Serious Fong Swee Suan has passed on at 85

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• Feb 6, 2017

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Former leftist trade unionist Fong Swee Suan dies, aged 85

Monday, Feb 6, 2017

Former leftist trade unionist and Barisan Sosialis leader Fong Swee Suan died on Saturday (Feb 4) afternoon at his home. He was 85.
Photo: The Straits Times

SINGAPORE -Former leftist trade unionist and Barisan Sosialis leader Fong Swee Suan has died.

Mr Fong, a founding member of the People's Action Party (PAP) before he left the party in 1961 over differences of opinion about Singapore's merger with Malaysia, died on Saturday (Feb 4) afternoon at his home. He was 85.

In a Facebook post, his son, author and cartoonist Otto Fong, wrote: "As a child, I watched every tree you tended grow into a lush green giant of sweet fruits and cheerful flowers. I remember your patient guidance for all of us, and the vast space and love you had for every quirk in our family.

"Yesterday as I took a walk with my dog, you quietly slipped away and left one last gentle smile. You must know you gave us a better land and better lives than you had yourself."

Mr Fong was born in Senggarang, a town in the Batu Pahat district of Johor, in 1931.

In 1950, he came to Singapore to study at The Chinese High School, where he was placed in the same class as former Barisan leader Lim Chin Siong.

In 1952, he joined the Green Bus Company as a ticket seller and subsequently became a member of the Singapore Bus Workers' Union (SBWU). He was elected secretary-general of the union a year later.

The students of the Singapore Chinese Middle School Students' Union introduced Mr Fong to founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1954, and he became a founding member of the PAP.

Mr Fong was detained several times between 1955 and 1959. He was regarded as a major instigator of the Hock Lee bus strike, which quickly escalated into a riot in 1955.

When the PAP came to power in 1959, he was released and served as a political secretary under the PAP Government.
In 1961, he and close ally Lim Chin Siong broke away from the PAP to form Barisan Sosialis.

Accused of being involved in communist activities, Mr Fong was arrested together with 100 others under Operation Cold Store in 1963. He was taken to Malaysia for detention, and only released in 1967.

The ban on him was only lifted in 1990, and he returned to Singapore in 1998.

Mr Fong is survived by his wife Chen Poh Cheng, two sons and a daughter.



This article was first published on Feb 5, 2017.

 

Rogue Trader

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• Feb 6, 2017

• #2

 

R

rambo22

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• Feb 6, 2017

• #3

die, old fart sure scare liao

uncle Fong will settle old score with him

 

zhihau

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• Feb 6, 2017

• #4

rambo22 said:

die, old fart sure scare liao

uncle Fong will settle old score with him

Click to expand...

Chup Gorh Meh akan datang... old fart holding his chup gorh meh dinner lah...

 

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• Feb 6, 2017

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Fong Swee Suan: No reason to feel resentful about past

Ignatius Low

Monday, Mar 30, 2015

Author and cartoonist Otto Fong with his father, former political detainee Fong Swee Suan, 84. Growing up was difficult for Mr Fong because of his father’s reputation but he says there is no reason to feel resentful about the past.

Author and cartoonist Otto Fong did not join the thousands of Singaporeans standing in line for hours to pay their last respects to Singapore founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

"When I was a kid, my dad was banned from entering Singapore. I had to live in Malaysia and study in Singapore so I stood in line at the Customs for 10 years, back and forth daily," he wrote in a Facebook post last week.

"I think I've done enough queueing for Lee Kuan Yew."

Among the many stories of how Singaporeans' lives changed for the better as a result of Mr Lee's political decisions, the 46-year-old's stands in stark contrast.

His father is Mr Fong Swee Suan, a former union leader who became a key member of the People's Action Party, but left the party in 1961 over differences in opinion about Singapore's merger with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak. He was subsequently branded a communist and arrested in 1963 as part of Operation Cold Store, an anti-communist sting.

The 1955 Hock Lee Bus riots were also allegedly instigated by his father, together with fellow left-wing unionist Lim Chin Siong, although the older Mr Fong has repeatedly denied this.

After his arrest, Mr Fong's father was placed under detention across the Causeway in Muar and banned from entering Singapore.

"It was difficult because the family didn't have much savings, so my mum had to work in a stationery shop and take care of my very young sister, while still finding ways to go visit my dad in Muar," said Mr Fong.

He was born a year after his father was released in 1967. He said the family wanted to stay in Johor Baru because his parents still wanted their children to be educated in Singapore, but the older Mr Fong could not find a job there initially because of his reputation.

That reputation also resulted in the family being shunned by everyone here. Mr Fong said that when he was growing up, he did not go to any Chinese New Year or extended-family gathering.

"There was never any active harassment, only this fear in everyone's mind that I don't want to be seen with this person."

The isolation spilled over into Mr Fong's social life as a student in Singapore.

"Your friends would ask you to watch a movie and you have to say you can't because you have to catch the bus home to JB," he said.

