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Chitchat Derek Davies - the man called Intrepid

scroobal

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Mention of Lucy Davies and a name sake comes to mind. Derek Davies had a long history with Singapore and with the old man in particular. Why Derek Davies did led to a chain reaction that no one could have anticipated. Its this single incident that took place at Istana Annex that led to Dr Ang Swee Chai to remain in purgatory to this day.

Old man had a long fascination with the likes of Richard Corridon, Ahmad Shah, Alex Josey, Dennis Bloodworth and of course Derek Davies. All had the same attributes - all linked to the intelligences services of the British at some time, all were his confidants, all were noted for their political insights of foes and friends, of individuals and countries, all were regular visitors to the Annex and all did not have local circle of friends. Although Bloodworth became a Singaporean much later. The last 2 also had oriental wives which indicated their commitment to the region.

0n 22 March 1976, Derek made his way to the Istana for his usual chat with the Old Man when ever he was in town. Old Man always relished his regular chat with the editor of the Far Eastern Review who had met Asian Leader such as Mao, Marcos etc and had their trust. It was a confidential meeting but as a former trained MI6 operative and a creature of habit he returned to his hotel room and taped a recording of his conversation from memory. He then asked the locally based stringer to send it to his office. That stringer however made a copy and its contents ended up with Tun Hussein Onn as substantial part of the conversation was about Malaysian leaders.

A few months later Old Man found out from his Intelligence folks and all hell broke loose. The contents that reached Hussein Onn was recognised by old man as the discussion held with Davies. On 4th Jan 1977 Ho Kwon Ping who was the only salaried journalist with FEER was picked up and his home was raided and they were looking for an extract of the conversion or a tape. However all they found out was some documentation on SAF and Ho was charged in court for having confidential document on the army and fined $7,500. The fishing expedition turned out be empty.

Intelligence had garnered that G Raman was the one who passed on the tape to Dominic Puthucheary who was banned from entering Singapore. Raman was picked up in February and he implicated a whole lot of people including the stringer who copied the tape as well as Francis Khoo. Francis escaped to the UK while his wife Dr Ang Swee Chai was picked up. Ho Kwong Ping was rearrested and detained for 2 months.

The tape was recovered and old man was shocked that it a total recall of the conversation.

3 years later all was forgotten and forgiven and Derek went back to the Istana Annex to have his regular chats with the Old Man. Until FEER wrote about the Gregory Yong being forced by old man at the Istana to accept what the Marxist conspiracy was all about.

I bet Dr Ang till today had no idea about the tape led to her situation. The stringer's citizenship was revoked and he became stateless. Raman was detained under ISA as well as a number of others. Ho Kwon Ping left to live and work in HK promising not be involved in politics again.
 

Victory2016

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Old Man had always been very close to the MI6 buggers. Fortunately, he was not a homo, otherwise there would have been a big fag party.

Some people suspected that Old Man could well be informing the Brits about the Communists within the early PAP.

I also read somewhere that once, a newbie boss in the British establishment had expressed some concern about the young LKY and the PAP. But when he found out that Alex Josey was hanging around LKY, he heaved a sigh of relief. They had apparently expected Alex Josey to keep a close tab on LKY. So when did Alex Josey quit MI6? Or was he an agent/source of MI6 right to the end, with whom LKY used as a conduit to Whitehall?
 

Victory2016

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Did PM Hussein Onn really needed to hear from Derek Davies?

Didn't his Special Branch/Research Dept have a circumcised but pork eating "James M Bond" buried deep within a certain white building at Gombak?
 

scroobal

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Alex Josey lived out of a room at the Cockpit hotel, a stone's throw from old man's house as well as the Istana. The Cockpit was also where the Foreign Correspondence Association for SEA met and you would know that it has always been used the Intelligence Services as most members were either IOs posing as Journalists or working for them in form or another. Alex had 2 regular golfing partners - Old Man and his deputy Top Chin Chye though they played separately it allowed him access to the entire PAP. You could not have a better setup as the 2 men had complete circles of friends and contacts. Toh Chin Chye once mentioned in an interview that he had reservations about Alex.

The other interesting thing is that Old Man's wife was noted for her animosity towards white while Old Man was pretty cozy with them despite the public persona. His wife never knew of his meetings with the likes of Derek. The exception was Dennis Bloodworth and his Chinese wife.

I would occasionally see Dennis's eldest adopted son and wondered if he knew the role the father played.



Old Man had always been very close to the MI6 buggers. Fortunately, he was not a homo, otherwise there would have been a big fag party.

Some people suspected that Old Man could well be informing the Brits about the Communists within the early PAP.

