Chin Peng's communist activities

The secretary-general of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), Chin Peng (right) was on page one of The Straits Times this week in 1965, for reportedly making contact with the Communist Party in Vietnam.

He had entered Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) on at least one occasion, said a South Vietnamese diplomat, adding that while there, Chin worked closely with communist leaders following the orders of the Communist International.

Born in Perak in 1924, Chin had been active in anti-Japanese activities at school, and embraced Communism.

During the Japanese Occupation of Malaya and Singapore, he played a prominent liaison role between the Malayan People's Anti- Japanese Army and the British military in South-east Asia.

After the war, he led the MCP's failed guerilla insurgency to establish a communist state during the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960). He then moved to southern Thailand with the rest of his forces.

In 1989, the MCP signed a peace accord with the Malaysian government.

Chin died in 2013, in Bangkok, aged 88.

This article was first published on March 22, 2015.
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