A gripping tale of how Lee Kuan Yew systematically and ruthlessly con the the Malays of their land called Singapura

S’PURA MERDEKA MELALUI HELAH MASUK M’SI

the Lee Kuan Yew that very few Singaporeans know about

To Catch A Tartar: A Dissident In Lee Kuan Yew’s Prison is an excellent study of the conceit and deceit of a man many Singaporeans thought they knew. The author, Francis Seow, is a former solicitor general and president of the Law Society in Singapore. This is his first-hand account of how he has suffered under the PAP government’s use of biased legislation and media manipulation to maintain political hegemony.

In Devan Nair’s words, Seow’s book is an eye-opener, “for those whose eyes still require to be opened”. The former president of Singapore, who incurred the “implacable wrath of a political genius gone awry” [referring to Lee Kuan Yew] for his public defence of Francis Seow, was labelled an alcoholic in a White Paper tabled before the Parliament.

Despite that, Nair traded blows with the government in several hard-hitting press statements and included a scathing attack on Lee in the foreword of this book: “Today, Lee no longer deals with his equals, but with his chosen appointees, who did not earn power the hard way, but had it conferred on them. They are highly qualified men, no doubt, but nobody expects them to possess the gumption to talk back to the increasingly self-righteous know-all that Lee has become. Further, the bread of those who conform is handsomely buttered. Keep your head down and you could enjoy one of the highest living standards in Asia. Raise it and you could lose a job, a home, and be harassed by the Internal Security Department or the Inland Revenue Department, or by both, as happened to Francis Seow.”

Such unsavoury opinion of Lee was shared by Seow, who wrote: “The passage of years, far from mellowing the prime minister, has made him more imperiously intolerant of the common man. His abrasive, intrusive style of governance has not changed, and is best exemplified by this statement, brimming with his customary, boastful insensibility, in the Straits Times of 20 April 1987: ‘I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters – who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.’”

Referring to Lee’s brutal treatment of Nair, Seow lamented “there are, regrettably, very few Singaporeans with that rare courage and intellectual, let alone political, honesty to call a spade a spade”.

On his part, Seow’s account of the horrendous process of interrogation he underwent at the Whitley Detention Centre includes disturbing dialogues like the following utterance by an Internal Security Department (ISD) officer: “Look, cut out all your court English. This is not a court of law. The rules of evidence do not apply here. We make the rules here. This is a kangaroo court. No one can help you, no one. All the human rights organisations can do is make a little noise, but how long can they keep it up? After a while, you will be forgotten.”

This devious way of thinking was also evident at the press conference following the arrest of the supposedly Marxist conspirators, which triggered off a chain of events leading to Seow’s subsequent detention. When asked by Archbishop Gregory Yong for proof of the involvement of Vincent Cheng, et al, in clandestine communist activities, Lee interjected with a sharp disclaimer, “I have never said that I was going to prove anything in a court of law”, which left his audience stunned. He continued: “It is not the practice nor will I allow subversives to get away by insisting that I [have] got to prove everything against them in a court of law or evidence that will stand up to the strict rules of evidence of a court of law.”

Contrast this to what Lee said during the Legislative Assembly Debate on 15 September 1955: “If it is not totalitarian to arrest a man and detain him, when you cannot charge him with any offence against any written law – if that is not what we always cried out against in Fascist states – then what is it?”

This, and several other quotes of Lee’s speeches in the 1950s and 1960s, were cleverly used by Seow throughout the book to show how Lee has become almost everything he used to be against since he came into power.

Seow also quoted to potent effect a comment by Jerome A. Cohen, a prominent legal representative of Asia Watch, who found deeply disturbing both the use of psychological torture and what he called a pervasive Singaporean, if not Asia view that “if you haven’t hit somebody, it isn’t torture”.

Seow’s description of his harrowing experience during detention seemed to have confirmed Cohen’s observation: “He [an ISD officer] swung his hand at me. I braced myself for the blow. But his fist stopped short just inches from my face. He looked like a thug. He behaved like a thug. He was a thug. …. Amidst deafening obscenities, he swaggered up to me and repeatedly blew thick clouds of cigarette smoke into my face. … Venting his frustration at my continued silence, he demanded that I take off my shirt leaving my upper body bare under the air-conditioner duct. No one stopped him. I reluctantly complied. It was cold. Very cold. Very very cold.”

