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  • Here’s What Lee Kuan Yew Did When WW2 Hit Singapore 75 Years Ago

    Here’s What Lee Kuan Yew Did When WW2 Hit Singapore 75 Years Ago

    February 15 is the day when the British surrender to the invading Japanese forces in Singapore, and this year marks the 75th anniversary of one of the darkest period in our island nation’s history — the Japanese Occupation (1942 to 1945).

    Many of S’pore’s past leaders, such as Lee Kuan Yew and David Marshall, were young men during that period. They experienced the hardships, felt the hunger brought on during that period, and lived through the uncertainties with some narrow escapes.

    Following our previous story on what these founding fathers did at the outbreak of war,  let’s now take a look at some of their experiences during the Occupation.

    1. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister (1959 to 1990): He had a lucky break as he escaped theSook Ching massacre.

    Lee was 18 years old when the Japanese Occupation of Singapore began.

    Source: NAS

     

    Recording his Japanese Occupation experience in his memoirs, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew, Lee wrote that a few days into the Occupation, the Japanese carried out the Sook Ching operation to cleanse the local Chinese population of anti-Japanese elements. He reported to Jalan Besar stadium together with his family friend and helper, Koh Teong Koo, for registration and screening. He narrowly escaped being one of the many Chinese rounded to be massacred in the operation.

    “Soon after the Japanese soldiers left my house, word went around that all Chinese had to go to a registration centre at the Jalan Besar stadium for examination. I saw my neighbour and his family leave and decided it would be wiser for me to go also, for if I were later caught at home the Japanese military police, the Kempeitai, would punish me. So I headed for Jalan Besar with Teong Koo.

    As it turned out, his cubicle in his coolie-keng, the dormitory he shared with other rickshaw pullers, was within the perimeter enclosed by barbed wire. Tens of thousands of Chinese families were packed into this small area. All exit points were manned by the Kempeitai. There were several civilians with them, locals or Taiwanese. I was told later that many of them were hooded, though I do not remember noticing any.

    “After spending a night in Teong Koo’s cubicle, I decided to check out through the exit point, but instead of allowing me to pass, the soldier on duty signalled me to join a group of young Chinese. I felt instinctively that this was ominous, so I asked for permission to return to the cubicle to collect my belongings.

    He gave it. I went back and lay low in Teong Koo’s cubicle for another day and a half. Then I tried the same exit again. This time, for some inexplicable reason, I got through the checkpoint. I was given a “chop” on my left upper arm and on the front of my shirt with a rubber stamp. The kanji or Chinese character jian, meaning “examined”, printed on me in indelible ink, was proof that I was cleared. I walked home with Teong Koo, greatly relieved.”

     

    Images of Sook Ching screening centres, taken at the Syonan Gallery.
    Images of Sook Ching screening centres, taken at the Syonan Gallery.

     

    Source: Extracted from http://mothership.sg

  • Singaporeans Petition For Ong Teng Cheong To Be Recognised As First Elected President

    Singaporeans Petition For Ong Teng Cheong To Be Recognised As First Elected President

    “The President shall be elected by the citizens of Singapore in accordance with any law made by the Legislature.”

    – Singapore Constitution, Article 17(2).

    This is a call for the Government of Singapore, led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, to not disregard and disrespect Mr Ong Teng Cheong as our nation’s first Elected President.

    This call is made in light of remarks made in Parliament by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Mr Chan Chun Sing, on 6 February 2017.

    Mr Chan, in responding to a question from the Workers’ Party Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC, Ms Sylvia Lim, said that “President Wee Kim Wee was the first president to exercise the powers under the new Elected Presidency act”, and thus Mr Wee was Singapore’s first Elected President.

    Mr Chan said that the Government was advised on this by the Attorney General.

    Mr Wee is the fourth of Singapore’s seven presidents.

    We contend that the Attorney General is wrong in advising the Government that Mr Wee was our country’s first Elected President simply because Mr Wee had exercised the powers under the Elected President scheme; and we ask that the honour be rightly bestowed on Mr Ong Teng Cheong instead.

    We present the following reasons for this call.

    – Mr Wee, who held the post of president with distinction and honour, was nonetheless unelected, a fundamental requirement of our Constitution. He did not present himself to the people of Singapore as a candidate. Instead, Mr Wee was appointed by then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew.

    – No other candidate was able to present himself as a challenge to Mr Wee and to let the people of Singapore choose or make their choice in a democratic and open election.

    – Mr Ong had relinquished his position as a minister in the Government, resigned his post from the People’s Action Party (PAP), before offering himself as a candidate for the Elected Presidency.

    – Mr Ong faced an opponent in Mr Chua Kim Yeow, a former Accountant General, in an open and democratic presidential election in 1993. Mr Ong won the popular vote and became our 5th President, and our First Elected President.

    Also, we note that through the last 24 years since Mr Ong became Singapore’s 5th President, numerous media reports and articles have cited and recognised him as our first Elected President.

    But the highest recognition of Mr Ong as Singapore’s first Elected President came from our former Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, himself.

