I read of Chin Peng, heard of him, met him and now have a ‘piece of him’, says newsman

The 10th regiment: Chin Peng (centre) with members of the CPM (from left) Suriani Abdullah (formerly Eng Ming Ching and wife of Abdullah), Rashid, Abdullah, Abu Samah Mohd Kassim, Ibrahim Chik and Abdullah Sudin at the CPM

PETALING JAYA: It was only a week ago that I mentioned his name in a local radio station segment Bersama Wartawan (Together With Journalists). The DJ asked my experience as the first Malaysian journalist to enter a 1.5km tunnel built by the communists at the nation’s border in 1989.

Rather than answering that question, I said I was more speechless at meeting face-to-face the man who was responsible for directing the construction of the tunnel – Chin Peng, the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).