Later in the book, Seow described the ISD’s tactics as such: “The word ‘torture’ normally evokes visions of medieval cruelty and violence, of racks, thumbscrews, and other exquisite instruments of pain and suffering. But the prime minister’s version of the Spanish Inquisition is more subtle and no less effective. A detainee can be made to admit anything by the simple expedience of prolonged deprivation of his sleep – a most effective weapon in the ISD armoury of persuasions, which is its standard procedure.”

The author also highlighted some of the dirty tricks used by the ISD: “For years, the conference room of the Barisan Sosialis headquarters was wiretapped without the leaders being aware of it. And the bugging of the residence of Barisan Sosialis’ chairman, [the late] Dr. Lee Siew Choh, was only discovered when workmen accidentally found the bugging device above the ceiling of the dining room whilst making repairs in his home.”

Seow further opined that the so-called Marxist conspirators were really just a group of young, intelligent, and idealistic graduates who could give the Worker’s Party credibility and status if they were to enrol as members. But, according to Seow, it was crucial, using officialdom’s favourite metaphor, to “nip them in the bud” before the flowers could bloom and contend.

To Catch A Tartar is thus a sober reminder that power, if left unchecked, can have dire consequences. Make sure you read Nair’s open letter to Lee at the back of the book for an intriguing insight into some historical events in Singapore.

Conclusion: A gripping tale of how Lee Kuan Yew systematically and ruthlessly roots out and destroys any form of dissent in Singapore. Viewed in that perspective, the plight of Ryan Goh, the SIA pilot who was evicted from Singapore over the Alpa-S incident, is hardly surprising.

THE MYTH OF LEE KUAN YEWS ECONOMIC GENIUS

Contrary to the popularly built up myth of Singapore being the result f Lee Kuan Yew’s genius which he constantly allows his media to spin about him, it was not Lee’s economic genius that made Singapore but that of Dutch economist Albert Winsemius. Lee was merely an enforcer of the designs of Britain and the other foreign investors in Singapore.

Lee shamelessly takes credit for Singapore’s economic successes to this day. Singapore could in truth be run by a combination of South American banana republic dictators and still turn out prosperous because it is a natural port situated at the confluence of the great sea lanes linking east and west north and south and no genius need plan for its prosperity. Certainly not Lee Kuan Yew. And his demise will prove that.

Without wanting to take too much away from Lee and the myths about his genius, the evidence shows that he clearly was a catalyst in a series of events that produced the outcomes that is Singapore today. In reality it was a combination of those factors of politics, position, need and greed both natural and human that conspired to create the island states success. Not the singular work of Lee Kuan Yew.

With Mahathir’s Malaysia the odds were stacked against the Malay. His successes were for most part the efforts of a singular mind. His methods equally Machiavellian but not brutal and inhumane. The odds against him innumerable and immeasurable. But being Malay those odds were even greater. Such achievement by a Malay is considered in the minds of mainly Chinese Malaysians and Singaporeans to be an impossibility. Therefore something had to be wrong and the rumour mill began to run.

THE SINGAPORE CHINESE MYTH

Singapore’s success has nothing to do with Chinese ingenuity, hard work, higher work ethics or superiority over the Malays in commerce. A confluence of vital security, strategic and commercial interests converge out of necessity and convenience at the point of that island state because of its position to make it what it is.

The ruling party of Singapore has a lot to do with a servile mindset that dominates their political landscape like the rusty old retainers of a forgotten colonial past. Minions who continue to serve their white masters dressed in those same white cotton outfits the British forced them wear in the colonial days to make them appear clean (knowing how dirty the Chinese could be physically, metaphorically and morally) when dealing with them. It was symbolic then as it is now. Purely symbolic.

BETRAYAL A SINGAPOREAN STAPLE

How could one forget the betrayal of trust the Sultan of Brunei placed in the late Khoo Teck Puat and Khoo’s theft of hundreds of millions of the Sultan’s money all under the full view of Singapore’s treasury officials who were the Sultan’s technical experts at the time?

From Phillipines to Brunei from Indonesia to Malaysia (his greater China) Lee and his Singapore believe that their economic model is a recipe for self righteous hegemony through the politics of money and the use of intimidation and mischief through Chinese merchants in the area.

