KUALA LUMPUR: A police report has been lodged over the incident where the ashes of former communist leader Chin Peng was brought back to the country and an investigation is underway, says Deputy Home Minister Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman (pic).
"If there were any laws broken, we leave it to the police. They know better," he told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby on Wednesday (Nov 27).
However, Mohd Aziz said he was unsure who lodged the police report, but was told it was Bukit Aman.
He also reiterated Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's statement that the government had never allowed the ashes of Chin Peng to be brought back to the country.
Earlier in Parliament, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said the investigation was under the purview of the Home Ministry.
Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) had asked him to make a concrete stand on the matter as it involved the dignity of the armed forces.
Mohamad said he would only make a statement after the Home Ministry made its views clear.
"Many people out there said that my ceramah is no longer good," he quipped, drawing laughter from the floor.
"Now as a minister, I have to be careful with my words. All my speeches are monitored, whether outside or inside the Dewan.
"That is why it is not easy to make a statement," he said while smiling.
At the Parliament lobby, Opposition chief Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the fact remained that Chin Peng was a communist terrorist.
He said that many soldiers, policemen and civilians were killed or injured during the conflict against the communists.
"Their families are still here, their grandchildren, children and wives. What happened to their fathers cannot be forgotten," he said, adding there are still former soldiers and civilians who bear scars from wounds inflicted by the communists.
The Bera MP questioned the present government's stand on the issue and what it will do following the incident.
Ismail Sabri, who is also Umno vice-president, said that the party will be discussing the issue at its meeting this coming Friday (Nov 29).
It was reported that the ashes of Chin Peng, who's the former Communist Party of Malaya leader, were brought back on Sept 16 from Thailand with a funeral ceremony being held on the same day.
Chin Peng's ashes were later scattered at a hillside near Chemor and at sea, about 3km from Lumut.
Chin Peng, whose real name was Ong Boon Hua, died of cancer in Thailand in 2013, a month before his 89th birthday.
Among his last wishes was that he was to be "buried" with his dead comrades near the hills here.
The former Barisan Nasional government had said that they would not allow Chin Peng's ashes to be brought back to Malaysia.
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