Chin Peng (21 October 1924 – 16 September 2013), born Ong Boon Hua, was a Malayan communist politician, anti-fascist activist and long-time leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA). During World War II, he fought as an anti-fascist guerrilla fighter in the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army against the Japanese occupation of Malaya. A determined anti-colonialist, he led the party's guerrilla insurgency in the Malayan Emergency (19481960), fighting against British and Commonwealth forces in an attempt to establish an independent socialist state. After the MCP's defeat and subsequent Malayan independence, Chin waged a second campaign (19681989) from exile against the newly formed government of Malaysia in an attempt to replace its government with a socialist one. This second insurgency came to an end with the Peace Agreement of Hat Yai 1989. Chin Peng died at the age of 88, in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was cremated according to Buddhist rites. Biography Early years Chin Peng was born Ong Boon Hua on 21 October 1924 into a middle-class family in the small seaside town of Sitiawan, in Perak state, Malaya. His ancestral home is Fuqing, Fujian, China. His father went to live in Sitiawan in 1920. He set up a bicycle, tire, and spare motor parts business with the help of a relative from Singapore, known as Ong Lock Cho. Chin Peng attended a Chinese language school in Sitiawan. In 1937 he joined the Chinese Anti Enemy Backing Up Society (AEBUS), formed that year to send aid to China in response to Japan's aggression. According to Chin and Hack, he was not a communist then. He was in charge of anti-Japanese activities at his school, and was reportedly a supporter of Sun Yat-sen. By early 1939, he had embraced Communism. He planned to go to Yan'an, the renowned communist base in China but was persuaded to remain in Malaya and take on heavier responsibilities in the newly formed Malayan Communist Party. In late 1939, when Chin Peng was in the 4th year of his secondary school education (known as senior middle-level one), his school announced that the senior middle section was to be closed due to lack of funds. He decided to continue his education in the Methodist-run Anglo-Chinese Continuation School, which operated in English, because it provided a good cover for his underground activities. He did not want to have to move to Singapore