I also read somewhere that once, a newbie boss in the British establishment had expressed some concern about the young LKY and the PAP. But when he found out that Alex Josey was hanging around LKY, he heaved a sigh of relief. They had apparently expected Alex Josey to keep a close tab on LKY. So when did Alex Josey quit MI6? Or was he an agent/source of MI6 right to the end, with whom LKY used as a conduit to Whitehall?
 

scroobal

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The content was views on Hussein's successors plus other tidbits. Anyway in that conversation the role of Hussein Jahidi and his confession as well the implication of Samad Ismail was mentioned. Hussein Jahidi had been detained in 1976. Samad Ismail had managed to penetrate the upper echelon's of UMNO. Hussein Onn acted immediately and detained Samad and asked the Old Man for Jahidi's confession. It was this request that our side suspected that Hussein Onn seemed to know much more.

No idea about the hantu in Gombak.



Did PM Hussein Onn really needed to hear from Derek Davies?

Didn't his Special Branch/Research Dept have a circumcised but pork eating "James M Bond" buried deep within a certain white building at Gombak?
 

aurvandil

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The old Cockpit hotel ... wonder how many people here remember it ...
The following are some pics from an old blog. Pic 2 is a rare one from the penthouse suite.

https://worldstotrek.wordpress.com/1992/04/05/singapore-cockpit-hotel/

image-01-copy.jpg


image-02.jpg


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It was supposedly "not clean" and had its share of ghost stories. One of these was featured in the series Incredible Tales.

http://www.hungzai.com/haunted-cockpit-hotel/

Here goes..this hotel is located opp. Meridien at somerset. I think alot of you should notice it. Its opp. the istana also. The building if u see it is dark and spooky. There will be a guard standing at the entrance. I have always wondered why this hotel was never demolished although it has been there for decades, abandoned. I was intrested in what actually went on there. A friend of mine from the hotel industry, told me this story. There was this eurasian couple who had their second honeymoon there.

They were quite old at that time. Maybe in their forties. Anyway word has it that they had a huge quarrel and the wife went back to her homeland leaving the husband here.

The husband being very distraught with the wife leaving, jumped to his death at the hotel itself.

Management has been said to have blocked that room. But as years got by and “things” never did occur they decided to open it back to guests.

The unfortunante guests who moved in after it was opened happened to be a family of 4. The boy was found in the bathtub drowned. Nobody knows how it happened or why.(at this time my hair starts to stand…)

Well..after that the room was immediately blocked. But the floor wasn’t. The other rooms on the floor were still opened to guests.

Management begin to receive complaints of having seen an old man and a drenched boy holding hands at the doorway everytime they left their rooms and came back. They were always there in the doorway..not doing anything….just standing there looking at whoever who walked past….this story was done in an episode of the Incredible Tales.


Alex Josey lived out of a room at the Cockpit hotel, a stone's throw from old man's house as well as the Istana.
 

scroobal

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It had a very small carpark at the back and probably the reason why it was not popular for those into hotel dining. I do recall that people did say that they had one of the better dim sum buffet and that it was affordable.

Was not aware of the stories in cockpit but it struck me as quite mysterious which I cannot explain. Its distinctive balconey however stood out. Heard that it was called Hotel Europe or something like that and popular with British planters of those time.
 

aurvandil

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Another story from the old Cockpit hotel.

http://www.hungzai.com/cockpit-hotel-2/

I have always wanted to meet these usual beings face to face. Honestly I am scared but I just love to explore and be different. My family is the religious sort but not me. My mum said that I am the devil among my siblings. At school during camping time while I was in secondary school years, my school organised a camping at Sarimbun Camp every year but too bad I saw nothing and nothing approached me. All I see was a white cloth hanging on a banana tree. And rumours said that my school toilet located at the first floor was haunted but I ever smoke there alone but nothing happened. Im not asking for any mishaps but I just want to meet these unusual beings and explore. More or less I have actually sense that these things are around me except that it has not made itself presence as yet.

Im sure most of the S?porean have heard of the Cockpit Hotel. I wonder why the vacant building is stranded there without being demolished as it has been abandoned for years. I have been wanting to explore that hotel for soo loong.

One Saturday night, early in the wee morning around 1 am, after watching a movie with my boyfriend at Cineleisure, we decided to walk past Cockpit Hotel to ?see? anything unusual. It is very interesting to find out about this abandoned building located exactly near the Istana. The atmosphere was simply like a ghost town. The place was cold and freezy. There was no one around except us. Cars were hardly seen. My boyfriend warned me not to alert him anything unusual till we get home safely.

As we walked passed the building, we notice that the entrance door on the first floor is open but there is a caretaker siting there. I can still vividly remember that I could see what?s inside the hotel located near the entrance. I noticed that there are like a lot of ?people? inside walking about but it was pitched dark. My instinct told me that I should go inside and take a look. I told my boyfriend that I wanted to go inside but he refused to let me go and tell me to just walk pass quietly. My eyes did never blink at all as I was observing closely what was inside the hotel. I could also hear the people talking and the sound like plates and glass and it was like having a party inside. I glance at the whole building again and it was like creepy?. I wasn?t at all scared. Instead I am still interested to know more what is inside the hotel. Maybe I can befriend one of these ?people?. When I asked my boyfriend whether he seen anything he said no.

