Letters - Win the hearts and minds of all Malaysians

THE extensive media coverage gave a fitting tribute to the contributions and sacrifices of Special Branch (SB) veteran Tan Sri Yuen Yuet Leng in our fight against the communists. Perhaps Yuen remains the only senior SB officer to carry his fight to contain the threats to national security posed by both the North Kalimantan Communist Party and Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
In his final years, he was rightly concerned with rising racial tension in the country. He was however clueless, as we all are, as to how to fix this problem which threatens national solidarity and inter-racial harmony.
At the height of our war against the CPM, Chinese officers formed a higher percentage of SB personnel. This fact was rightly pointed out by Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Idris Hassan in his letter published in a daily on Oct 8. This was nothing extraordinary but was the right response to the needs of the situation then. Captured CPM documents and intercepted cryptic messages had to be carefully read and meticulously analysed and decoded to assess their intelligence value to SB. Communists who surrendered or were captured had to be interrogated to extract maximum operational intelligence. All this had to be done by Chinese officers well versed in the Chinese language.
Yuen was not the only officer who carried a bullet in his body. We have another senior SB officer who has small fragments of a grenade in his body. Many others were maimed or died in operations or were assassinated because to the CPM, Chinese officers were the "running dogs" and must be eliminated at all costs.
Presently, many of us are puzzled by the stand taken by an Umno MP who allegedly threatened to slap Malaysian Chinese. Where was he when the likes of Yuen together with members of security forces and civil authorities were engaged in a war against the CPM. The war was fought for national survival as the ultimate aim of CPM was to turn Malaya and later Malaysia into a communist republic.
He could have linked the presence of the Chinese ambassador in Petaling Street on Sept 25 to sound his warning. But to be fair, you do not expect the ambassador to stay aloof. He did explain the reasons for his walkabout. He also stated that China always welcomed Malaysian Chinese to return to their "Niang Jia" (Here "Niang Jia" refers to maternal homes of women who are married out of the families.)
Viewed in this light, his statement seems proper and is couched in diplomatic niceties.
During the Indonesian Confrontation, Indonesian ambassador Djatikusumo also had his share of walkabouts in Malay settlements. He chose to dress in sarong to blend in with the Malay community in a subtle move to win them over to Indonesia's cause. On Sept 2, 1964, Indonesia sprang a surprise by air dropping paratroopers in Labis and Pontian. They had hoped to secure a foothold in "friendly" territory. However their presence was detected and captured by our security forces. This goes to show that rational thinking Malaysians, whatever their racial origin have their hearts tied to the land of their domicile. Their loyalty to the nation is not likely to be easily swayed by any perceived cultural links with their "godfathers" in a distant land.
Hopefully, the passing of Yuen will strike the right chord in the conscience of every right thinking Malaysian that Malaysia is a nation for all. We have all contributed to make Malaysia what it is today.
More than ever in our history, Malaysia needs a peaceful political environment to move forward. The powerful ruling elite must be willing to do the right thing to demonstrate their commitment to embrace the spirit of 1Malaysia to win the hearts and minds of all Malaysians. Show love and greater tolerance to your fellow Malaysians instead of allowing racial supremacists to sow seeds of hatred against other races. Succeed we must for too much is at stake.
Datuk Khaw Miang Hua
(Rtd) Deputy Director
Special Branch