Monday, September 16, 2013

Death of a one time adversary...




Chin Peng, Malaysian Rebel, Dies at 88
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: September 16, 2013

Chin Peng, a Communist guerrilla leader whose tenacious, bloody struggles for an independent Communist Malaysia pitted him against Japanese invaders, British colonialists and finally the government of what had become his own newly sovereign nation, died in exile on Monday in Bangkok. He was 88.

Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, said the cause was cancer, quoting a retired Thai military commander who had acted as a liaison between Mr. Chin and the authorities. Mr. Chin had lived in Thailand for many years.

Mr. Chin was the last surviving revolutionary leader to have successfully fought for independence from colonial rulers in Asia after World War II — a cohort that included Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Sukarno in Indonesia, Aung San in Burma (now Myanmar) and Norodom Sihanouk in Cambodia. When he finally laid down his arms in 1989, Mr. Chin was called “the world’s senior surviving guerrilla.”

Chin Peng was the nom de guerre of Ong Boon Hua, who had joined with the British to battle Japanese troops after they invaded what was then British Malaya in 1941. His honors for heroism included the Order of the British Empire.

But after the war, as the newly named head of Malaya’s Communist Party, he ordered an armed insurrection against the British colonial rulers, and when Malaya became independent of Britain in 1957, the insurgency morphed into a fight against the new government.

(Malaysia, consisting of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore, came into being in 1963. Singapore became independent of Malaysia in 1965.)

“I suppose I am the last of the region’s old revolutionary leaders,” Mr. Chin wrote in his 2003 memoir, “My Side of History. “It was my choice to lead from the shadows, away from the limelight.”

He may not have actually had a choice. By the mid-1950s, the British had effectively put down the Communist offensive, although a final peace agreement would not be signed until 1989. Mr. Chin disappeared, although his voice was heard on broadcasts of the clandestine Malaysian Revolution Radio. Then he fell silent, and it was assumed that years of living in the jungle had taken their final toll on him.

It turned out that in 1960 he fled to China, the principal backer of the Malaysian Communists, who themselves were mainly ethnic Chinese. He later moved to Thailand. After the 1989 peace pact, he tried to return to Malaysia but was refused entry.

Ong Boon Hua was reported to have been born on Oct. 21, 1924, in the Malaysian state of Perak. His father, an immigrant from Fujian Province in southeast China, made a good living selling and repairing bicycles, and sent him to English-language schools, where he excelled. Attracted to Communism as a means of fighting prejudice against Chinese-Malayans, he joined party youth organizations at 15.

Soon he left school and went to work for the party, which assigned him to lead three anti-Japanese organizations for students, teachers and shop assistants. After the Japanese invaded in December 1941, he became a liaison to British commandos. The Associated Press reported in 1989 that John Davis, a British officer, said of him, “Unusual ability, and commanded the natural respect of men without fuss or formality.”

After the war, Lai Teck, secretary general of the Malayan Communist Party, fled with most of its money after collaborating with both the Japanese and the British. Mr. Chin was placed in charge of investigating him, and was appointed to replace him in 1948 at age 24.

He ordered an armed struggle, perhaps on instructions from Moscow, and began by attacking two rubber plantations and methodically executing three planters. Twelve years of violence, which came to be known as the Malayan Emergency, ensued. A $250,000 reward was offered for information leading to Mr. Chin’s capture.

At the height of the conflict, some 70,000 British, Australian, New Zealand, Fijian, Gurkha and other British Commonwealth troops fought about 10,000 guerrillas. More than 10,000 fighters and civilians died between 1948 and 1960. Britain rescinded the Order of the British Empire it had granted him.

“I make no apologies for seeking to replace such an odious system with a form of Marxist socialism,” Mr. Chin wrote. “Colonial exploitation, irrespective of who were the masters, Japanese or British, was morally wrong.”

In 1955, Mr. Chin emerged from the jungle to negotiate with Malayan officials at a schoolhouse near the Thai-Malay border. Talks broke down after Malayan negotiators refused Mr. Chin’s demand to be part of a coalition government. Though the point was largely moot after Malaya’s independence in 1957, fighting sputtered on, with periodic escalations.

When it finally ended in 1989, some 1,200 guerrillas were allowed under the peace pact to returned to civilian life.