Till now, I could not figure out why there were so many ?people? walking about in the hotel reception in the dark??.
 

aurvandil

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It had a long and interesting history. Found this nice pic of the restaurant

tk%20officers%20at%20Cockpit.jpg


cockpit%20match.jpg


Also more background on the history of the hotel.

https://roots.sg/Roots/learn/collections/listing/1213379

The site of the Cockpit Hotel at Penang Road was previously occupied by the Hotel de L’Europe (not to be confused with the hotel of the same name that was opened in 1857 along the Padang), which was established in 1947. This earlier property was later renamed ‘the Cockpit’ as it was popular with crew members and passengers of the Dutch airline KLM. The new Cockpit Hotel was completed in 1972 and initially owned by Indonesian businessman Hoo Liong Thing. The 13-storey, 230-room property had a unique facade that featured distinctive windows and wrought-iron balconies. The hotel was sold to Hong Kong jeweller Kevin Hsu in 1980 and subsequently to local hotelier Teo Lay Swee three years later. Teo acquired the neighbouring House of Tan Yeok Nee in 1991 as part of his plan to build an extension to the hotel. This expansion project was abandoned when the Teo family sold the hotel and the surrounding land to property developer Wing Tai in 1996. The hotel, which in its heyday was known for its nightclub and alfresco dining, was closed down the following year. The site of the hotel has since been redeveloped into a condominium property known as Visioncrest Residence.


Was not aware of the stories in cockpit but it struck me as quite mysterious which I cannot explain. Its distinctive balconey however stood out. Heard that it was called Hotel Europe or something like that and popular with British planters of those time.
 
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aurvandil

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And what would a building be without knowing what went on inside ...

http://www.fcasingapore.com/index.php?action=displayHistory

The old saying that "the shoemaker's children are the worst shod" seems an appropriate way to describe the FCA archives. One can only assume that the organisation that is more than a half-century old was doing such a thorough job chronicling events in South East Asia, that it neglected to record its own fascinating history.

Thank goodness then for the late Dennis Bloodworth, the former South East Asia correspondent for The Observer and long-time FCA guiding spirit. His value as a remarkable historical resource for the Association became apparent when he provided four pages of notes about the early days of the FCA. These were reproduced in the FCA newsletter, The Source, in the May 1998 issue, in an article entitled "From Merdeka to ASEAN: A history of the FCA."

"The Foreign Correspondents Association of South East Asia, as it rather grandly called itself, was formed in the summer of 1956," Bloodworth wrote, explaining that the pan-regional moniker stemmed from a hope to include correspondents based in Saigon, Bangkok and Jakarta.

It was a time of great global interest in the region due to the communist insurgencies in Vietnam and Malaya, the rise of Indonesia's Sukarno as a leader of the Third World and the developing struggle for power in Singapore.

The press club's meetings were held in the bar of the Cockpit Hotel, which remained the focus of activities for several years. Informal committee meetings, presided over by the FCA's first president, the Manchester Guardian's Vernon Bartlett, took place at a corner table, and regular Saturday night drinking sessions occupied the bar. Correspondents from out of town would gravitate there, swapping gossip and comparing coverage.

Among the earliest members was Wee Kim Wee, the UPI bureau chief and later President of the Republic, John Ridley of the Daily Telegraph and Yves Causse of Agence France Presse. In the early days, there were about 24 ordinary members, with associate members admitted soon afterwards.

The club attracted a host of notable speakers from the start, many of them involved in the political competition to govern Singapore. They included Lim Yew Hock, Singapore's second prime minister, Governor Sir Robert Scott, and leaders from the then-opposition People's Action Party, including Mayor Ong Eng Guan and Toh Chin Chye. After Lee Kuan Yew was elected as prime minister in 1959, the FCA hosted a dinner for him, the start of a long association with the foreign press.

In the early 1960s, the FCA migrated to the Coral Room of the old Adelphi Hotel. At the time there was considerable debate about whether Singapore would be able to join newly-independent Malaya.

Tunku Abdul Rahman, the Malayan prime minister, agreed to speak before the FCA at a time when rumours were rife about the future of Singapore and the British dependencies in North Borneo. Bloodworth sets the scene in his book, The Tiger and the Trojan Horse.

Bloodworth, then FCA vice-president, was sitting next to the Malayan prime minister at the luncheon before his speech, and asked him whether Malaya was interested in moving "politically" into Borneo.

The Tunku "dug a little dubiously into his gaudy ice cream with a small spoon. 'I shall have to think more about it first,' he replied," wrote Bloodworth. "He did not think for long, apparently, because he then rose to tell 60-odd foreign journalists and diplomats for the first time that Malaya could not stand alone and in isolation, but must seek an 'understanding' with the peoples of North Borneo--and Singapore."

It was a bombshell announcement for it meant that Malaya was open to a merger with Singapore and it set in motion the events that led to Singapore joining Malaya, and the creation of the state of Malaysia.

