To Pardon Or Not To Pardon Part 2: Lee Meng, Mokhtar Hashim

Lee Meng

Lee Meng, a famous communist courier during the Malayan Emergency, was captured by the Special Branch in the early 1950s. She was sentenced to death for possession of a hand grenade and for ordering several murders.

Her case attracted worldwide attention, including an offer by the then-communist government of Hungary to swap her freedom with a British spy detained in Budapest.

Lee Meng in court

Her appeal to the Privy Council was also rejected. Point to note: until 1978, final appeals for criminal cases must have been referred to the Privy Council, now replaced by the Malaysian Supreme Court.

Since her conviction was in a Perak court, her final appeal was for pardon from the Perak Sultan. And interestingly, her appeal for pardon was supported by more than 50 members of the Malayan Parliament. Even Winston Churchill, the then British Prime Minister, strongly argued against her pardon, but the Sultan of Perak agreed to pardon her, and she was banished to China after her pardon.

Lee Meng visited Malaysia in 2007 or 2008

Lee Meng's case is one of those cases forgotten by history. If you are interested in reading her story written like a novel, buy a book titled The War of the Running Dogs by Noel Barber. But for serious reading, go for Chin Peng's My Side of Historyor Leo Comber's Malaya's Secret Police. 1945–60: The Special Branch in the Malayan Emergency.

Mokhtar Hashim