As many people know, Murali Pillai’s father was P K Pillai. PK was a trade unionist and member of Barisan Sosialis (the splinter party from PAP). He was arrested in 1963 under Operation Cold Store. Cold Store was an illegal Internal Security operation ostensibly aimed at eliminating communists but actually carried out to eliminate the opposition leadership to the PAP and Lee Kuan Yew.
Murali’s father P K Pillai was one of the people arrested under this guise. After the arrest, the detainees were subjected to longer then expected interrogation periods and solitary confinement. In fact, senior member of the British parliament questioned the manner of the detentions and treatment of the detainees.
Now, I am not sure what the father told the son. It’s a fact that many people detained this way remained traumatized for years. Just ask Teo Soh Lung. Sometimes, the detainees do not speak of their experience, which is akin to what many WW2 and Vietnam vets did. They did not tell even their immediate families about their wartime experience because it was too painful and brought back too many memories. Imagine the stress the arrest caused his mother and his family. Not being able to see your father for weeks because he was place in solitary confinement. No household income now that the main breadwinner was arrested and imprisoned. Now, Its entire possible that the elder Pillai never told his son about the torture or interrogation inflicted on him by Lee Con You’s desire to eliminate the legitimate opposition, because he did not want to distress him.
The other possibility is that the older Pillai did tell the son. This is a worse scenario then the first because the son apparently went against what the father stood for and threw his lot in with the PAP. What kind of son would work for and befriend the entity that imprisoned his own father unjustly? Well, the kind of son we can safely call “dishonourable” and a real traitor to his family. In this aspect, I don’t really understand Indians and I don’t trust them. How can a man befriend and work for the sworn enemy of his father? After all that his father went through, he still joined them. This is truly the worse kind of traitorous no good son you ever saw.
Mr. Murali claims that his father was ok with it. He claims his father later approved of and credited the PAP. He claims that his father told him to be sure to leave politics with his shirt on. This is just fine and dandy but his father is long dead. And while his father was alive, I did not hear these words from his lips. Surely, if PK had repented and renounce the BS and credited the PAP, the prostitute press would have been all over it. Only from his son during elections time. If I was the elder Pillai and Murali was my son, I would have taken a cricket bat and beat him senseless the day he came to me told me he was joining the PAP. The Chinese culture has one major tenet, which is the revenge and vengeance theme. An enemy of our father is also our enemy………for life. That is why entire families had to be killed to make sure a descendent did not seek revenge down the road.
Therefore, this Indian mindset that my father’s enemy is my friend is totally foreign to me and indicates a severely untrustworthy individual to me. Apparently, in his race, stuff like that is totally fine. Note Janil Puthuchery, son of Cold Store detainee Dominic Puthucheary, and Janadas Devan, son of Devan Nair. Given all this, I will be totally amazed if the people of Bukit Batok elects such a traitor to his own family.
Just my 2 cents.
Murali’s father P K Pillai was one of the people arrested under this guise. After the arrest, the detainees were subjected to longer then expected interrogation periods and solitary confinement. In fact, senior member of the British parliament questioned the manner of the detentions and treatment of the detainees.
Now, I am not sure what the father told the son. It’s a fact that many people detained this way remained traumatized for years. Just ask Teo Soh Lung. Sometimes, the detainees do not speak of their experience, which is akin to what many WW2 and Vietnam vets did. They did not tell even their immediate families about their wartime experience because it was too painful and brought back too many memories. Imagine the stress the arrest caused his mother and his family. Not being able to see your father for weeks because he was place in solitary confinement. No household income now that the main breadwinner was arrested and imprisoned. Now, Its entire possible that the elder Pillai never told his son about the torture or interrogation inflicted on him by Lee Con You’s desire to eliminate the legitimate opposition, because he did not want to distress him.
The other possibility is that the older Pillai did tell the son. This is a worse scenario then the first because the son apparently went against what the father stood for and threw his lot in with the PAP. What kind of son would work for and befriend the entity that imprisoned his own father unjustly? Well, the kind of son we can safely call “dishonourable” and a real traitor to his family. In this aspect, I don’t really understand Indians and I don’t trust them. How can a man befriend and work for the sworn enemy of his father? After all that his father went through, he still joined them. This is truly the worse kind of traitorous no good son you ever saw.
Mr. Murali claims that his father was ok with it. He claims his father later approved of and credited the PAP. He claims that his father told him to be sure to leave politics with his shirt on. This is just fine and dandy but his father is long dead. And while his father was alive, I did not hear these words from his lips. Surely, if PK had repented and renounce the BS and credited the PAP, the prostitute press would have been all over it. Only from his son during elections time. If I was the elder Pillai and Murali was my son, I would have taken a cricket bat and beat him senseless the day he came to me told me he was joining the PAP. The Chinese culture has one major tenet, which is the revenge and vengeance theme. An enemy of our father is also our enemy………for life. That is why entire families had to be killed to make sure a descendent did not seek revenge down the road.
Therefore, this Indian mindset that my father’s enemy is my friend is totally foreign to me and indicates a severely untrustworthy individual to me. Apparently, in his race, stuff like that is totally fine. Note Janil Puthuchery, son of Cold Store detainee Dominic Puthucheary, and Janadas Devan, son of Devan Nair. Given all this, I will be totally amazed if the people of Bukit Batok elects such a traitor to his own family.
Just my 2 cents.