It was around this time that the FCA moved its events to the Singapore Cricket Club, which was suffering a slump in membership and as an incentive offered the FCA a group membership deal. In 1965, freelancer Alex Josey was expelled from Singapore by the Malaysian government as tensions rose between Singapore and the Federal governments. The FCA protested, but in vain. The next week, the FCA gave a lunch for Federal Vice-Premier Tun Abdul Razak, when the members publicly snubbed him by boycotting question time. The Straits Times headline read "Riddle of silent foreign newsmen."

There were several cases of members being expelled from the country for interfering in domestic political affairs. Bloodworth recollected one incident of a correspondent who waved a placard in a demonstration.

But Bloodworth said that the FCA found a sympathetic ear in the then-Information Minister S. Rajaratnam, who had been a writer for The Straits Times and at one time a stringer for Bloodworth.

"Given our good relations with Raja we were able to delay, but not cancel their expulsions. But an important outcome was that Raja laid down guidelines stating that foreign correspondents could write what they liked about Singapore--pro or con--for their own media abroad, but not in local publications, nor could they get mixed up in local politics. This was seen as a useful weapon if ever a correspondent was expelled for writing an anti-Singapore article for his publication overseas," Bloodworth wrote.

Ilsa Sharp, who first arrived in Singapore as a young journalist in 1968, recalls how the FCA hosted high-spirited gatherings in the early 1970s. "There were some riotous bar sessions that tend to cloud the memory--after all I was young and single," said Sharp in a recent interview.

"There were many more, and more diverse, more glamorous correspondents based in Singapore then than now--sadly, the big lure was probably simply the 'bad news' of the Vietnam war. Once the war went away and the news settled down into more solid business and economic issues, the more exciting correspondents also went away and things got more staid altogether," said Sharp, who was a stringer for the Far Eastern Economic Review and later an editor at The Straits Times.

Sharp said there was something of a climate of intrigue in the 1970s, with persistent rumours of spying by both domestic and foreign agents. "There was much gossip as to the presence of a mole in our midst, but later on there was also a Cold War paranoia with the unmasking of intelligence agents here," some of them diplomats from both East and West, "with whom we had all freely and bibulously consorted!"

While the association faded in the background during the 1980s, it restarted its regular meetings in the early 1990s, finding a social 'home' at the newly renovated Raffles Hotel. The revitalisation came at a time when the Singapore government indicated it wanted to reassess its relationship with the media. Government bodies such as the Economic Development Board offered to boost cooperation with the association, which was lining up senior ministers for luncheon functions on a regular basis. Finance Minister Richard Hu, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister of Information and the Arts George Yeo addressed the FCA in the early 1990s.

During that time, the FCA was also working hard to resolve problems, as foreign correspondents complained about 'local press only' news conference, delays in receiving official press releases and difficulties in obtaining timely responses to queries from government officials.

In 1992, The Source reported to members that signs of progress were spotted: "For instance, the government released its first-quarter economic survey last month to the foreign press a day ahead of the release date. This provided foreign hacks equal treatment with local reporters in covering the story."

While the FCA organized many important events during the 1990s, one fun six-hour trip on the luxurious Eastern & Oriental Express between Singapore and Malaysia stands out. "The food was fantastic, the service enthusiastic, the conversation iconoclastic," reported The Source in 1998, "But as the engine pulled into Keppel station shortly after midnight, a sobering story filtered through the carriages from the Observation Deck: a man had fallen off the train."

During one of the train's unscheduled stops, two British bankers had decided to get a breath of fresh air and admire the scenery from the roof. Unfortunately, both were caught under the neck by a signalling cable stretched across the track, knocking one man on his back and the other completely off the train. He was later found battered and bruised, but alive. "Both offered gracious apologies to the FCA for the incident," The Source reported.

In recent years, the FCA has attracted many prominent speakers including Chris Patten, the last Hong Kong governor, Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Asian Development Bank Managing Director General, Rajat Nag, Bernard Kouchner, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, and, Timor Leste President Jose Ramos Horta, twice.

Today, the association aims to facilitate access to newsmakers, events and places, while offering social gatherings during which members can greet old friends and make new ones. It is the FCA's ability to attract a broad international membership and offer quality and diverse programs that has recently led to a significant increase in membership. Our current roll of some 150 represents media, diplomats, civil servants as well as the public policy, PR and marketing communities.
 

scroobal

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Thanks Bro, this is all great.

Vernon Bartlett had a son who went to ACS but the poor chap passed away from cancer of the brain a few years back. He played football and had a pile driver of a shot. Played in the top league years back. Went to work for one of Li Kah Shing's companies. Nice guy. No airs.

ps. thats the first time I heard of cancer of the brain.

Ilsa Sharp married and moved to Perth together with our very own Siva Choy. Still does assignments here.

