I found this artical in "News from Malasia" on line



Veterans fight for Malaysia medal
Posted by Admin on 2 May 2006 4:30 am. Filed under News.
Veterans fight for Malaysia medal
ic Lanarkshire.co.uk, UK - 16 hours ago Thousands of soldiers who risked their lives in Borneo 40 years ago have been awarded the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM), or Malaysian Service Medal.

All Readers......Iceni sent me an e-mail with the following attachement...for which I thank him!!!...this inspired the following 'Letter to the Editor'....Daily Telegraph readers please keep your eyes peeled and see if we 'make it into print'...OK?
'Jock'
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London Daily tTelegraph.

Malaysia bans film on 1950s rebel chief
By Sebastien Berger in Georgetown
(Filed: 12/05/2006)

Malaysia has banned a film about the leader of the Communist
insurgents during the emergency of the 1950s, the distributors said
yesterday.

Chin Peng, now 82, was the secretary-general of the Communist Party
of Malaya throughout the 12-year Malaya emergency, which saw
thousands of deaths before his dream of an independent people's
republic collapsed.

His memoirs were the basis of The Last Communist, a musical
documentary about his struggle against British rule.

"They are banning us from disseminating, distributing, screening and
exhibiting the movie," said a spokesman for Red Films. The home
ministry said the decision was taken in the public interest, even
though the censorship board had approved it.

The emergency cost more than 11,000 lives. Almost 2,500 civilians
were murdered, the security forces lost 2,000, most of them members
of the Malaya police, and more than 6,500 Communists were killed.

For years, Chin was the most wanted man in the British Empire. At the
height of the emergency in 1951 Britain's high commissioner, Sir
Henry Gurney, was assassinated in an ambush. By 1957, the British had
taken the heart out of the rebellion, which ended in 1961 as Chin
fled to southern Thailand.

Malaysia's current information minister, Zainuddin Maidin, said: "
You must remember Chin Peng is the enemy of the people of Malaysia.
He was a brutal man."

Chin, who is still in exile, is suing Malaysia for the right to go
home to die, in accordance with a peace treaty finally signed in 1989.

His lawyer, Darshan Singh Khaira, accused the government of delaying
tactics in an effort to drag the case out until his client dies.


Letter to The Editor:

Sir,

Sebastien Berger's informative piece describes Malaysian censorship of a film on the life of the former rebel chieftain Chin Peng.

Is there not a delicious irony in the fact, that simultaneously, the UK Government is denying 35000 Malaya veterans the right to wear the medal that a grateful Malaysian Agong, Government and Peoples have awarded them "in recognition of their "distinguished chivalry, gallantry, sacrifice and loyalty to the freedom of independence of Malaysia." by defeating Chin Peng's aims and objectives?

Those veterans, all now in their 60's and 70's, have been advised by Her Majesty's Government, that while they may accept the Pingat Jasa Malaysia, they are not permitted to actually wear it.

One wonders, which form of censorship is the most pernicious?

John 'Jock' Fenton.
(Ex- Royal Corps of Signals & 17th Gurkha Division


_________________
...................'Jock'
Paroi...Rasah...Batu Signals Troop.

'Jock' Fenton wrote:

One wonders, which form of censorship is the most pernicious?

Indeedy!

I 'studied' Chin Peng. I chased him when he went to Thailand. I knew him for what he was – an evil man, a murderer, seeking to destroy Malaysia and all it stood for ... freedom and independence … for his own selfish purposes.

I watched him on tele a few months ago. He has not changed at all. But neither have the privileged elite in this country whom we protected from him.

It is to be regretted that the British HD Committee is playing straight into his hands by being seen to be precisely the fuel to fire his tormented and out-dated dogma. But their dogma is no different to his. Dogma is dogma. The most dangerous of religions in this most dangerous of worlds. The HD Committee are saying our victory over Chin Peng (remember he formally surrendered - before fleeing (allowed to leave?) - so it was a victory) was for nothing. It was worthy only of a souvenir - something to be picked up, after a bit of bartering, in Change Alley.

