Hat Yai: Former members of the now-defunct Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Hat Yai Peace agreement on Tuesday recalling the end of their armed struggle with Malaysia.
The commemoration coincided with the launch of the group's "Peace Club of Thailand", marking a new chapter for former CPM members in Thailand and neighbouring countries.
The remembrance ceremony was a more low-key affair than the 20th anniversary, due to the death of CPM secretary-general Chin Peng on Sept 16 last year, but hundreds of former party members from four villages in Yala and Narathiwat still turned out.
Former members from Sarawak, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Johor in Malaysia, and representatives from Singapore also attended.
The only living former CPM executive committee member — 91-year-old Abdullah CD — was present at the ceremony. He was one of three CPM leaders who signed the peace agreement 25 years ago.
The CPM was founded on April 30, 1930, and fought until Dec 2, 1989, when a Thai-brokered peace accord was signed between the party and the Malaysian government in Hat Yai. The CPM was then dissolved.
The former commander of the 15th Infantry Division at the time, Maj Gen Manee Chanthip, was present at the event, alongside retired former 4th Army Region deputy commander Gen Chamlong Kunsong.
Five Thai generals attended the previous reunion of the former CPM comrades.
The function also played host to Zhang Jinxiong, the Chinese consul-general to Hat Yai, and representatives of the Malaysian opposition Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), from the border states of Kedah and Kelantan.
Following the death of Chin Peng, key CPM supporters resolved to set up the informal "Peace Club of Thailand" organisation. The supporters are from Hat Yai and Bangkok, as well as villages in Yala's Kabang, Tarnto and Betong districts and Narathiwat's Sukhirin district.
The commemoration of the peace accord was used as a launching pad for the body, with members vowing to respect Thai laws and help support each other. The ceremony was witnessed by senior officials present. "My presence here is to lend solidarity to Thai people of Chinese descent. There's no other agenda," said Mr Zhang.
Indrajaya Abdullah, from Narathiwat, has been nominated to chair the Peace Club.
The 57-year-old, who is Abdullah CD's son-in-law, said the club would enhance links between remote villages where former CPM members live.
Ang Kinghud, a Hat Yai-based CPM member, said the club would foster unity and solidarity between former members "since Chin Peng is no longer in this world to reaffirm the spirit of our brotherhood".
"We don't want former members to scatter, or for their descendants to forget what their forefathers went through. It has nothing to do with politics," Mr Ang said.
Yuiliang Sae-Sio, 66, from Tarnto village, said it is important to build closer relationships between descendants of CPM families, adding that older members would organise activities to engage the younger generations and host guests from Malaysia and Singapore.
"We will just ask members for 20-30 baht a month to support the elderly and hold festive activities. People touring our villages sometimes donate to us as well," said the former medic, who worked for the CPM in the jungle.
Days before the commemoration event was held, Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi again rejected the CPM's request to repatriate Chin Peng's ashes to his hometown in central Malaysia. He said the demand was impossible, as the CPM was responsible for a brutal insurgency during and after the country's fight against colonialism.
Li Xue Zhi, a representative for the 21st Century Malaysia Friendship Association, denounced Kuala Lumpur for violating the peace accord by refusing to allow Chin Peng's ashes to be returned home, accusing the Malaysian government of "twisting" the history of the CPM.