It had a long and interesting history. Found this nice pic of the restaurant
 

scroobal

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This is the part I cannot reconcile. Raja was second only to old man in wanting foreigners who criticised Singapore out yet his circle of friends out of the office was Ang Mos. It also mind boggling that Alex Josey ended up staying with Raja for many years.

There were several cases of members being expelled from the country for interfering in domestic political affairs. Bloodworth recollected one incident of a correspondent who waved a placard in a demonstration.

But Bloodworth said that the FCA found a sympathetic ear in the then-Information Minister S. Rajaratnam, who had been a writer for The Straits Times and at one time a stringer for Bloodworth.

"Given our good relations with Raja we were able to delay, but not cancel their expulsions. But an important outcome was that Raja laid down guidelines stating that foreign correspondents could write what they liked about Singapore--pro or con--for their own media abroad, but not in local publications, nor could they get mixed up in local politics. This was seen as a useful weapon if ever a correspondent was expelled for writing an anti-Singapore article for his publication overseas," Bloodworth wrote.
.
 

aurvandil

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It was a bygone era that is unknown to most Singaporeans because of the way Singapore history books are written. The following is a good summary of the period. The original PAP team was forged in this crucible. Can you imagine what Singapore would be like if instead of them, we had the current PAP team?

http://thediplomat.com/2017/03/lee-kuan-yews-singapore-bloomed-in-the-shadow-of-the-cold-war/

Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore Bloomed in the Shadow of the Cold War


Singapore’s rise can’t be separated from the context of the Cold War in Southeast Asia.

Vigorous debate over the legacy of Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, has continued since his death on March 23, 2015. Many credit Lee’s 31-years at the helm of the country (1959-1990) for vaulting Singapore from a “slum-ridden trading post” to a global metropolis. Others criticize what they consider Lee’s authoritarian tendencies, contending that he squashed his political opponents by labeling them communists and detaining them without due process. Indeed, Lee admitted in a 2010 interview that he had done “some nasty things, locking fellows up without trial,” but argued that his was an “honorable purpose” since these “fellows” were communists intent on hijacking the democratic process. Thus, some believe that Lee’s allegedly authoritarian ways brought Singapore wealth and security, and Western observers should question if their political freedoms actually trump the material comforts that Singaporeans enjoy.

These views overstate to extent to which Singapore’s economic boom was a function of Lee’s so-called authoritarian rule. It’s a tempting conclusion to reach — Lee’s presence dominates Singapore’s history as an independent nation, and Singapore got rich while other countries of the global south fell behind despite oodles more natural resources. This prompts some to call the city-state exceptional. But this narrative holds Singapore’s history separate from its Southeast Asian neighbors, from the vortices of decolonization and the Cold War. It presumes that Singapore’s success arose from causes within its boundaries, from the domestic policies of Lee and his colleagues when Singapore exited the Malaysian Federation in 1965.

Analyses of Lee’s tenure typically overlook how much Singapore benefited from the Cold War. In fact, Singapore’s economy enjoyed a running start because Britain clung to its air and naval bases in Singapore for decades after World War II, hoping to buttress Britain’s status as a world power. Britain’s Singapore bases underpinned its Cold War military commitment to the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO). And as the CIA learned in 1967, Britain had been pumping almost $200 million annually into the Singapore economy to maintain its military installations on the island. These bases contributed 20 percent of Singapore’s national income, providing employment for 36,000 Singaporeans. Current Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has stated that Britain’s withdrawal from the bases in the late 1960s actually threatened the livelihoods of 150,000 Singaporeans.

It wasn’t just that Britain refused to leave. Lee and his colleagues valued the bases’ economic contribution. Lee even strove to deflect the criticisms of non-aligned leaders that the British bases made Singapore a neocolonial puppet. In the early 1960s, he visited the major non-aligned leaders of Asia and Africa to convince them that British forces remained in Singapore only at the pleasure of Singaporeans, that he could turn the British out at any time. Most non-aligned nations accepted Lee’s argument because he was persuasive and, anyway, many non-aligned states maintained similar military ties with their former colonial rulers or had forged new ones with one or more of the ascendant Cold War powers. However, Indonesian President Sukarno continued until he was ousted (between 1965 and 1967) to insist that Britain’s Singapore bases served British neocolonial designs. Sukarno remarked in his autobiography: “Colonialism wasn’t retreating in my backyard, just changing shape.” But absent significant resistance from the non-aligned world against Britain’s Singapore bases, the country enjoyed additional years of the fading empire’s bounty.

When Britain finally relinquished its Singapore bases in 1971, Singapore did not lack for a new, powerful and rich patron. Singapore thrived as a something of a war economy as America, the USSR, and China engaged in their proxy war in Indochina. In 1967, a full 15 percent of Singapore’s national income derived from U.S. military procurements for Vietnam. Furthermore, Singapore served as Southeast Asia’s regional petroleum-refining center, crucial to the U.S. war machine. Lockheed Corporation had set up shop on the island for commercial reasons as well as to repair and maintain aircraft being deployed for the U.S. intervention in Vietnam. More American monies flowed into Singapore as the Vietnam War ground on. In 1971, U.S. officials found in that American private investment in Singapore had begun to grow at a phenomenal $100 million a year.

