Lim Chin
Siong vs Lee Kuan Yew: The true and shocking
history
It will forever change how you see Lee Kuan Yew and
the PAP
Lim Chin Siong
Introduction
Schools teach our children that Lee Kuan Yew heroically delivered
Singapore from the evil clutches of the communists and gave us what
we have today.
Whether such an assertion is historically accurate or not, the
Government seems intent to seal this version in the annals of
Singapore. When filmmaker, Mr Martyn See, released Zahari's 17
Years in which Mr Said Zahari talked about his 17-year detention,
the Government promptly banned it.
It, it stated, "will not allow people who had posed a security
threat to the country in the past to exploit the use of films to
purvey a false and distorted portrayal of their past actions and
detention by the government."
Top-secret documents held by
the British Government, now declassified, reveal some jaw-dropping
facts about Lee Kuan Yew and how he came to
power.
When Lim Chin Siong, another of Lee Kuan Yew's prisoners, died in
1996, the PAP was equally anxious to make sure that Lim's portrayal
as a revolutionary communist remained etched in the minds of the
people.
In
response to a tribute that the SDP had written about Lim, the PAP
through then MP Dr Ow Chin Hock, said that the Barisan Sosialis
(Socilaist Front), of which Lim was its leader, fought the
Government in 1966 "on the streets, according to the teachings of
Mao Zedong in the Cultural Revolution."
It was a bald-faced lie. Lim was already in prison under ISA
detention in 1966 and could not have led his party in
anything.
This, it seems, was not the only untruth that the PAP has been
telling us.
For example, Dr Ow pointed out that Lim was not fighting for a
democratic Singapore (the cheek) but a communist one. Lim would
have turned Singapore into "Mao's China or Ho Chi Minh's Vietnam",
the PAP insisted.
Besides, it was the Internal Security Council (ISC) under the
command of the British and not the PAP Government, who ordered the
arrest and detention of Lim and colleagues.
This
was because there were only three PAP representatives on the ISC
and they were "outnumbered" by the other four members on the
Council, three British and one Malaysian.
Nothing could be more untrue.
Top-secret documents held by the British Government, now
declassified, reveal some jaw-dropping facts about Lee Kuan Yew and
how he came to power.
Two history scholars studied these papers and presented their
findings in the book Comet In Our Sky (available at Select Books at
the Tanglin Shopping Centre).
The first is Tim Harper who teaches Southeast Asian history and the
history of the British empire at the University of Cambridge in
London.
The second is Greg Poulgrain, a professor at Griffiths University
in Australia who has been researching Southeast Asian history for
more than 20 years.
This SDP feature presents a summary of Dr Harper's and Dr
Poulgrain's chapters. It contains some shocking archival
material.
It also attempts to answer questions like who were people like Lim
Chin Siong and Said Zahari? Did they really pose a security threat
to the country? Were they communists hell-bent on undermining
constitutional/democratic means of governance in Singapore? Was it
really the ISC that was responsible for their arrest and
imprisonment? Most important, is the PAP's version of history based
on fact?
Remember, this narration is not the SDP's rendition of events past.
It is a collective summary of the research done by two
historians.
To ensure that this present essay remains faithful to Professors
Harper's and Poulgrain's works, quotes from the historians'
chapters are used liberally.
Still, don't take our word for it. Get a copy of Comet In Our Sky
and read for yourself the real history of the PAP and Barisan
Sosialis.
Why bother?
But why is this important? Why should Lim Chin Siong, a man who
died more than ten years ago and who led a party which is now
defunct, be relevant to the world in which we now live?
Lim Chin Siong (right) and Lee Kuan Yew
First, because those events are part of our history, and history
defines who we are as a people and, more important, shapes the way
we plan our future.
The textbooks that the Ministry of Education writes for our kids
are not history but rather fables, starring Mr Lee Kuan Yew. We
have a duty to teach our youths the truth.
Also, what happened in the 1950s and 60s continue to be relevant
because many of Lim's colleagues are still alive and the sacrifices
they made for the independence of Singapore have been all but
erased. Their stories must be told and their honour restored.
Third, and perhaps most important, not only is the PAP's cloroxed
account used to mentally condition (brainwash, if you prefer) our
children, it continues to be used as a weapon to intimidate and
silence voices of dissent.
If Lee Kuan Yew can manipulate the security apparatus for his own
political ends in the 1950s and 60 as you will note from Dr
Harper's and Dr Poulgrain's revelations, what does that say about
the present use of the ISD to detain other Singaporeans?
More ominously, what if the PAP feels sufficiently threatened
politically and resorts to concocting another conspiracy to detain
without trial more Singaporeans and opposition politicians like it
did to a group of professionals in 1987?
Hard, historical facts are the greatest antidote to fear mongering
by the state and to the use of national security as a bogey to
suppress freedom and democracy.
Knowledgeable citizens with a keen sense of history are the best
protection against acts of repression in the future.
So if you are a discerning Singaporean unwilling to let the
authorities tell you what to think and how to think it, if you are
one of those who don't want your mind raped, then introduce
yourself to this four-part Special Feature and take part in the
forum discussion.
http://yoursdp.org/index.php/perspective/
my goodness, they brainwash our kids to this extent.
the self-study revision book for Secondary 2 students is real
shameless!