Mr. Chin thought the 1989 agreement provided for his own return to Malaysia, but he was denied in court on the grounds that he could not prove he was Malaysian, having lost his birth and citizenship certificates. Many said the real reason was a lingering resentment over the insurrection.

Information about his survivors was not available. Mr. Chin’s wife, Khoon Wah, is deceased. They had two sons. The Malaysian police have refused to allow his remains to be returned to his home country.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Mejar Jeneral Dato’ Amir bin Hashim TUDM, Asisten Ketua Staf J4, Markas Angkatan Bersama

Photo credit to Malaysian Armed Force Headquarters website with thanks.

"Bertempat di Bilik Teratai, Wisma Pertahanan, Kuala Lumpur telah berlangsungnya Majlis Pemakaian Pangkat Pegawai Kanan ATM pada 10 Jun 2013. Upacara pada kali ini melibatkan dua pegawai kanan iaitu Leftanen Jeneral Datuk Abd Aziz bin Ibrahim, Asisten Ketua Staf Perkhidmatan Anggota, Markas ATM dan Mejar Jeneral Dato’ Amir bin Hashim, Asisten Ketua Staf J4, Markas Angkatan Bersama yang berkuatkuasa 29 Mei 2013. Upacara telah disempurnakan oleh Panglima Angkatan Tentera Jeneral Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Zulkifeli bin Mohd Zin bersama isteri Puan Sri Datin Sri Umi Kalsom bte Wan Awang serta dihadiri Panglima-Panglima Perkhidmatan Laksamana Tan Sri Abd Aziz bin Hj Jaafar, Panglima Tentera Laut, Jeneral Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Rodzali bin Daud TUDM, Panglima Tentera Udara, Leftenan Jeneral Dato’ Sri Panglima Ahmad Hasbullah bin Hj Mohd Nawawi, Pemangku Panglima Tentera Darat dan Pegawai-pegawai kanan ATM."


Datuk Paduka Maharaja Lela Istana Negara

Photo credit to Malaysian Armed Force Hq website with thanks.

"Panglima Angkatan Tentera, Jeneral Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Zulkifeli bin Mohd Zin telah menyempurnakan upacara Pemakaian Pangkat Brigedier Jeneral ke Mejar Jeneral kepada Brigedier Jeneral Dato’ Md Tajri bin Alwi yang akan menjawat jawatan sebagai Datuk Paduka Maharaja Lela Istana Negara berkuat kuasa 15 Jun 2013. Majlis tersebut diadakan di Bilik Ruang Perkasa, Tingkat 5, Wisma Pertahanan, Kuala Lumpur yang di hadiri Jeneral Datuk Raja Mohamed Affandi bin Raja Mohamed Noor, Panglima Tentera Darat, Laksamana Madya Datuk Ahmad Kamarulzaman bin Hj Ahmad Badaruddin, Ketua Staf Markas ATM dan Pegawai-pegawai Kanan ATM."


RMAF 'Eid Fitr do , Syawwal 1434/Aug 2013

Photo Credit to Dato Akhtar with thanks


L-R, Capt (R) Zainuddin (Tebuan Pilot), Skot Dato Akhtar, Ex PTU Lt Gen (R) Yunus Tasi & Skot Dato Azizon Ariffin

'Eid Fitr 1434, Aug 2013, latest photo of Abdul Latiff Endot

Photo Credit to Dato Akhtar  who visited him during Syawwal 1434/Aug 2013


Skot Latiff and Skot Akhtar, centre n rightmost respectively

RMAF Alouette III 50th Anniversary, 7th Sept 2013

Photo credits to Skot Dato Akhtar Zainuddin, Skot Norizan Abu Bakar, Facebook - 50th Alouette III Anniversary, Facebook - Pulatibang 2 with thanks











Skot Shabre in red shirt.. 


Skot Dato Akhtar rightmost foreground
Skot Shabre standing 3rd left background


Skot Dato Akhtar and Skot Norizan

Al Fadhil Abdullah Yusoff...

Photo Credit to Skot Abdullah Yusoff with thanks, in conjunction with 'Eid Ftr , 1st syawwal , 1434 / 8th Aug 2013...




“9/10 rezeki itu adalah datang daripada perniagaan.” (Hadis riwayat Tirmizi)..

Photo Credit to SecGen34 with thanks. Grand opening on the 14th Sept 2013. Mabruk!!!