Here, too, Lee played an important role. He repeatedly cajoled U.S. leaders to support the Saigon government. After his first official visit to America as Singapore’s prime minister in October 1967, Lee wrote President Lyndon Johnson that his support for the U.S. war in Vietnam was “unequivocal,” that it bought time for states to stabilize their governments and economies. Traveling throughout the United States that October, Lee continually told the American press that Southeast Asia would accommodate to communism if America abandoned Vietnam. Johnson valued Lee’s support and promised to “keep on a steady course in Vietnam.” Lee later cultivated relations with the Nixon administration, promising to persuade the American public not to “sell out” Saigon. American troops would fight in Vietnam till 1973. Several extra years of U.S. military procurements (and rising numbers of American companies setting up in Singapore) certainly helped the Singaporean economy, too.

Lee’s strategy for Singapore in the Cold War was not exceptional. Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman also cleaved to America as British power waned; he supported the U.S. war in Vietnam and tried to win more American investment. Thai military elites resolutely aligned their country with America from 1950 onward and reaped many rewards. For his part, Sukarno claimed he was non-aligned but strung all the Cold War powers along to access their war chests. Likewise, while Lee and his colleagues toiled over domestic policies to drive Singapore’s economic development, they readily exploited the transnational conflict that buffeted all newly independent nations. Most non-aligned nations tried their hands at this game during the Cold War; Lee and his lieutenants happened to play it quite well.


Thanks Bro, this is all great.
 
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halsey02

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Alex Josey lived out of a room at the Cockpit hotel, a stone's throw from old man's house as well as the Istana. The Cockpit was also where the Foreign Correspondence Association for SEA met and you would know that it has always been used the Intelligence Services as most members were either IOs posing as Journalists or working for them in form or another. Alex had 2 regular golfing partners - Old Man and his deputy Top Chin Chye though they played separately it allowed him access to the entire PAP. You could not have a better setup as the 2 men had complete circles of friends and contacts. Toh Chin Chye once mentioned in an interview that he had reservations about Alex.

The other interesting thing is that Old Man's wife was noted for her animosity towards white while Old Man was pretty cozy with them despite the public persona. His wife never knew of his meetings with the likes of Derek. The exception was Dennis Bloodworth and his Chinese wife.

I would occasionally see Dennis's eldest adopted son and wondered if he knew the role the father played.

Dennis Bloodworth & his wife, lived near to where I was staying when I was young...use to run into him or them at the market and the eateries around that area. I recognised him, for I used to buy his books to read & actually wanted him to autograph of of his I have...but never did.:wink:
 

Victory2016

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15743952.jpg


This was one of my fav books - by Denis Bloodworth and his wife.
This AngMor really provided an insight into the Chinese mind...... Oh the irony....
 

aurvandil

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The story seen from another perspective. During the Vietnam War, Singapore was an R&R center for American soldiers fighting in Vietnam. The following is a recollection of a GI who came to Singapore for R&R.

http://www.reflectionsofvietnam.com/authors/tom-skiens/hush-puppies-hookers-and-hammocks

Hush puppies, hookers and hammocks

By Tom Skiens

I bought a pare of size 8 1/2 hush puppies at the retail shop on the ground floor of the Singapore Ambassador hotel. The hush puppies were the “in thing” on my 21st birthday, June 21st 1968. I also bought a Hammock, a 4X4 orange tarp and a hooker of Indian nationality. In order to make my 21st birthday complete I visited three Indian snake charmers with a cobra in a jar and a bag of weed in their hand. I stayed away from the snake but I took possession of the weed.

As the day moved on I traded in my Indian nationality hooker for a younger model. The mommasan pimp didn’t mind. Her standard advertisement was, “you like boom boom number one cherry girl, she love you long time”.

The Ambassador hotel was filled to overflowing with G.I’s fresh out of Vietnam and all of them were looking for the same thing. Showers, flush toilets, clean sheets, music, booze, women and a telephone call back to the world. The kind of a call where after you finish speaking you must say “over” and then after your mom on the other end of the line finishes talking she must say, “over”. This makes for a difficult conversation but talking to my mom on my 21st birthday from Singapore, priceless.

The hotel was making a mint off the American servicemen on their one week escape from Vietnam. It made no difference if the G.I. job was in the rear with the gear, humping the bush, hurling 60 tons of steel down highway one, a cannon cocker, a rotor head or a rubber tired mine magnet, the goal was the same. Get laid before you get laid and get drunk while you are doing it. Everybody at the hotel got rich and the G.I had the best R&R story he could ever have dreamed of. I did not make friends with the other G.I’s at the hotel. I would say Hi in passing and that was about it. I felt like all my friends were dead and so was I. The most conversation I had was with college students who played music at the bar. The students were in the middle of a revolution, declaring Singapore a Free city state and breaking away from China. I found out years later that they were successful.

