Song of a Reformed Headhunter

FOTO: unknown photographer/agency, "[(L-R) Lim Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan, S. Woodhull] Released People's Action Party detainees at Middle Road and S.T.C. Union." (caption provided by AsiaOne), 1963    On 2 February 1963, 113 people—anti-colonial activists, trade unionists, students, and politicians—were arrested in the security operation code-named Coldstore and detained without trial in Singapore. The British operation, carried out with the urging of Lee Kuan Yew, aimed ostensibly at crippling the Communist movement, but was actually directed at defeating the left-wing Barisan Sosialis party, led by Lim Chin Siong (pictured above), that was formed after breaking away from Lee's People's Action Party. The latter story has since been erased by the PAP narrative of successful national development after the defeat of Communism. There are eerie echoes of Singapore's past in Trump's attempt to bribe the Ukrainian government to invest...

Living in a Time of Deception by Poh Soo Kai (Singapore: Function 8 Ltd, 2016). Dr. Poh Soo Kai was detained without trial for a total of 17 years on the false charge of being a communist out to subvert the state of Singapore. What he shows convincingly in this historical memoir is that, like many of his fellow detainees under Operation Coldstore, he was not a communist, but an anti-colonialist and socialist, in other words, a patriot. He was detained for so long because he refused to sign any statement that suggested otherwise. Such a powerfully principled person deserves a hearing at the very least. If you read this book and give him a hearing, as I did, you will make astonishing discoveries about Singapore's struggle for independence from the British, and the legacy of that struggle. After reading this book, I am outraged by the political chicanery for personal ends, but I am also inspired by the heroism of a few good men.