Sadly for the delusional Lee that day will not come. Because like all dictators in history, he too will suddenly realise that he is human and fallible (or events ill remind him of the fact) and that not everyone can be bought through fear and intimidation, cleaner streets or better paid jobs. That’s why Lee Kuan Yew is in a hurry to leave as his legacy a Chinese dominated Malaysia, his lifelong dream.

MAHATHIR IS NO LEE AND NEVER ASPIRED TO BE

The Chinese of Malaysia often draw comparisons between Mahathir and Lee Kuan Yew without the facts. In order to denigrate the Malays they reinforce their racial stereotyping of Chinese and Malays referring to Lee in glowing terms of the spin that’s become part of the Lee Kuan Yew Myth and Mahathir in terms of the Kuomintang and Singapore fed rumours about the man.

Mahathir does not share a similar vision for Malaysia as Lee does nor does he have a similar mercenary family background to Lee. And nor were or are his people rejects of their own ancestral societies driven to extremes. Mahathir and Lee were moulded out of totally different fires and made of an equally different metal.

Mahathir was educated against all odds as a medical doctor in a society where Malays and Muslims were excluded from any form of social, political, economic or academic attainment unless appropriately socially connected at the time.

He received no patronage like Lee from his mother Chua Jim Neo’s ’special friend’. He did not taunt his classmates before exams so that they possible performed badly (James Minchin: No Man is an Island) allowing him to do better then be called a genius.

DEMOCRACY VS A DICTATORSHIP

Nowhere in this planet is there evidence of an ethnic Chinese running a democratic state. Autocratic, fascist yes. But democratic no. The Malays like their Indian counterparts have long held traditions of collective government. It may not have been referred to in their vocabulary as democracy but the characteristics have always been there. It may sound a bit unkind and I would like to be proved wrong on this score.

The same cannot be said of Chinese communities anywhere who have traditionally succumbed to and strangely thrived under ruthless iron fisted totalitarians and tyrants. And the Kuomintang is no stranger to the politics of fascism and brutality either. Their influence in corrupt government’s of south East Asia that fed a communist insurgency everywhere in the region from Indo China to Indonesia and Malaysia is legend.

The entire idea of Lee Kuan Yew’s hard driving carrot and stick policies is anathema to the soul of the Malays. To the Malays the success of one of their own in the politics of liberal democratic industrialization in the form of Malaysia by Dr. Mahathir is therefore understandably hard for the Chinese to swallow. The Malays are a comfortable blend of both east and west unlike the Chinese at least in south east Asia.

Mahathir could fight an adversary from within and without Malaysia without the need to tie their hands behind their backs to win. He did not jail dissenters simply for being dissenters. He has not used Malaysia as a base to destabilise Singapore nor to benefit financially from the misery inflicted by the tyrants in his neighbourhood on their people.

The same cannot be said of Lee or his Singapore. Mahathir turned out to be more successful in achieving economic, industrial and technical progress for Malaysia within a relatively more advanced pluralistic and democratic framework than Lee could ever have dreamed of. The Chinese of the region are angered by it. It is as painful to them as it is proving to a Christian that the resurrection of Christ never occurred.

Mahathir had 25 Million people in their diverse forms to satisfy and to manage. Lee had a generic class of a mere 3 million mainly Chinese with all of the economic, political and military backing of Britain, Australia, the US and yes even China. Mahathir for his independence in thought and deed stood alone.

The results must have been devastatingly painful to the Chinese psyche. God after all turned out not to be Chinese. Perish the thought. So the Chinese of Malaysia (at least those who will not speak out) have joined this unholy chorus of criticisms against Mahahtir and thinking Malays in an unsubtle demonstration of where their true loyalties lie.

Inspite of the strength of available evidence against them, the same insult on corruption is never applied to any of the non Malays of the region like the Chinese by the so called opposition in the region. So deep run these prejudices that rumour is often the fuel of many a debate in places like Malaysia and Singapore.

All of Malaysia’s dynamic changes, Mahathir achieved in much a shorter time than Lee’s six decades of pain and oppression Lee had inflicted on his people to get his results. Sure Singapore is impressive. But so too is the local Westfield shopping mall when compared to its surrounds the suburbs and the different stimuli and responsibilities and problems that drive each of these. Its like comparing chalk to cheese.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MALAYS IN LABOUR – WILL IT INCREASE WITH THE JOHOR CORRIDOR?