I told my hooker friend a story about my life. It goes like this. I wave goodbye to my mother and thank her for washing my Basketball uniform as I open the door of the “47” Ford I bought for $50.00 with money I had earned thinning trees with a chainsaw the summer before. “If I didn’t wash your uniform, who would”, she says. I smile and say, ” Sorry mom, I will give you more warning next time but they just told us about the pictures this morning. I have to go, the Varsity photos are scheduled in less than 10 minutes. By, love you”

I back out of the driveway being careful not to scrape the white picket fence. I drive 1/2 of a mile north on Egan street and take a left on W. Tyler street. It is five blocks from here to Hwy. 395 and then less than a 200 yards to the high school. I travel four blocks and begin to slow down for the approaching intersection. All of a sudden the front of my car explodes, my windshield is shattered but still intact. What the hell has happened? My car glides to a stop. I try to open the drivers door but it is jammed. What the hell has happened?

I slam into the door as hard as I can with my left shoulder, the door begins to move with the metal on metal scraping of steel bent against steel sound. I hit the door again and it opens enough to allow me to exit. My windshield is broken with a thousand lines going off in as many different directions. What the hell has happened? I turn around and see a Honda motor bike lying twisted and broken on the road to my east. I walk four steps toward the rear of my car. I see the legs of a person on the pavement. I take two more steps. I hear a girl screaming and I see her boyfriend, the senior class president and honor student lying on the ground. Randy will lay there forever. The ambulance will come and take him to the hospital. Randy will die a week later, His family will grieve and the ramifications for the other lives involved will begin to mature.

My mother will tell me as she dies of cancer how she crossed the street for more than 20 years to avoid coming face to face with Randy’s mother. On one occasion, Mrs. Russell followed my mother across the street and cornered her in an isle of a store. She begged my mother to quit avoiding her and said that she held no blame for anyone in our family concerning her son’s death. My mother and I both cried together.

I am tasked to ask the question,” why him and not me”? I will go to war to search for the meaning of life. I will come to know death in the war but I will struggle to have a relationship with life.

I ask my hooker friend what she thought about my story and she said,” I no understand English so good. You want boom boom now”. I was glad she neither spoke nor understood English. I needed to tell someone about Randy who would not attempt to absolve or blame. She was the perfect listener. I gave her all my money when I left town.

The return flight from Singapore to Vietnam is filled with a ghost like silence. Everyone partied hardy the last night of the R&R. Leaving no drink standing, no hooker unrewarded, no laugh repressed, no lie untold, we did our job well.

I have made love, not to the one I love. I have slept with, showered with, not the one I love. I return to a place where I know I will die. It is just a matter of time. It is more certain than the notion of living. I can visualize my death but I cannot visualize my life.

The Asian heat of Singapore is similar to that of Vietnam. It sucks the air from my lungs, sticking to my body like Elmer’s glue. The heat and memories of a weeks worth of sex, a hangover, a meal plus the steady rhythm of the jet engine lead me to a dream filled sleep.

In my dream it is April 19, 1968. I am the fourth person back in the left column. The other column is less than 10 yards to my right. We should not be this bunched up. God knows we have hit enough booby traps to learn. I see and hear an explosion to my right front less than 15 yards away. I drop to the ground but before my stomach touches I am on my way back up.

I know what this is. It is the same thing as January 13, 1968. A Bouncing Betty leaves us with two dead and eight wounded. Zimmerman and I are the next two unwounded in the column and we must walk the line. (See: “Betty“.) Today is not much different.

I move to the right column, drop my rucksack and get the PRC 25 radio from my radio telephone operator. 0900, grid square BS 533853, Company C request dust off for two KHA, two WHA result bouncing Betty. I move into the zone making sure the path is clear for the medics. A fucking new guy walking point in the left column has hot steel in his stomach.

The F.N.G. came in on the resupply chopper the night before and has been with the company less than 14 hours. The company put him in first Platoon and first Platoon put him on the point in the left column. First day in the bush and the F.N.G. gets hot steel in his stomach which may result in him going home. The guy at my feet, dead. The next guy, dead. The next guy, Platoon leader, LT. his right foot is blown off and his right hand doesn’t look good, he will probably lose it. He is moaning from shock and pain. His weapon has been thrown to the right, it is destroyed, useless.

I yell at the F.N.G. to stop running around because he may set off another mine. Sgt. Don fox and Zimmerman talk the F.N.G. to safety. In three days Zimmerman and I will be on our bellies crawling over to Sgt. Fox who will have a bullet in his belly that pentrated through his weapon befor entering his body. Higher/higher said it was Auitomatic weapons fire but I was standing next to him and only remember 1 round. Two days after the Sgt. Fox dust off Zimmerman will be involved in another Bouncing Betty and I will on the radio calling in another dustoff. Charlie 1/1 is getting beat up.

