Lee Kuan Yew did not fight colonialism

[Leepotism]

Lee Kuan Yew and Deng Xiaoping ‘had special bond’

​

[h=2]Excerpts from the book[/h]<small class="single-by" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); text-transform: capitalize; "></small>Dear Professor Vogel,
I refer to the 14 Nov 2011 Straits Times print of excepts from your new book on Deng Xiaoping.


You said Lee Kuan Yew came of age fighting colonialism and was leader of our country’s revolutionary struggle. That statement is not accurate. Anti-colonial and nationalistic sentiments emerged amongst the local populace soon after the end of the Japanese Occupation and led to Singapore’s first elections in 1948. So it was the community who began the fight against colonialism. They weren’t led by Lee Kuan Yew who was in England then studying law.


The next election in 1951 saw Lee becoming an election agent for John Laycock who contested under the pro-British Progressive Party. Since Lee stood with the pro-British camp then, he again did not fight colonialism.


The British commissioned nine-man committee that proposed limited internal self-government for Singapore in 1953 did not include Lee. So again, Lee didn’t help secure this milestone from the British.
While Lee was one of the thirteen who went to London to negotiate internal self-government in 1956, he wasn’t the leader, David Marshall was. In any case, they failed.


It was Lim Yew Hock, not Lee, who convinced the British in 1957 to grant us full internal self-government.
Lee then gave up some of that full internal self-government when he merged us with Malaya in 1963. Before that, he locked up his former comrades turned political opponents with British help. Once again, he didn’t fight colonialism but used it to further his political career instead.
Finally, Singapore achieved independence in 1965 only because we were expelled from Malaysia, not because Lee fought and won against colonialism.


Looking at the history of events, Lee hardly did anything to fight colonialism, let alone become the leader of our country’s revolutionary struggle.

 

[Rogue Trader]

It was the leftist movement who led the charge against colonial rulers. Period. The Brits had the Emergency Regulation in place and shut down all leftists, their sympathisers and the unions. While on exile in Jakarta, the Singapore communists (Eu and Fong) decided to align themselves with up and coming Cambridge educated civil rights lawyer to form a United Front against the colonial establishment.

And the rest, they say, is history (as we weren't taught in school).

 

[red amoeba]

It was the leftist movement who led the charge against colonial rulers. Period. The Brits had the Emergency Regulation in place and shut down all leftists, their sympathisers and the unions. While on exile in Jakarta, the Singapore communists (Eu and Fong) decided to align themselves with up and coming Cambridge educated civil rights lawyer to form a United Front against the colonial establishment.

And the rest, they say, is history (as we weren't taught in school).

but it was Lee who leveraged on them to gain independence & then split and turn against them.

they became a tool / catalyst...whatever, but history recognize the final victor - the guy who plant the flag, not the mules / sherpas who carried the load and did the footwork.

 

[Rogue Trader]

but it was Lee who leveraged on them to gain independence & then split and turn against them.

It is more complicated than that. Independence was the collective effort of many other players in the 50s - like the Tengku, Marshall, Lky and Pap, the lefties, the chinese educated intelligentsia etc.

they became a tool / catalyst...whatever, but history recognize the final victor - the guy who plant the flag, not the mules / sherpas who carried the load and did the footwork.

That is true. I have been trying to read up and piece together the parts recently. Our history is definitely more interesting than what we've been taught in school.

The road to independence was built on the backs of many forgotten men and women. They too deserve a chapter in our history textbooks.

 

[freedalas]

It is more complicated than that. Independence was the collective effort of many other players in the 50s - like the Tengku, Marshall, Lky and Pap, the lefties, the chinese educated intelligentsia etc.



That is true. I have been trying to read up and piece together the parts recently. Our history is definitely more interesting than what we've been taught in school.

The road to independence was built on the backs of many forgotten men and women. They too deserve a chapter in our history textbooks.

Very insightful and solid points by Rogue Trader. Good job, bro. It exposes the myth that PAP would want us to believe, that our independence were all LKY's credit, that he, and he alone brought us the independence.

 

[red amoeba]

Very insightful and solid points by Rogue Trader. Good job, bro. It exposes the myth that PAP would want us to believe, that our independence were all LKY's credit, that he, and he alone brought us the independence.

history goes to the guy who takes advantage of the situation / people to create something big that goes down in history.

From Liu Bang to Cao Cao to Mao Zedong, they all take advantage of the chaos to make a name for himself and to leave their marks in history.

And the people in future will then critique their acts (be it good or bad)...they shared one thing:

- they have the foresight / acumen

- they are good manipulators of people

 

[Rogue Trader]

And the people in future will then critique their acts (be it good or bad)...they shared one thing:

- they have the foresight / acumen

- they are good manipulators of people

- they were damn lucky

- they were ruthless

- combination of some/all of above

 

[Forvendet]

LKY didn't fight for independence, he fought for release from Britain by joining the Malayan federation. David Marshall was the one who fought for direct independence but he was at the time with terms and conditions unacceptable to the British.

It was an awkward merger doomed to fail from the start as LKY managed to get away with his special terms and demands, i.e. Singapore didn't join the federation on standard common terms like the other states did. LKY's ambition was obvious, to hold Singapore with special status as his base camp from which to launch an all-out takeover of Malaysia eventually.

 

[kingrant]

In fact, it was the fierce Japanese who first drove the Brits from their perch and proved that the Raj was not invincible. Only after the Americans dropped two atomic bombs on them did they surrender. The Brits tried to swagger back as our conquerors and liberators but by then they were a spent force, and Malayans awoke to the new dawn that they could throw off their yokes and run their own affairs.