Mr Fong remembers that big moment of realisation when he saw a political cartoon by Singaporean artist Morgan Chua depicting his father and Mr Lim as crazed "brothers-in-lawlessness".

"It was like that moment in Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back when Luke discovers that Darth Vader is his father," said Mr Fong. "It created a lot of confusion and I blamed my dad for wasting his time in politics."

The ban on his father entering Singapore was eventually lifted in 1990, but it was only a few years ago, in their old age, that Mr Fong's parents finally returned.

"My dad would not have been able to do that if he had clung on to the past," said Mr Fong.

"In fact, my parents made it a point to shield us from the past, so that we could grow up with a clean slate."

He added: "My mum used to say that when she was younger, she was very angry and wanted to outlive Lee Kuan Yew. But now, she says that was such a meaningless thing to hold on to."

The older Mr Fong eventually penned a memoir, which was released in 2009. A copy was sent to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who thanked them for the book in a letter that was signed personally.

Mr Fong said that there is no reason to feel resentful about the past.

"It was not a bad life for me. I am glad I did not have to share my dad with a million other urgent national issues, should history have turned out differently," he told The Sunday Times.

"I'm also a beneficiary of the Singapore system," added the Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College old boy. "It's not a perfect system but it's not a bad system, and one that works better than many others."

And despite the history between Mr Lee and his father, Mr Fong is full of admiration for the founding Prime Minister.

"Don't forget Singapore, at the time, was under the influence of many strong forces, so to make things work in a short time, you really had to be the strongman and a bigger, more unreasonable force. Even the gangsters will have to fear you, in order to push things through peacefully," he said.

"He may not have been the originator of every idea and people may not agree with him, but he was able to stand there and say, 'This is the issue that I stand behind and if you have a problem, you deal with me.' I thought that was pretty cool."

But what of his family's reaction to Mr Lee's passing?

"We did not say anything. It had all been said before," said Mr Fong. "But as I looked at everyone queueing up, I wondered how many of them would do the same thing for their loved ones while they were still alive.

"There is a difference between forgiving and forgetting," he added. "Forgiving is about letting go, forgetting is not healthy for history."



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This article was first published on Mar 29, 2015.

 

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• Feb 6, 2017

• #6

But what of his family's reaction to Mr Lee's passing?

"We did not say anything. It had all been said before," said Mr Fong

Bullshit, they popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate, like I did.

 

Papsmearer

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• Feb 6, 2017

• #7

"But as I looked at everyone queueing up, I wondered how many of them would do the same thing for their loved ones while they were still alive.

He has just summed up in one sentence why sinkies are so fucking retarded.

 

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• Feb 9, 2017

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Ex-detainee contributed to Singapore, say sons


Wednesday, Feb 8, 2017

Family members paying their respects to the late Fong Swee Suan. A group of about 50 people bade a final farewell to Mr Fong yesterday at his funeral service in Mandai Crematorium, including former leftist trade unionists and friends. Mr Fong died last Saturday at age 85, after suffering from liver cirrhosis for several years.
Photo: The Straits Times


Former trade union leader and political detainee Fong Swee Suan was labelled a leftist, even a communist, by many in his lifetime.

But according to his two sons, he was a loving father and husband who made significant contributions to Singapore's development from a British colony to an independent nation in the turbulent 1950s and 1960s.

In one of the emotional eulogies they gave at their father's funeral service in Mandai Crematorium yesterday, elder son Otto Fong, 48, an author and cartoonist, remembered him as a patient man who "seldom lost his temper".

"Dad had green fingers, anything he planted blossomed," he added, referring to the time the family lived in Johor, from the late 1960s to the 1990s. Younger son Yong Sheng, 42, an engineer, said: "I want to thank my dad for the sacrifices he made in the early years so that Singapore could be what it is today." In the small group of about 50 people who bade a final farewell to Mr Fong were his wife, Madam Chen Poh Chang, 80; his eldest child, Lydia, 54, an architect; other family members; former leftist trade unionists and friends.

Mr Fong died last Saturday at age 85, after suffering from liver cirrhosis for several years. He was a founding member of the People's Action Party (PAP) in 1954, but left with other leftists in the party to form the now-defunct Barisan Sosialis in 1961. He quit the PAP because of differences over Singapore's merger with the Federation of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia.

A firebrand trade unionist and politician, he was imprisoned in 1955 and again in 1956. When he was arrested a third time under Operation Coldstore, which was another security swoop against leftists and pro-communists in 1963, he was sent back to peninsula Malaya, where he was born. He spent 4½ years in jail there. Hundreds of Mr Fong's former comrades, from the PAP as well as Barisan Sosialis, had paid their last respects at his wake in the past three days.

Others included Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung and Minister of State for Education, and Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary. Both are sons of former leftists and Barisan leaders who were close comrades of Mr Fong.

Mr Ong told The Straits Times after visiting the wake on Sunday: "Mr Fong Swee Suan represented the ideals of many Singaporeans of an earlier generation - my parents' generation.

"He will be remembered and respected."


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This article was first published on February 8, 2017.
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