MAT SABU: BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FREEDOM FIGHTERS AND COMMUNISTS
KUALA LUMPUR: Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu took a swipe at those pushing for the Communist Party of Malaya to be recognised as having fought for and contributed to the nation’s independence.
He said people should differentiate between freedom fighters and communist insurgents.
“It is difficult to equate communist terrorists as freedom fighters in our history books. If it was the people’s struggle to gain independence, then that is a different question.
“There were some freedom fighters branded as communists like Dr Burhanuddin Helmi, Ibrahim Yaacob and Pak Sako (Ishak Muhammad). I don’t think they subscribed to communist ideology.
“We have to separate the two (freedom fighters and communist terrorists),” Bernama reported him as saying.
He was commenting on a forum organised by Imagined Malaysia to discuss the role played by the communist movement in the country and whether the government should rewrite the history of the Malayan Emergency years.
The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought against communist terrorists in pre- and post-independence of the Federation of Malaya, from 1948 until 1960. The terrorists wanted to turn Malaya into a communist state and resorted to using force for the purpose.
On the other hand, Malaysian freedom fighters won independence for the country from the British without the use of force.
In Putrajaya, Mohamad’s sentiments were echoed by Brigadier-General (Rtd) Datuk Jamil Rais, who said recognising the communist’s fight for “independence” was a dishonour for those people killed by them.
He said it was a sensitive issue for soldiers who had spent years living away from their families to fight communist insurgents.
“Do you know when we were hired as lieutenants, we were paid only RM360. We put our lives in danger to protect the country for just RM360.
“This is not fair to us.
“Our men lost their lives and some were left handicapped during battles with communists who were terrorising the country from the 1960s to the late 1980s.”