Kitti Rattanachaya told newsportal Malaysiakini that Chin Peng "played a key role in maintaining peace" along the Thai-Malaysian border.
Kitti was among the many retired Thai generals who paid their respects to the former communist leader at Wat That Thong, a temple in Bangkok today.
"Now, it is only proper to allow his ashes to be returned to Malaysia. Forgive and forget, let bygones be bygones. Once someone dies, everything is finished," said Kitti who regarded Chin Peng as his brother.
"When a peace agreement is signed, there is no longer animosity. This, however, is my personal view and not that of the Thai government."
Another former Thai general Akanit Muansawad pointed out that "forgiveness was the only way to bring peace".
"I was a captain then and in one year, 30 of my men died while 20 others were wounded. I got malaria 13 times from going in and out of the jungle," Akanit said.
He said after many of his men died, he entered into talks with Chin Peng in August 1973.
Chin Peng had spent a third of his life in exile in Thailand.
The newsportal also reported that Anas Abdullah, a family friend who helped arrange the wake and funeral, said more than 100 former Communist Party of Malaya guerilla fighters are expected to pay their last respects the next two days, before the former communist leader's body is cremated on Monday.
Thai princess Chulabhorn Walailak also sent a wreath to the wake.
The Malaysian government, however, has not allowed Chin Peng's ashes to be brought back.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday the country will not budge from its stand to prevent Chin Peng’s remains from being brought back, and challenged those unhappy with the decision to seek legal redress.
The government's stand is that thousands of Malaysians died or suffered at the hands of the communists.
Checkpoints into the country are also on alert in case Chin Peng's ashes are smuggled in.
The MCA, however, has accused Putrajaya of playing the race card on this issue as they pointed out that previously, the government allowed the remains of two Malaysian terrorists to be buried in their hometowns in Malacca and Johore.
The two, Dr Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top, were shot dead by Indonesian security forces.
Malay rights group, Perkasa, however, took MCA to task by warning the party not to “upset the Malays” by insisting that Putrajaya allow Chin Peng's ashes to be brought back here.
Chin Peng, whose real name is Ong Boon Hua, died in a Bangkok hospital on Malaysia Day, a month short of his 89th birthday. He had repeatedly voiced his wish to be buried in his hometown of Sitiawan, Perak.
He fled to China in 1961 and later settled in Bangkok where he was granted an alien passport.
He reportedly moved to Haadyai in recent years and shuttled between Haadyai and Bangkok for his cancer treatment.
He became secretary-general of the Communist Party of Malaya at the age of 23 and was Britain’s “enemy number one” in Southeast Asia at the height of the communist insurgency in Malaya. TMI
By Rita Jong The Malaysian Insider