The first generation that was involved in politics had a
shared vision in battling the Colonial Government with their
haughty racist attitude in governing Asians.
It was surprising that during the 1950s, the personalities that
formed the first cabinet was a disparate lot - coming from
different backgrounds and all not born in Singapore, as some were
from the Malayan States, others from India and Indonesia.
All were vocal and spirited in their cause, and none less than
LKY - and all were tolerated by the British Colonial Government
during those days, and more so than an independent Singapore
towards her own Citizens.
It was reported that in the first LKY Cabinet, he had formidable
personalities that were all able to debate and argue policy matters
with him, and consensus came about by such means of brain-storming
and verbal jousting of ideas. With so many strong charactered
persons in a Team, someone or everyone has to give way to reach
consensus or the government will be paralysed.
Those who were reputed to give LKY a run for his money as PM -
were Dr Toh Chin Chye as DPM, Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr S Rajaratnam, Mr
E Barker, Mr Jek Yoon Tong, Mr Ong Pang Boon, and Mr Yong
Nyuk Lin.
Dr Toh Chin Chye, who was the DPM in LKY's first cabinet, and
was also the Chairman of the PAP - after being sidelined to become
a very vociferous backbencher - had said the following to the
Youth of Singapore after he retired:
It would have been interesting to read the memoirs of Dr Toh -
as he is known to be an honest person, possessing a high standard
of dignity, and respect towards even his political opponents.
His pride has probably prevented him to bow to the pressures of
having to dilute or modify the narration his own
total experiences during his long tenure in politics. With his
DPM position in the Cabinet and a Chairman of the PAP, he is
standing shoulder to shoulder to LKY in terms of
responsibility even though he is shorter than LKY by at least a
quarter.
It was Toh who held the cabinet together when Singapore was
booted out of Malaysia, and LKY submitted his resignation paper to
the Chairman; who together with Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr S Rajaratnam,
and other senior party members decided to reject LKY's letter.
Dr Toh's departure from politics was an unhappy affair, when he
was asked to stepped aside under a 'dubious' program of
self-renewal, which saw him giving up his Cabinet position, and
soon after also his Chairmanship of the Party - and only to become
a Back Bencher in Parliament. His reservations and instinct towards
the 'self-renewal' program that was on LKY's political agenda
created sharp division in the Party, with bits and pieces spilling
out into the press. It now seems that Dr Toh's concern has seen its
fruition with LKY's continued tenure into the foreseeable future,
when the entire first generation MPs are all long gone.
It would have been insightful if Dr Toh had been able to put his
memoirs into print, and allow generations to learn of his
experiences and also the events during those critical periods
towards Self-Government, then into Malaysia, the period when
Singapore was unceremoniously booted out of Malaysia, the struggles
in finding a way into the future for Singapore with the many
internal Cabinet debates on dubious policies, and the manner that
the Government is runned; and more importantly his views to his
working relationship with LKY.
Dr Toh is known to be a man with a high standard of integrity
and dignity, with respects towards others even his most raucous
political opponents.
Will a man that has such strong values bow to the dictates
imposed on him by his Oath to protect States Secrets that was
taken during his term as DPM in cabinet, and with no time limit to
such an Oath ? Will he write his memoirs with one hand tied
behind his back, and the truth to be modified to suit secrecy laws
?
Can Singapore hope for its future generations to learn anything
from the past, when truth has to be suppressed by Secrecy Laws that
has no time bar ?
In a slight modification to the question posed by Senior Civil
Servant - Mr Ngiam Tong Dow : ''Is the interest of the Ruling
Political Party bigger than that of Singapore and Singaporeans
?"
Reference:
‘The Man who made PAP, and the Man who made Singapore’
Asswipe Atobe, you word whore, do have some decency not to embarass
yourself futher with your post. At least people like robertteh
and obnoxious maurizio13, even though complain, they do provide
credible food for thought.
BUT YOU, asswipe, provide only deliberate twisted facts, lies
and half truths in the guise of psuedo intellect
worthy only of a conmen gathering, and do nothing but
contibute harm to the People. You are the kind of opposition
and bastard opposition supporters our People do not
need!
