Oh please Hong Xing, give it away.

Chin Peng was a communist terrorist, nothing more, nothing less.

Chin Peng jumped on the bandwaggon and supported the British whilst it suited him, for which he was suitably rewarded, not just with British decorations, either.

At the end of the war he expected, (rather foolishly, I think), that Britian would simply hand over Malaya to him, to become a Communist state. He could not be more wrong, he served his purpose and was given the opportunity to leave gracefully, his pockets overflowing with British gold, by the way.

Possibly a loss of face issue here, similar to the IRA of today, but Chin Peng felt he had to fight on in order to retain any credibility amongst his followers who had blindly followed him, taking huge casulalities, for many years previously. Simple as that.

Spout the mantra as much as you like Hong Xing but please don't come on here spouting rubbish, many of us are old enough, have been there etc. to know that you are talking straight through your bottom.

Omark44:

There is a Malay saying that perfectly describes what you say. It is "setengah masak" which refers in context to half cooked rice meaning it can't be eaten or swallowed.
To claim Chin Peng was rewarded with "pockets of gold" for fighting the Japanese is ridiculous. The only gold around in those days went straight from the tin mines and rubber plantations of Malaya into the banks of England. Public confirmation of this came from the UK Colonial Secretary who informed the British parliament in 1947 that quote: "it is by far the most important source of dollars in the colonial empire and it would gravely worsen the whole dollar balance of the sterling area if there were serious interference with Malayan exports". unquote.
The so called emergency was all about domination and money and I think you know that without me telling you. Even the name "emergency" is a misnomer as it was actually a war. The British specifically called it "emergency" as this kept their insurance premiums lower.
Call Chin Peng by whatever name you wish but you can't escape the fact that his actions accelerated the development of Malaysia and Singapore into the first class societies they are. Hilang jasa beliung, timbul jasa rimbas.

Hong Xing

"To claim Chin Peng was rewarded with "pockets of gold" for fighting the Japanese is ridiculous. The only gold around in those days went straight from the tin mines and rubber plantations of Malaya into the banks of England."

Nonsense Hong Xing and you know it! The monies that most definitely were paid to Chin Peng should not be confused with the revenue from the mines and plantations. Chin Peng's money came from the foreign office, as you should well know and would have been paid in such a way as to have avoided him being seen to be taking a pay off, his followers would have been most disappointed!

Your mention of such term as 'Emergency' and 'War' lead me to think that you don't know a whole lot about the insurance industry, either.

OK - An interesting discussion but hardly relevant to the thread title.
I doubt you will ever agree on the subject of Malaya/Malaysia etc. but if you feel the need please continue your dialogue via PM or email. Thanks.