The Dramatic Rise of Lee Kuan Yew

I have posted on 4 May 2018 that it would be my swan song but I have to reluctantly resume as I could not for some esoteric reason get the PAP mouth-piece The Straits Times to publish although I do not think that they are so acutely blind that they are not able to see its public interest. It is amazing that that they can be so uncivilised that they do not have the decency to give a decent reply.

It would be appropriate o give a little background to the October Resolution issued by the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) in 1951 which had a dynamic effect in the political development in Singapore. The CPM armed struggle was not going well for the CPM and the CEC met in October 1951 to find a solution to the setback in their armed struggle.After probably a long deliberation they decided that a united front be formed to complement the armed struggle and so a watershed October Resolution was issued to the CPM components to carry out.

Because of the intricacies of the CPM courier system, by the time the October Resolution was implemented in Singapore was end 1953/1954. Overnight numerous  left-wing unions, Chinese School Old Boys' Associations, the Brass Gong Society, the Women's Federation and others sprang up like in the Chinese saying "the sprouting of young bamboo shoots after the rain".The significant point was that out of nowhere emerged a nonentity in the person of Lim Chin Siong who assumed the leadership of the Communist United Front CUF). It would be wrong not to admit that the magnitude of this phenomenon did not alarm the authorities, especially the Special Branch SB)  but SB was resilient enough to recover from the shock and quickly proceed to re-organise to combat the colossal security threat.

That Lim Chin Siong was a CUF leader with eminence and popularity was never in doubt. To show an example of his eminent status, in the early days when he entered the former Happy Wold Stadium where political rallies were regularly held by the CUF he was always greeted with a standing ovation.This was spontaneous and the stadium was fully packed with supporters. Lee Kuan Yew would follow behind with a briefcase in his hand and he would not have missed observing this massive honour given to Lim Chin Siong. In fact this would have been a crucial point in his calculation to advance his political career.

Lee Kuan Yew was a politician without a mass base which would be a great handicap in his political ambition. He had to rely on Lim Chin Siong for political support because of Lim's massive mass base. LKY fully realised that Lim would be a formidable impediment to his political career and any plan in his mind to remove this obstacle in his poltical path could not be too far-fetched.To give an example of his great apprehension of Lim's political prowess over him, he was known to have introduced Lim to his guests as the future prime minister of Singapore. This could have been said in a moment of banter but it could unwittingly reveal a tortured mind.

Notwithstanding all these adverse circumstances against him, LKY seemed to have the divine blessing in his political pursuit.One was the Special Branch and the other could be a person least expected to be a boon to him.  And that saviour was none other than the much-maligned LIm Yew Hock who was the Chief Minister. If given the choice LKY would rather not be beholden to a person he considered an unsavoury politician and an awesome security organ.

Special Banch had the unedifying task of incarcerating Lim Chin Siong and his fellow activists to prevent them from fomenting pro-communist agitation in the political arena in Singapore and this had unwittingly paved the way for Lee Kuan Yew to capture power  in the General Election in 1959 to become the PAP prime minister of Singapore.Special Branch could not have been able to mount the arrests without the signature of Lim Yew Hock. And no one had been able to read his mind to unravel the puzzle as the why he had so blithely put his signature to the detention.

There is a Chinese saying: If a war is successful ten thousand bones would have rotted or decayed.(一仗功成万骨枯）

The Conundrum of Operation Coldstore

Actually I have stopped blogging since last year. Lately I have been intrigued by the persistent appeals of interested political observers to give my view on the controversial Operation Coldstore. I will make this my swan song.

I will try to give an objective view on Operation Coldstore without giving offence to any party be it the powers-that-be or the opposition. The bombastic submission on Operation Coldstore by the authentic reputed Oxford Historian Dr. Thum Ping Tjin  to the Select Committee on deliberate falsehoods has created an unprecedented uproar to the members of the Select Committee as well as the public .Dr. Thum's submission seems to lack objectivity by presenting only one side of the picture without the opportunity of having the insight of the deliberations and discussions of the Internal Security Council (ISC) comprising Malaysian and British representatives which gave the approval to PM Lee Kuan Yew to proceed with Operation Coldstore. What the ISC discussed was top secret and not privy to the public. So it remained a secret how Lee Kuan Yew had been able to convince the ISC with his eloquence to give him the approval. Members of the ISC were not guillible people who could be easily persuaded.

That Operation Coldstore was  mounted against the leaders of the Communist United Front ostensibly to pre-empt them from seizing power was never in doubt but that it had also helped Lee Kuan Yew in consolidating his position against his political opponents cannot be dismissed as a fact. Some of those detained can be described dyed-in-the-wool subversives but it cannot be denied that some may be less implicated.

