KUCHING: The Home Ministry is in a bind over what law to use against any individual(s) who carts back the cremated ashes of communist leader Chin Peng, who died in Thailand, into Malaysia.
According to Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, there is no law which could stop the ashes of Chin Peng from being brought across the Malaysian border and immigration checkpoints.
“I really discourage any attempts to bring the ashes into Malaysia as it might spark the communism ideology,” he said when met by reporters at the Sarawak Islamic Complex yesterday.
He also said that certain individuals were quick to take advantage of Chin Peng’s death to gain political mileage by questioning the government’s pre-emptive effort to discourage the bringing of the cremated ashes into the country.
Among the remarks and comments, said Wan Junaidi, is the racial profiling of Chin Peng which was said to have determined the decision of the government on how to deal with his cremated ashes.
“This is not a question of race. Chin Peng is a communist leader and any other race will also face the same fate and treatment,” said Wan Junaidi who is also Santubong MP.
In an unrelated event, Wan Junaidi said the recent meeting on Trans Border Crime held in Laos and attended by home ministers from the Asean region looks very promising.
He said among the crimes discussed during the meeting were human trafficking, smuggling and cyber crimes.
“To prove the strong cooperation among the countries, Japan and South Korea have agreed to lend their expertise and technologies to curb cyber crimes within the Asean region,” he said. He also said South Korea and China had also agreed to provide and develop another source of income for countries within the Asean golden triangle which depends on drugs to sustain their economy.