secretary-general Datuk Sallehuddin Hashim said this yesterday in response to speculation in the Malaysian blogosphere as to whether or not the former deputy prime minister would attend the ceremony.

This follows the emergence of a letter, purportedly signed by Chin Peng and addressed to the party secretary-general. The invitation said the ceremony will be held on Nov 30 from 4pm to 8.30pm at the Lee Gardens Hotel in Haadyai, Thailand. The ceremony is to commemorate the signing of the peace  treaty on Dec 2, 1989, by the governments of Malaysia and Thailand and the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

Yesterday, Malay Mail spoke to the organisers whose contact numbers were on the invitation card.

Representative A Kinghud Sae Ang said invitations were sent out to several people in Malaysia, including the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak;  Anwar; the Malaysian representatives who signed the peace treaty 20 years ago, former Inspector-General of Police Tan  Sri Rahim Noor; and two or three of Chin Peng’s lawyers.

His colleague , Visarn Pichienphati said: “Mr Anwar has agreed to attend.” He however could not say whether Anwar would be personally attending or if he would be represented by someone else.

Sallehuddin said that he had not received the invitation  despite being the person to whom the letter was  purportedly addressed.

He expressed outrage at what he said could be “a piece of fiction perpetrated by those whose goal is to create an image of Anwar suited to their intentions and spun by willing cahoots in the free media”.

“I have spoken to Anwar and he confirmed that he did not get in touch with anyone from Thailand. The matter isn’t about whether he wants to go or not. How can he confirm with the organiser when he has not heard about this (the invitation) before?” said Sallehuddin.

Umno information chief Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said that no such invitation was extended to Umno.

“We did not receive any invitation from Chin Peng. Even if we did, we will not accept it as the CPM is not an entity but an illegal movement. Furthermore, it  has committed a lot of atrocities in the country so why should we bother?” he said.

Chin Peng’s request to return to Malaysia has been met with hostility by several quarters for the brutality the communist party displayed during the Emergency.

On June 3, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop was reported saying that Chin Peng had his chance to return to Malaysia during a repatriation exercise in 1990 for ex-communists, following the signing of the ceasefire agreement in 1989.

However the MCP secretarygeneral missed the opportunity as he did not attend an interview set on Oct 31, 1992.

Since then, Chin Peng did not make any application and instead went to court to determine his citizenship.

His fight to return was overturned by the Federal Court on April 30 as he could not  produce his birth certificate or citizenship to prove he was of Malaysian origin. Chin Peng, 85,  also known as Ong Boon Hua, is in Thailand, where he has been residing since 1989.