A handout photo taken in 1955 shows former leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya, Chin Peng (left), during negotiations between the communists and government. – AFP pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — Chin Peng, a former secretary-general of the now defunct Malayan Communist Party (CPM), died at 6.20am in a Bangkok hospital today, the Bangkok Post reported.

His death was due to old age, according to the report, which added that his relatives will hold funeral rites for him on Friday.

Once Malaysia’s most wanted man, Chin Peng, whose real name was Ong Boon Hua, would have marked his 89th birthday on October 19.

He had been living in exile, mostly in Thailand, after Putrajaya barred him from returning to the country of his birth despite the terms laid down in the Haadyai Agreement 1989 involving the Thai and Malaysian governments.

In accordance to the agreement, CPM members who laid down arms would be allowed to return to their homeland if they so chose.

The Sitiawan-born former guerilla fighter lost his bid to clear his name in the Federal Court in 2010.

Ong was routinely described by the ruling Barisan Nasional governnment as a “communist terrorist” and his battle put down as a “bloody insurgency” in the mainstream media.

But Ong saw himself as a freedom fighter against colonial British rule instead, and had insisted Putrajaya stop painting him as the bad guy.