A medic asks me to help put one of the dead on a poncho so we can drag him to the approaching chopper.

I rifle through the guys rucksack to get a poncho while the medic rolls him onto his back. I find pieces of bone and blood on the inside of the grunts rucksack. For the first time I look at the dead guys face. It is my friend John John.

I am stunned, shocked. This is the day, the hour, the minute and the grid coordinates where the American dream dies for me. Dark clouds invade my mind, a deep numbing pain penetrates my soul. The medic wants me to lift the right side of the body. John John is pulverized flesh from head to toe, like the Gook on the receiving end of a B-52 package. Concussion and shrapnel have transformed his body to the consistency of firm Jelly. I can’t find anything solid enough to lift.

A year passes, then two, finally I see the middle finger of his right hand, I test it to see if it will stay attached to his body as I lift. I grab a hand full of bloody pants leg with my right hand and lift the lower part of his body off the ground. I pray that pieces of his body do not come off in my hands as I lift my dark broken friend high enough to set him on the poncho.

April 19, 1968, 0900 hours, grid BS533853, I died, the dream ends, no preparation, I be zombie. I died because it was the easiest and fastest way to deal with my problem. I could not move forward while packing the weight of the dead and I could not leave them behind. I must sacrifice a part of my soul so my body can move on. I don’t have time to morn, only to tuck the memory of the mangled bodies into the corners of my mind and keep on humping.

The corners of my mind will meld over time
The visions of the dead come more often
I’ve recorded their names and absolved them of chains
While I’m busy constructing my own coffin

A zombie gets off the return flight from the Singapore R&R in Chu Lai July 3rd 1968 and finds his company waiting on the tarmac for a C-130 to take them north. He goes to the orderly room and puts together his gear including: Rucksack, weapon, ammo, C’s, smoke grenades, steel pot, Poncho, Pancho liner, Jungle knife, 4 canteens, smokes, matches, Bug juice, TP and lots of shoe strings because they are the only thing in this Army that you can get plenty of and they always work.

I use shoe strings to tie around my legs, above my calves so that they will keep the leeches lower. Shoe strings to tie the souls of my boots on when they come apart in the jungle. Shoe strings to tie my poncho to stakes and pegs to make a hooch for the night. Shoe strings to tie the PRC 25 mike close to my ear so only I can hear. Shoe strings to tie my socks to the outside of a rucksack so they can air out. Shoe strings for splints and slings. The strings that keep the grunts alive exist only because the black market finds no profit in them.

I packed my Hush Puppies, the Hammock and the orange 4X4 tarp. The C-130 takes us north about 45 minutes and lands at a well developed fire base. These guys have the works, tanks, APC’s, bunkers with 5 sandbag roofs, NCO club, showers plus heavy artillery like the 175 MM and the 155 MM Howitzer.

We would spend some days here and then choppers would take us to a place not so developed. The Zombie doesn’t know he is dead but he knows how to act like he wants to die. He wears the 4X4 orange tarp on the outside of his rucksack. Sticking up above his head is the antenna from the PRC. 25 radio he carries. He sometimes walks point adorned in this fashion. The orange tarp and antenna a tempting piece of sniper bate.

I had planned to use The Hush Puppy shoes I bought in Singapore when we dug in for a couple of days near a water source. I hoped to get out of my boots for a couple of hours, go down to the water hole in my Hush Puppies, steel pot, M-16 and nothing on but the armed forces radio network. I never did find that waterhole.

At the first opportunity I dug out the Hammock and tied it between two trees. I quickly realized that if we were to get hit the hammock would be the worst possible place to be. I chucked the hammock and went back to sleeping on the ground where all grunts belong, near a foxhole, curled around a rock with the edge of my steel pot as a pillow.

I used the Orange 4×4 tarp as ground cover for a time. I think it wore out. If I packed it on the outside of my Rucksack much it would not have lasted long. The jungle would surround, choke and destroy it like it did everything else. I think the jungle ate my Hush Puppies.

A final word on the Hooker. I didn’t even know her name. When I left Singapore I did not promise to write her and she did not promise to write me. We both kept our word. If either of us had tried to write I am certain a letter addressed to ” Hooker ” or “GI from Oregon ” would have a difficult time finding the RIGHT “Hooker” or “GI from Oregon.” I for one have never received such a letter.
 

Satyr

Alfrescian
Loyal
@aruvandil:

When LKY expressed gratitude to the US for buying time for us by holding back communism in the region, he was almost right. We should really be grateful to the hundreds of thousands of maimed and dead GIs in this war. What a horrible experience.
 

scroobal

Alfrescian
Loyal
Unusual for a Singapore hooker handling GIs not to know English and in those days English was of a much higher standard.
 

scroobal

Alfrescian
Loyal
I am embarrassed to say this but I was not aware of this book. Thanks a lot br. Its a must read now.

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This was one of my fav books - by Denis Bloodworth and his wife.
This AngMor really provided an insight into the Chinese mind...... Oh the irony....
 
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