Some additional small information
about Singapore Politics conducted in the 1960s - from the
ex-Solicitor General during this period, who had listened to the
instructions of the POWER OF ONE :
Review of
Comet in Our Sky: Lim Chin Siong in History
&
Dark Clouds at Dawn: A Political Memoir
by Francis Seow
Given Singapore's rugged political history, there has,
understandably, been a noticeable dearth of dissident literature.
The reasons are not far to seek: political dissidents, especially
those detained by the authorities, were inhibited by conditions of
their release from associating with one another let alone writing
biographies questioning their original detention. Singapore, a
command society, does not encourage such lèse-majesté literature,
and publishers -- be they domestic or foreign -- are slow to
publish in this regard for fear of, among other possibilities,
losing their printing or publishing licence.
Thus, these two books, Comet in Our Sky: Lim Chin Siong in History
(edited by Tan Jing Quee and Jomo. K.S., illustrated. 170 pp., IBSN
983-9602) and Said Zahari's Dark Clouds at Dawn: A Political
Memoir, (illustrated. 316 pp., IBSN 983-9602-13-6) make a belated
albeit refreshing presence to correct the lopsided official
history. It is worth recalling that it was Lee Kuan Yew, then in
political opposition, who first sought the favour and support of
Lim Chin Siong, and, to a lesser degree, of Said Zahari, among
others, in his quest for political control. They became his
comrades with whom he ran, and later hunted, with the British
colonial and Malaysian governments. Some would call it political
astuteness but others would term it base treachery. Be that as it
may, there is no doubt whatsoever Lee played a singular role behind
the scenes in their subsequent incarceration by those governments,
rationalizing their detention many years later by labelling them
communists, communist sympathizers and such like, even though he
knew they were not. In this regard, the gross libel he practised on
them was perpetuated by an uncritical news media -- until the
scales fell in 1971 as a result of his ham-fisted suppression of
the print media. Some official records, but not all, have recently
been declassified in London, enough to suggest that Lim Chin Siong
-- and his fellow detainees -- were not as stridently red as Lee
had painted them to be.
Given the increasing availability of those records and, as
dissidents are emboldened to write their political memoirs, further
light will be thrown onto Lee's sinister role in the 1950s and
1960s, especially in the 1963 internal security exercise
cynically-named Operation Cold Store, wherein he used the bogey of
communism to prevail upon the British and Malayan governments to
decimate the effective political opposition in one fell swoop by
arbitrary arrests: a pretext which he still uses even after
Singapore achieved independence. Comet in Our Sky: Lim Chin Siong
in History is unfortunately not written by him, although Said
Zahari -- a former Utusan Melayu editor and long-time fellow
political detainee -- mentions a projected collaboration to write a
joint memoir. It was, however, frustrated by Chin Siong's sudden
demise twenty-three days shy of his sixty-third birthday of a heart
attack on February 5, 1996. The political climate was not then
conducive for such literary endeavour: in any event, they would not
have had easy access to research facilities and the publishing
industry, which was -- and still is -- too intimidated to consider,
let alone accept, any contrary publishing assignments.
Some essayists speak of Chin Siong's emotional distress in prison.
Like Said Zahari, he was placed in solitary confinement for
inordinately long periods at a time, a sure prescription for
depression. But, unlike Said Zahari, Chin Siong apparently suffered
from high-blood pressure, whose adverse effects combined with
periods of solitary confinement were further intensified by the
psychotropic drugs specially prescribed him by the prison
psychiatrist, which finally drove him to attempt suicide at the
General Hospital. It sparked off ugly rumours at the time that he
was being deliberately done in by the authorities. However, Lee, in
his self-serving memoirs, From Third World to First, put it down to
the sudden realization that "Communism [had] failed him." The
explanation is not only cynical but facile -- just as his statement
simpliciter therein that, unlike his fellow detainees, Chin Siong
was not banished from Singapore under Operation Cold Store. Lee
failed to mention that Chin Siong is a Singapore citizen who could
not by law be banished: it was thus no act of compassion.
Significantly, the self-same prison psychiatrist later committed
suicide reviving knowing whispers that Chin Siong had been
over-prescribed medications against the former's better judgment.
However it may be, the last word on this topic has not been
written.
Thus, when Chin Siong appeared before a triumphant Lee in his
grandiose official residence at Sri Temasek to plead for his
release to the United Kingdom "for studies," he was not so much a
"disillusioned " man, as Lee asserted, as a broken man. Long
solitary confinement under torturous conditions and generous
prescriptions of psychotropic drugs had broken him. No explanation
is offered by any essayists as to why Chin Siong became instead a
barrow-boy selling fruits and vegetables in London. For he was
known to have a sharp intellect, amongst other accomplishments. Was
it because he was so crushed in body and mind that it took him
years to recuperate from his fearsome ordeal? Be that as it may,
they never met again, but in a statement that pushes the outer edge
of credibility, Lee however claimed they "... exchanged greetings
in New Year cards."
Even so, Chin Siong paid a high price for his relative freedom: in
the egregious ISD -- Internal Security Department -- fashion, he
had been psyched up to denounce his comrades, some of whom did not
know of nor appreciate his physical and mental distress, including
the nefarious use of sleep deprivation. One can only surmise what
indignities he was made to go through! It is in this context that
the open letter allegedly written by Chin Siong to Dr. Lee Siew
Choh, the Barisan Sosialis chairman, urging him and the Barisan
faithful to abandon the good fight, must be read. If experience is
any guide, there is every reason to believe the letter was dictated
and crafted by the ISD as a condition of his release. With his
contrived exile to London, Lee removed the greatest political
threat to him and his PAP government.