Malaysia (warts and all) remains an oasis in a sea of cultural chauvanism. Thailand, Indonesia (till only recently) Viet Nam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia all had till recently prohibited the use of Chinese characters in any form from public display. Outside shops, temples or other public places the use of and the displays of Chinese cultural icons and language was prohibited by law. Malaysia remained outside this sphere of intolerance.

Singapore uypped the ante not to be outdone in the field of racial discrimination applying a unique form of racial and cultural discrimination. Created in its attempts to subdue the Malay Nationalism within the island and to render their culture subject to that of the engineered Chinese majority community Singapore introduced Mandarin as its national language alongside the English language. In doing so it achieved its purpose of rendering the entire Malay population culturally and politically impotent.

PORK AND ALCOHOL TWO NON TARIFF BARRIERS TO MALAY EMPLOYMENT

In Malaysia on the other hand as is the case in Singapore, there is significant though subtle discrimination in employment against the Malays even to this day. It manifests itself in non tariff barriers set in employment in one of the largest sectors of the economy and employment, the food, beverages and hospitality industry.

In the context of Asia, food and beverages remain one of the most important and lucrative industries and will continue to outperform most others even in times of economic distress. Food beverages and hospitality are two of Malaysia’s largest employers and contributors to its gross domoestic product. Yet Malay patcicipation in this lucrative field of economic activity is deliberately stiffled and curtailed.

Now here’s the trick. Most restaurants and hotels which are statistically in a majority run by the Chinese, sell or cook food either with pork or pork fat or some element of pork as an ingredient. The manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol another very significant industry from which the Malays are excluded for religious reasons is also Chinese dominated.

Fully aware of the consequence to Malays of the presence of these ingredients and material in food and beverages, very few previous or for that matter even the current Malaysian government have ever advocated to find alternatives to redress the imbalance created by this non tariff barrier to employment of Malays. The result is that it has become a tool of exclusion preventing and excluding Malays from employment in an important and a vital industry in Malaysia.

Pork is not a life saving necessity nor something that cannot be suitably and painlessly substituted with say,soy substitutes, beef, mutton, venesin or poultry. Yet it is conveniently and widely used in Malaysia by its Chinese population without protest or complaint by it Malay population save in some minority quarters.

The fact they the Malays and their government have not taken any active measures to end Chinese monopoly of this highly lucrative of sectors in the economy although harmful to their culture says a lot about Malay generosity the Chinese are not prepared to acknowledge.

It is examples such as these which conveniently get lost in the heat of arguments against the NEP and Malays. This level of inter racial tolerance is likely to be lost in a Singaporean Chinese dominated Johor corridor. Malays will be further driven into the hinterland or be reduced to being token Chinese like they are in Singapore today.

The consequence of all of the generosity of the Malays and their government is conveniently lost and conveniently forgotten by the Chinese. Whats not remembered is that the Malays in their own country are as they have been for decades, excluded from any form of meaningful employment or participation in an industry so large as the food and beverages sector to which they could contribute more significantly.

Food and beverage is an industry in which the Chinese have a stranglehold and monopoly over which for a long time has underwritten their individual and communal wealth. Entry barriers are low and turnover and profits high.

CONCLUSION

In the earlier days before people like Mahathir intervened, the Chinese middle men reduced Malay rice growers of the north to poverty. It was a feat celebrated by the British as Chinese ingenuity over the Malays. The Malays could do well to demand their government impose a punitive tax on the sale of pork and alcohol in all its forms. It will achieve the necessary balance of allowing the Chinese the freedom to eat pork in public places and others to consume alcohol also in public places for a price. That price has to reflect the disadvantage to the Malay economy.

An opportunity to redress this imbalance where Malays are excluded from places where the the use of pork and alcohol is served can be achieved by imposing license requirements on all premises that sell pork and alcohol which would undoubtedly provide a windfall to government and redressing the imbalance in the process.

More importantly the government of Tun Razak Najib ought to be made to publicly disclose the terms and conditions of the sale of water to Singapore and the sale of the Johor corridor to Singaporeans. And if necessary a referendum on these matters held. If they are found to be not in the interests of Malaysians it ought to be overturned.

The Chinese know that they will not be able to overthrow and set up in its place a non Malay led government. That’s not possible as long as there are sufficient numbers of Malays to constitute a majority in the population.

