Since early 1981, Deng Xiao Peng had encouraged the communists in Malaysia to seek an avenue for a peace accord which was eventually signed in Haadyai, Thailand, on December 2, 1989. It was a fire that finally went out after the focal point of their inspiration died as early as 1972 when China established bilateral relationships with Malaysia. They left their homes in the prime of their youth, fired by a fervour ‘to rock Sarawak to gain independence’, risking their lives and undergoing extreme hardships in the often unforgiving wilderness of the state. Indoctrinated with communist ideology by her teachers and peers, Neo joined the revolutionary struggle and entered the jungle at 19 in 1968 for what she and her comrades believed to be a fight for social justice. In the foreword of her memoirs, Neo, from Sibu, wrote: “For 22 years, we left footprints in the virgin forests and reforested areas, climbed through mountains, stepped on swampy lands and travelled through the rivers of Sarawak, Rejang, Oya, Mukah, Tatau, Kemena, Baram, Limbang to the borders of Brunei and Indonesia.” (translated from Mandarin). It is, thus, hard to imagine this slim, almost frail, woman once roamed the deepest jungles of Sarawak for 22 years a communist guerilla, only laying down her arms with the last remnants of a 52-strong guerilla group as late as November 3, 1990. IN REMEMBRANCE: Neo (left) and a friend looking at pictures of fallen comrades on a memorial wall.ĪT 61, Neo Kiaw Hong looks like a retired teacher or an ‘everyday’ housewife.
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