Chin Peng will be laughing all the way to his next media spotlight thanks to this HD Committee PJM decision. Because the recommendations seem to imply that he was right. The British Imperial Honours System has only the privileged at heart. Not the ordinary man in the street who, whenever asked, will put his life on the line for the very institution that now seeks to stab him in the back.

Barry


_________________
BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia

Quote:

Because the recommendations seem to imply that he was right. The British Imperial Honours System has only the privileged at heart. Not the ordinary man in the street who, whenever asked, will put his life on the line for the very institution that now seeks to stab him in the back.

Barry......I still have a fair amount of scar tissue that is forced to agree with you on that!


_________________
...................'Jock'
Paroi...Rasah...Batu Signals Troop.

George F wrote:

Mohd Anwar said this to reporters after presenting the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) to 42 former members of the Royal Australian Regiment who served in Malaya during the Emergency.
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=202341

George,

Very well spotted, nothing gets passed you.

I believe the Australian veterans are attending a remembrance ceremony at Batu Gajah (God's Little Acre), Ipoh, on Saturday, 10th. June, 2006, and no doubt this presentation at Butterworth has been done with this in mind. They will no doubt be proudly wearing their PJM whilst honouring all the Commonwealth Forces who lost their lives fighting for freedom and justice and I say to the British Establishment 'go hang your heads in shame you worthless lot'.

George F wrote:

mcDangle, it looks like the first news report got 42 ADF vets mixed up with 42 RAAF vets

RAAF men return for medals 09 Jun 2006 By S. Arulldas
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUTTERWORTH: It was a nostalgic trip for a group of Royal Australian Air Force veterans who returned here after 40 years.

The 42 RAAF servicemen and their spouses were here to receive the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) award in recognition of their services defending the country during the Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Friday/National/20060609075735/Article/index_html

George, I think the first report, Bernama, was probably correct and the NST reporter might have got his/her wires crossed and assumed, that as they were visiting Butterworth, all were ex-RAAF personel.

The anti-aircraft unit at RAAF Butterworth, which one of the visitors seems to have belonged to, was an Australian Army unit.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/National/2567202/Article/index_html


_________________
Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka,
from the HD Committee and its decision.

Very interesting, especially if you Google 'Chin Peng' and find that he has recently had published two books..."My Side Of The Story," and, "Dialogues With Chin Peng; New Light On The Malayan Communist Party."

All I can say about the bloke, based on my time in Malaya....1957-59 is that to most civilians of the various nationalities he was the Bogey Man, just as Hitler had been to me in my childhood. His tactics were to literally terrorise by foul means such as banging six inch nails into the heads of village headmen (excuse the pun) rather than just shoot them, etc, etc. He claims to have been an advocate of socialism, a cause I still adhere to, but he was just a nasty sod who hoped to impose Russian Communism onto the people he now wants to...."Come home to." I say this after a period of 52 years and maybe I am wrong to say it....but I still remember the fear Chin Peng's name evoked amongst the grandparents of Malaysia's now safe citizens in the land we PJMers helped to survive. Perhaps Mr Chin Peng would be happier spending the rest of his life in North Korea.


_________________
Mike Barton

John F, sorry, I missed that article.

Mike, the book "Dialogues with Chin Peng" is an account of a workshop held at The Centre for the Study of the Chinese Southern Diaspora, Australian National University, Canberra, on 22 - 23 February 1999. It is edited by C C Chin and Karl Hack and is a better book than the one put together by Chin Peng and his two co-authors, 'Chin Peng, My Side of History'.

Well worth a read if you can get hold of a copy. Mine was published by the Singapore University Press and the ISBN is: 9971-69-287-2.

Thanks for the info, Laurie. I shall look into possibly finding a copy.


_________________
Mike Barton