The fact that Dr. Thum Ping Tjin is an authentic reputed Oxford Historian  can  never be detracted by any amount of denigration by any party though there was no lack of such attempts as seen in his six-hour questioning in the Select Committee. The Operation Coldstore controversy will go on indefintely because there can never be a definitive conclusion to it.

This is a new post.

The conundrum of the Elected Presidency

Singaporeans are so inured to the sophistry of the PAP demagogues that they now take it in their stride for its face value.When the whole of Singapore had not the slightest doubt that the establishment of the Constitutional Commission on the Elected Presidency was a political scheme of the PAP wallahs to prevent Dr. Tan Cheng Bock from contesting the EP, PAP leaders, especially PM Lee Hsien Loong, could be so tongue-in-cheek to try to convince the public that it was not aimed at Dr. Tan but was for some obscure altruistic reasons. Dr. Tan has for some unknown reason hitherto been reticent on this point but for some very good reasons now openly said in a press conference "that out elected presidency will always be tainted with the suspicion that the reserved election of 2017 was introduced to prevent my candidacy."

Quite significantly,Dr. Tan has questioned the PAP Government's decision to include the term of the late former president Wee Kim Wee in calculating when a reserved election should be held which in the eyes of the public is considered too far -fetched. President Wee Kim Wee was never by any stretch of imagination an elected president and for the Attorney-General to start counting the five continuous terms from the term of president Wee is utterly incomprehensible and may be against the nature of justice. Dr. Tan said that there was no proper explanation as to why the A-G advised the Government to start the count from Dr. Wee's term and suggested that the Government can refer the Attorney-General's opinion to court for independent judicial verification.

The Malays do not appear to be comfortable with the presidential election in 2017 reserved for them as many,especially the more discerning ones, regard it as a gesture of tokenism by the PAP Government. Another glaring element to them is the dearth of finding suitable candidates to contest. It will certainly be a blessing to them if there is an independent judicial verification to invalidate the Attorney-General's opinion to start the count from Dr. Wee's term as first elected president. It would mean that the 2017 presidential election will be an open election and not a reserved election for the Malays. This will be a blessing for the Malays because this will save them from having to make a Hobson's choice on the reserved election.

This will mean that the prospects of Dr. Tan Cheng Bock contesting the 2017 presidential election will be so much brighter, which will be to the horror of the PAP leaders, especially the bright spark PM Lee Hsien Loong. Dr. Tan has said that he is leaving his options open and if he qualifies to contest, what his chances are is a foregone conclusion in view of his groundswell of support.

Is China cocking a snook at the joker PM Lee Hsien Loong?

The Parliamentary debate on 9 January on the seizure of the nine Terrex Infantry Carriers looked more like a colourful comic opera which the Singapore public has not had the privilege of witnessing for a long time.The star performer Defence Minister Dr. Ng Eng Hen was so ebullient in his bombastic discourse about Singapore Government's sovereign immunity that it might have convinced gullible Singaporeans about its legal validity but not an unsympathetic China. The Parliamentary spectacle was more likely intended to show the world the more iniquitous face of China in the so-called arbitrary seizure of the Terrex Infantry Carriers by Hong Kong Customs but has it ever occurred to the PAP wallahs that even the Singapore citizenry has remained reticent over the issue, not to mention support.

Quite significantly, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesman has again re-iterated the One China principle which Singapore could meditate on seriously notwithstanding its vigorous profession of strict adherence to the One China principle. It has been repeatedly pointed out that the Terrex issue is going to be a complex problem requiring an infinite time frame to resolve. It is not something which a surly letter from the high-falutin PM Lee Hsien Loong to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong to demand the return of the seized armoured vehicles could resolve. The reply from Hong Kong is not very encouraging.

Cannot our thick-headed PM Lee sober up for once and think of a more civilised approach to China? For instance it does not lower PM Lee's world standing, if any, for him to appeal directly to President Xi Jinping of China sans any legal threat like the sovereign immunity for the return of the armoured vehicles. By now it should be abundantly clear to PM Lee and his Cabinet that there will be no resolution of the Terrex issue without President Xi's nod. The obvious alternative will be the prolonged detention of the Terrex armoured vehicles until some miraculous relenting of the part of China.

Whether China's relation with Singapore will return to its former exemplary state after this issue is resolved will depend on sincere efforts by both sides to realise this, but would depend more on the divestment of PM Lee's pro-American image. Another is the One China principle which China is not entirely happy that Singapore is earnestly adhering it. Of course Singaporeans will be elated to see a happy ending to this unfortunate episode which they think is of PAP leaders' own making.