The Chinese alternative aided by Singapore is now to grab as much land as is possible under terms and conditions that have been kept a secret from Malaysians and to introduce large numbers of imported Chinese labour as has been the case throughout the developing world in Asia and Africa and to spread Chinese economic and cultural hegemony throughout the region.

It will happen. And Lee Kuan Yew wants it to happen before he dies. Bahasa Melayu will be replaced as the main language with Mandarin. If thats taking it the message too far, take a look at Singapore, a former Malay territory and prove me wrong.

LKY – brilliant but ruthless how he let the malaygirls Singaporean exhibitionist chick showing off her private parts in Singapore’s public spaces. I knew the Marina Bay Sands had the hottest swimming pool in Singapore but no one told me about the topless chicks poolside readmore Sexychilli Public Nudity Poolside At The Marina Ba…

Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

By incriminating Anwar, they are putting justice on trial. Malaysian justice is already on trial but the Singaporean actions have only made it worse. They must be aware that at the same time, they compromise themselves. Would the Singapore intelligence be prepared to bring their “technical evidence” before the Malaysian courts in Anwar’s trial?

Anwar’s sodomy trial has taken on a new twist. Revelations in Wikileaks point to a cable dated November 2008 and released exclusively to The Sun-Herald which states: “’The Australians said that Singapore’s intelligences services and [Singaporean elder statesman] Lee Kuan Yew have told ONA (the Australian intelligence service – Office of National Assessments) in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar ‘did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted’.”’

The document states the Singaporeans told ONA they made this assessment on the basis of ”technical intelligence”, which many believe to be intercepted communications.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his ruling coalition BN must be rubbing their hands with glee.

The Wikileaks revelations couldn’t have come at a worse time for Anwar and the opposition party. In the run-up to a possible snap general election, these Wikileaks disclosures have the effect of delivering a guilty verdict on Anwar, without having to look at any evidence or call any witnesses to court – not that Anwar is assured of a fair trial anyway.

It is strange why the Singapore intelligence services chose to take at face value the information they were given by Malaysia’s own Special Branch and then allow the said information to be disseminated to their Australian counterparts, ONA.

Singapore is a nation that prides itself on being the most advanced and developed in the region. Its economy has been ranked amongst the world’s ten most open, competitive and innovative.

Despite its small size, Singapore has one of the most advanced military forces in South East Asia. The armed forces serve primarily as a deterrent against potential aggressors and also provide humanitarian assistance to other countries. Singapore has mutual defence pacts with several countries and its security is based on strengthening Singapore against all kinds of threats.

Everyone knows that the intelligence service of any country is a dirty bogus business, riddled with deceit, manipulation and betrayal. It is a far cry from the romantic version as portrayed by ‘James Bond 007’.

Singapore knows only too well, that a better, more democratic and free Malaysia is a threat to its own survival – politically, economically, civil, social, military and psychological.

What better way to undermine Malaysia by using Singapore’s own intelligence service to make others believe what they want to be the truth. Thus when other agents (Malaysia’s Special Branch) offer confirmation, the Singaporeans help spread the suspicion.

These Wikileaks show the Singapore intelligence to be sloppy in their methods. And everyone knows they are not. But what Singapore is doing is to play an important role in deliberately manipulating information and spreading disinformation.

By incriminating Anwar, they are putting justice on trial. Malaysian justice is already on trial but the Singaporean actions have only made it worse. They must be aware that at the same time, they compromise themselves.

Would the Singapore intelligence be prepared to bring their “technical evidence” before the Malaysian courts in Anwar’s trial?

The Sun-Herald by WikiLeaks also states: “’The Australians said that Singapore’s intelligences services and Singaporean elder statesman, Lee Kuan Yew, have told ONA in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar ‘did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted’.”

So will Lee Kuan Yew be called upon to testify before the Malaysian courts?

Our courts should have the authority to subpoena and compel both Lee and Singapore’s intelligence service to produce their evidence.

Lee Kuan Yew may be brilliant. But he is also ruthless. He is already an old man and is frail. He has put Singapore on the world-map and Anwar, if he succeeds to form the next government, is a threat to his country’s domination. Anwar has the ability to destroy Singapore’s mighty and carefully scripted image. Singapore is Lee’s precious creation.

So, might this be one machination in Malaysia-Singapore politics that the Singapore statesman has bitten off more than he can chew?