Old Fart taking a cheap pot shot at Woody by digging up old gossip to create some 'sound bite' for his 'sound-bite' sized book by a porlumpar US journalist.
Trying to sensationalize things again or to get the SM Goh to quit totally? 3 ministers left but persuaded to stay - can he made up his mind - memory garbra now?! Dhana left becos of Marxist arrest, Tony Tan & Yeo Ning Hong persuaded to stay?!
Tom Plate and the charm offensive<table id="fullBodyHolder" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="leftBodyHolder">
by PN Balji
05:55 AM May 31, 2010
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First there was William Safire and now there is Tom Plate.
About a decade ago, Mr Safire, then a journalist with The New York Times, launched a beastly attack on Mr Lee Kuan Yew, labelling him "the little Hitler of South-East Asia".
Today, another American journalist, Mr Plate, has launched his book Conversations With Lee Kuan Yew, in which he refers to Singapore's Minister Mentor as a "global geopolitical guru".
But who is the real Lee Kuan Yew?
A Soundbite Of A Book
Mr Plate tries to get under the skin of this man during two interviews over a total of four hours, especially in the second part of his slim, soundbite of a book. The result is a 211-page rewind of the Lee story, which many of us know already.
Based on interviews done at the Istana in July last year, the book is littered with Mr Plate's impressions of the man and his policies as well as several very private moments capturing Mr Lee's demeanour and behaviour at the Istana.
There are references to Mr Lee's persistent cough, the heat pad that was changed regularly by people waiting along the corridor because of the physiotherapy Mr Lee was undergoing and a rare moment - a hug that Mr Plate gives the Minister Mentor.
In journalism, this is generally referred to as adding colour to a story.
Serious-minded journalists would say that this technique is used when you want to jazz up a story that either lacks depth or detai
A China Flavour
China is the flavour of the book. There is an obvious reason for that.
With the United States pulling this way and that when it comes to the Asian giant, Mr Plate has carved himself a cool spot in his column Pacific Perspectives in the Los Angeles Times, taking a position that goes against the mainstream view.
Who better than Mr Lee to front that view?
The two men's relationship goes back nearly 15 years, two years after Plate's column began in 1995. In one of his columns, he unabashedly wrote of how he had asked Mr Lee for advice on the criticisms he got from the anti-Beijing brigade in Washington because of a commentary on China he had written.
Mr Lee faxed him a note to say his column was balanced and realistic.
"It is a necessary antidote to the hysteria building up among the anti-China groups," Mr Plate quoted from the fax.
The kind of access to Mr Lee given to this American journalist, whose country has enshrined freedom of the press into their laws, is quite extraordinary.
It is part of Mr Lee's charm offensive to get the world, especially the Western world, to see this part of the globe with a different pair of lenses.
And what smarter way than borrowing the lenses of a Westerner?
Plate's Awe Of MM
You can see the effects of that in the book.
Mr Plate is in awe of the Minster Mentor, and he doesn't hide it.
He refers to Mr Lee as a "helpful and patient tutor in the all-important subjects of politics, governance and international relations".
There are several times when the journalist's instincts are kept in check with Mr Plate on the verge asking that difficult, searching and probing question. But he lets it go.
In one instance, he tries to explain it away by saying that he did not want to sound like a tabloid journalist, especially in front of his "guru".
The journalist in Mr Plate, again, takes the back seat when Mr Lee drops a bombshell, saying that three ministers quit because they could not accept Mr Goh Chok Tong's style soon after the latter took over as Prime Minister in 1990.
A bombshell of an anecdote
That quote bears repeating, at least for the sake of public posterity.
"Within six months, three ministers left because they didn't like his style. I talked them out of it. I said, give him time; he needs time to settle in.
"They stayed on and he carried on for 14 years. I helped him. He appointed my son deputy, who helped him succeed," said Mr Lee.
Who were the three?
What was it about Mr Goh's style that the three didn't like?
How did Mr Lee's son - current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - help Mr Goh succeed?
Alas, there is nothing to show that Mr Plate asked the follow-up questions.
Still, Mr Plate's Hollywood-style presentation (he compares Mr Lee to Clint Eastwood, not as the devil-may-care cop in Dirty Harry, but as a director) does have its merits.
For those in a hurry (the book can be finished in a couple of hours), it provides a snapshot view of the beliefs, actions and courage of Minister Mentor.
It provides an opposite portrait to that painted by Mr Safire.
What is sorely missing in our bookshelves is a view of Mr Lee Kuan Yew from the centre, warts and all.
The writer is a veteran journalist and the director of Asia Journalism Fellowship, a joint effort by Temasek Foundation and NTU.<!-- Related Photo, Media and Articles--> <script type="text/javascript"> var intheight=0; function imginit(intImg,arrImg) { var imgID = 'relatedPhoto'; var lnkID = 'imgPopup'; var captionID = 'divImageCaption'; var menuID = 'ctl00_cph1_ArticleContents1_RelatedPhoto1_photoPages'; var imgLeft ='
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Trying to sensationalize things again or to get the SM Goh to quit totally? 3 ministers left but persuaded to stay - can he made up his mind - memory garbra now?! Dhana left becos of Marxist arrest, Tony Tan & Yeo Ning Hong persuaded to stay?!
