The hearing of Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) veteran Chin Peng's suit to be allowed to return to Malaysia has been brought forward to this Friday.

It will be held in chambers at the Appeal and Special Powers Division 1 of the Kuala Lumpur High Court at 9.00am

According to a July 7 letter to Chin Peng's lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira, Senior Assistant Registrar of the Kuala Lumpur High Court (Appeal and Special Powers Division 1) N Isfahanie Tasnim said the presiding judge will be Md Raus bin Sharif.

Initially, the hearing was fixed for Nov 6.

On July 13, Darshan, in a letter to the Kuala Lumpur High Court senior assistant registrar, had requested for the hearing to be brought forward since his client was already 81 years of age.

Furthermore, he argued that the case was of public interest and involved basic rights.

Chin Peng, who lives in Thailand, first filed his case with the Penang High Court on March 4 last year.

'Case being delayed'

On April 29 this year, Chin Peng issued a statement through Darshan setting May 28 as the deadline for the government to respond to his application to return in fulfilment of the letters and spirit of the Peace Accord signed between the government and CPM on Dec 2, 1989, in Thailand.

Besides Chin Peng, the two other CPM signatories to the 1989 Peace Accords were Abdullah CD and Rashid Maidin. The trio signed as party secretary-general, chairman and central committee member respectively.

In the April 29 statement, Chin Peng also accused the government of attempting "to drag its feet" to "delay the matter" and "put obstacles" in his way such as claiming that the1989 Peace Accords be covered under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and instructing the Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok not to attest his affidavits in the case.

However, he reiterated his intention to resolve the issue "peacefully and amicably" and warned that if the government continued to delay the matter, he would take it to the International Court of Justice and European Court of Justice.
The defendants named in the suit are the government, the home minister, inspector-general of police and the chief of defence forces.