Anti-Japanese war memorial sparks row in Malaysia

NILAI, Malaysia, Dec 21 (Reuters) A Malaysian opposition party accused a minister today of trying to provoke a race row after he said a new memorial to Malayans who fought the Japanese invasion in World War Two paid tribute to communists.

After the war Malaysia waged a bitter campaign throughout the 1950s to eradicate mainly ethnic Chinese guerrillas seeking to build a communist state. They were only finally defeated in 1960.

Today, members of the ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) said Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin, an ethnic Malay, was trying to turn the issue into a racial dispute, after he called the structure ''a memorial for the communists''.

Multi-racial Malaysia has a history of ethnic tension, and ties between its different communities have remained fragile since 1969, when hundreds were killed in bloody racial riots.

''Anyone or everyone who fought against the Japanese should be recognised,'' DAP leader Lim Guan Eng told reporters at a thinly attended protest demonstration at the memorial in a Chinese cemetery in Nilai, just outside the Malaysian capital.

It was wrong to say the memorial was built to commemorate the communists, he added. ''There should not be any racial undertones, but unfortunately, there appear to be,'' Lim said. ''Those who fought the Japanese did not come from one race.'' The memorial, built at a cost of (20,000 dollars) with funds donated by a group of Chinese businessmen, stands 30 feet high.

Inscriptions in Japanese, Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil read: ''Monument in memory of Malayan heroes in the resistance against Japanese invasion, 1941-45''.

Zainuddin's weekend comment angered many ethnic Chinese, but prompted authorities in the central state of Negeri Sembilan, where the memorial stands, to call for its demolition.

Zainuddin said the monument, and others of a similar kind in different parts of Malaysia, were a slight to Malaysians who died fighting the Japanese occupation, which ran from 1941 to 1945.

''After we gained our independence and fought off the communists, it is regrettable that some parties have memorials for the communists,'' he said.

Although the communist insurgency ended in 1960, the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya only surrendered in 1989.

The government should not try to rewrite history, Lim said.

''We are against this attempt to rewrite history as well as to turn black into white and turn white into black. We should not distort and pervert the truth,'' he told reporters.

''They are now talking of tearing down a memorial to remember those who sacrificed their life during World War Two against the Japanese invaders,'' he said.

Ethnic Malays make up just over half of Malaysia's population of roughly 26 million, with ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians accounting for about 25 per cent and about eight per cent respectively.

REUTERS DKA VV1433