Tom Plate and the charm offensive<table id="fullBodyHolder" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="leftBodyHolder">
by PN Balji
05:55 AM May 31, 2010
<script type="text/javascript"> var fontIndex = 2; var fontSize = new Array('0.63em', '0.69em', '0.75em', '0.88em', '1em', '1.13em'); </script>
First there was William Safire and now there is Tom Plate.
About a decade ago, Mr Safire, then a journalist with The New York Times, launched a beastly attack on Mr Lee Kuan Yew, labelling him "the little Hitler of South-East Asia".
Today, another American journalist, Mr Plate, has launched his book Conversations With Lee Kuan Yew, in which he refers to Singapore's Minister Mentor as a "global geopolitical guru".
But who is the real Lee Kuan Yew?
A Soundbite Of A Book
Mr Plate tries to get under the skin of this man during two interviews over a total of four hours, especially in the second part of his slim, soundbite of a book. The result is a 211-page rewind of the Lee story, which many of us know already.
Based on interviews done at the Istana in July last year, the book is littered with Mr Plate's impressions of the man and his policies as well as several very private moments capturing Mr Lee's demeanour and behaviour at the Istana.
There are references to Mr Lee's persistent cough, the heat pad that was changed regularly by people waiting along the corridor because of the physiotherapy Mr Lee was undergoing and a rare moment - a hug that Mr Plate gives the Minister Mentor.
In journalism, this is generally referred to as adding colour to a story.
Serious-minded journalists would say that this technique is used when you want to jazz up a story that either lacks depth or detai
A China Flavour
China is the flavour of the book. There is an obvious reason for that.
With the United States pulling this way and that when it comes to the Asian giant, Mr Plate has carved himself a cool spot in his column Pacific Perspectives in the Los Angeles Times, taking a position that goes against the mainstream view.
Who better than Mr Lee to front that view?
The two men's relationship goes back nearly 15 years, two years after Plate's column began in 1995. In one of his columns, he unabashedly wrote of how he had asked Mr Lee for advice on the criticisms he got from the anti-Beijing brigade in Washington because of a commentary on China he had written.
Mr Lee faxed him a note to say his column was balanced and realistic.
"It is a necessary antidote to the hysteria building up among the anti-China groups," Mr Plate quoted from the fax.
The kind of access to Mr Lee given to this American journalist, whose country has enshrined freedom of the press into their laws, is quite extraordinary.
It is part of Mr Lee's charm offensive to get the world, especially the Western world, to see this part of the globe with a different pair of lenses.
And what smarter way than borrowing the lenses of a Westerner?
Plate's Awe Of MM
You can see the effects of that in the book.
Mr Plate is in awe of the Minster Mentor, and he doesn't hide it.
He refers to Mr Lee as a "helpful and patient tutor in the all-important subjects of politics, governance and international relations".
There are several times when the journalist's instincts are kept in check with Mr Plate on the verge asking that difficult, searching and probing question. But he lets it go.
In one instance, he tries to explain it away by saying that he did not want to sound like a tabloid journalist, especially in front of his "guru".
The journalist in Mr Plate, again, takes the back seat when Mr Lee drops a bombshell, saying that three ministers quit because they could not accept Mr Goh Chok Tong's style soon after the latter took over as Prime Minister in 1990.
A bombshell of an anecdote
That quote bears repeating, at least for the sake of public posterity.
"Within six months, three ministers left because they didn't like his style. I talked them out of it. I said, give him time; he needs time to settle in.
"They stayed on and he carried on for 14 years. I helped him. He appointed my son deputy, who helped him succeed," said Mr Lee.
Who were the three?
What was it about Mr Goh's style that the three didn't like?
How did Mr Lee's son - current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - help Mr Goh succeed?
Alas, there is nothing to show that Mr Plate asked the follow-up questions.
Still, Mr Plate's Hollywood-style presentation (he compares Mr Lee to Clint Eastwood, not as the devil-may-care cop in Dirty Harry, but as a director) does have its merits.
For those in a hurry (the book can be finished in a couple of hours), it provides a snapshot view of the beliefs, actions and courage of Minister Mentor.
It provides an opposite portrait to that painted by Mr Safire.
What is sorely missing in our bookshelves is a view of Mr Lee Kuan Yew from the centre, warts and all.
The writer is a veteran journalist and the director of Asia Journalism Fellowship, a joint effort by Temasek Foundation and NTU.<!-- Related Photo, Media and Articles--> <script type="text/javascript"> var intheight=0; function imginit(intImg,arrImg) { var imgID = 'relatedPhoto'; var lnkID = 'imgPopup'; var captionID = 'divImageCaption'; var menuID = 'ctl00_cph1_ArticleContents1_RelatedPhoto1_photoPages'; var imgLeft ='
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