LKY was indeed a Harry (sic) come lately. Imagine, how can a man lovingly called Harry by his masters be our colonial fighter? Better fitted to be a poodle.

Lee Kuan Yew and Deng Xiaoping ‘had special bond’

​

[h=2]Excerpts from the book[/h]<small class="single-by" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); text-transform: capitalize; "></small>Dear Professor Vogel,
I refer to the 14 Nov 2011 Straits Times print of excepts from your new book on Deng Xiaoping.


You said Lee Kuan Yew came of age fighting colonialism and was leader of our country’s revolutionary struggle. That statement is not accurate. Anti-colonial and nationalistic sentiments emerged amongst the local populace soon after the end of the Japanese Occupation and led to Singapore’s first elections in 1948. So it was the community who began the fight against colonialism. They weren’t led by Lee Kuan Yew who was in England then studying law.


The next election in 1951 saw Lee becoming an election agent for John Laycock who contested under the pro-British Progressive Party. Since Lee stood with the pro-British camp then, he again did not fight colonialism.


The British commissioned nine-man committee that proposed limited internal self-government for Singapore in 1953 did not include Lee. So again, Lee didn’t help secure this milestone from the British.
While Lee was one of the thirteen who went to London to negotiate internal self-government in 1956, he wasn’t the leader, David Marshall was. In any case, they failed.


It was Lim Yew Hock, not Lee, who convinced the British in 1957 to grant us full internal self-government.
Lee then gave up some of that full internal self-government when he merged us with Malaya in 1963. Before that, he locked up his former comrades turned political opponents with British help. Once again, he didn’t fight colonialism but used it to further his political career instead.
Finally, Singapore achieved independence in 1965 only because we were expelled from Malaysia, not because Lee fought and won against colonialism.


Looking at the history of events, Lee hardly did anything to fight colonialism, let alone become the leader of our country’s revolutionary struggle.

 

[bullfrog]

He was always fighting with people, with david Marshall, then with Lim Yew Hock, then the pro-communists, the UMNO leaders, but never the British colonialists. In fact, he was chums with many Labour party people. Harold Wilson was one. In fact, he was quite happy he had the British around to do his dirty work for him, such as to put his rivals in jail with the ISA, so that he had a free hand in a grab for power. He captured power by not making the colonialists angry but by being very nice, ratting on his comrades.

 

[halsey02]

He certainly have a lot of 'friends' over the other side of the 'river styx', who are just waiting in the endless cul de sacs, to knucke dust him...ha! ha! ha! ha!

 

[Rogue Trader]

He was always fighting with people, with david Marshall, then with Lim Yew Hock, then the pro-communists, the UMNO leaders, but never the British colonialists.

If you are referring to those locked up by the ISA, the Barisan Socalis 120 rounded up during Ops Coldstore weren't Communists.

Left wing, yes. But there is definitely no proof that Lim chin siong, Dr Lim hock siew, Said zahari and Dr Chia Thye poh were affiliated with the CPM.

 

[The_Hypocrite]

Thanks for the Article, glad to put things in perspective about LKY. Also the one thing I am sure off is LKY did not fight the Japanese during the occupation...

 

[Conqueror]

Asshole Mao Did Not Fight Japs Either

[video=youtube;KR_73v5zevE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR_73v5zevE[/video]

 

[The_Hypocrite]

Re: Asshole Mao Did Not Fight Japs Either

Funny that all the scums that did not fight the Japs end up ruling the country as dictators,,,maybe better to be a traitor and get rewarded than to fight for ones conviction and end up in a sorry state

 

[Conqueror]

Senior Dies = Junior Will Be Laughing All The Way To The Bank

Funny that all the scums that did not fight the Japs end up ruling the country as dictators,,,maybe better to be a traitor and get rewarded than to fight for ones conviction and end up in a sorry state

 

[Rogue Trader]

Some background story ....

An ex leftist figure once likened Lky to a vulture who picked on the remains of battles fought by others... to become the fattest bird in the battlefield in the end. That's a bit harsh but it gives an idea of what kind of role he played.

Following the war, the singapore communists had much control over the worker unions and students and were causing the british rulers a lot of headaches. But with the Emergency Regulations in place, the CPM/MDU (malayan democratic union founded by Eu chooi yip) members were being picked off by the Brit Special Branch like sitting ducks. They had to go underground to continue the revolution.

Compared to the British installed Lim yew hock, Lky became the communists' natural choice for heading anti colonial front. A young CPM representative called Fong chang pik, actually met up with Lky a few times in the late 50s to hatch cunning plans.

One such plan which is scarcely mentioned today was that the Communists instructed one of their plants, an elected parliament member in Workers' Party and a city council member, to quit his post. They also caused 2 plants who were members in the Parti Rakyat to quit running for the '59 elections. These 2 moves caused PAP to gain landslide victory that year.

Such was the magnitude of influence the Communists had on the political scene back then. It was a reason why Lky bestowed young and ordinary looking Fong with the title "The Plenipotentiary" - someone with full powers to represent his party. Without their support, the Pap would not have gained so much power in so little time.

To be continued....

 

[Leepotism]

In fact, it was the fierce Japanese who first drove the Brits from their perch and proved that the Raj was not invincible. Only after the Americans dropped two atomic bombs on them did they surrender. The Brits tried to swagger back as our conquerors and liberators but by then they were a spent force, and Malayans awoke to the new dawn that they could throw off their yokes and run their own affairs.

LKY was indeed a Harry (sic) come lately. Imagine, how can a man lovingly called Harry by his masters be our colonial fighter? Better fitted to be a poodle.

LKY is a traitor thru and thru. Even at his ripe old age of 87, he's still selling away our country to his so called foreign talents.