    In his condolence letter to Mr Ong’s family when Mr Ong passed away in 2002, Mr Goh wrote:

    “As the first elected President, Teng Cheong had to work the two-key system…”

    Mr Goh is, of course, correct and right in recognising Mr Ong and affirming the fact that Mr Ong was indeed Singapore’s first Elected President.

    So was our founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who had initiated the idea for an Elected President as far back as 1985.

    Mr Lee had said then “that Singapore might have its first elected President at the end of Mr Wee’s four-year term or, perhaps, earlier.”

    Mr Ong’s status is also recognised by curators of our nation’s history.

    The website of the National Library Board (NLB) also affirms this fact, with this title on its “History SG” page on Mr Ong:

    “ONG TENG CHEONG IS THE FIRST ELECTED PRESIDENT OF SINGAPORE”.

    Please see here: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/a99d13…

    The basis for anyone being recognised as an Elected President is two-fold:

    1. He must offer himself as a candidate in a presidential election, so that the people of Singapore have a choice to express their wish. This is at the very heart of a democratic election, whether parliamentary or presidential. This is an unequivocal stipulation in Article 17(2) of the Constitution.

    2. Even if it turns out that there is no actual contest because of a lack of opponents, the candidate would still be recognised as the winner because he had actually stepped forward and put himself up as a candidate for the people to choose.

    The Elected President scheme was introduced so that the candidate and eventual president would have to go through an open election to get the people’s endorsement. And this was required for one very important reason:

    The Elected President must have the moral authority to act on behalf of the people in being a check on the government of the day. And he can only have such moral authority if he has the assent of the people who bestow such powers on him through the vote.

    With all due respect to Mr Wee, he did not offer himself as a candidate in an open election. This is not his fault as the scheme was introduced halfway through his term.

    Nevertheless, it would not be right to recognise him as our first Elected President.

    Professor of Law, Jack Lee, of the Singapore Management University, wrote on the Singapore Law website in 2016 that while Mr Wee was the first to exercise the powers of the Elected President scheme, “[the] provision [in the law] was carefully worded to avoid deeming Wee Kim Wee as having been elected, so although he exercised all the discretionary powers of an elected President, the first truly elected President was Ong Teng Cheong.”

    It is quite clear that Mr Ong, who fulfils all the necessary and important requirements of the Elected President scheme as stated in the Constitution, should be recognised as SINGAPORE’S FIRST ELECTED PRESIDENT.

    We must not do him a dishonour by brushing off his contribution with a simple stroke of the pen without any substantive, rational explanation.

    Mr Ong gave his whole life to public service, first as a Member of Parliament, later as minister and deputy prime minister, and finally as president.

    To now dismiss him as Singapore’s first Elected President is to dishonour him, and to dishonour Singaporeans who still hold him in the highest regard.

    It is also an attempt to re-write our history.

    We thus call on the Singapore Government to respect history and to respect Mr Ong, and to recognise him as our first Elected President.

     

    Source: www.ipetitions.com

  • We, Muslims Are Proud Singaporeans!

    We, Muslims Are Proud Singaporeans!

    “We, Muslims are proud Singaporeans”, were the flinty words a Singapore national servicemen reportedly told The Diplomat magazine in 2014.

    He complained that Muslims serving in the Singapore military [were] routinely kept away from critical roles in air and naval units.

    His comments to The Diplomat magazine was prefaced by what had happened in Singapore in February 1915. Inexplicably the history books in the city-state have excluded the explosively, seismic event from its curriculum even as it had paralleled the Maria Hertogh riots of 1952.

    Still if there is something largely forgotten in Singapore, is the Sepoy Mutiny of 1915 when bands of Indian soldiers, namely Muslims, roamed the streets in the weeks of February 1915 hunting down and killing Europeans. The disgruntled troops were outraged when they learned – though falsely – that they would be sent to fight their co-religionists in Turkey during World War I. After breaking out of their barrack lines in what is today’s Dempsey Road, the mutineers began an orgy of rampage and killings. They even had the help of some Germans interred in Singapore.

    The outbreak occurred during Chinese New Year that year. But thanks to some Japanese, French and Russian reinforcements which the British summoned, the mutiny was quickly suppressed.

    All the mutineers were then court-martialled and tried and found guilty of the probable crime of treason.

    They were all executed in broad daylight at where now stands the Outram Park MRT to the perverted delight of onlookers who cheered when British marksmen began taking aim to shoot and kill the men standing blindfolded before them.

    It was something that British would never dare want to do in their own home turf.

    As how The Diplomat pointed, for some South Asian historians, the Singapore Mutiny is a sequel to the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny and an important milestone in the struggle for independence. The 5th Light infantry would be disbanded shortly after World War I after serving with the British Army in East Africa. Yet, Singapore would again be the site of another important rebellion involving colonial Indian troops. In 1942, the fall of Singapore, placed 40,000 Indian troops of whom nearly 30,000 would join the anti-British First Indian National Army (INA) under nationalist leader Mohan Singh. That army collapsed but, a second INA under Subas Chandra Bose joined Japanese forces during the Burmese campaign. During World War II, similar but smaller units of Indian soldiers were raised by both Germany and Italy from among Indian POWS. (http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/singapore-a-mutiny-like-no-other)

    Next week marks the 102nd anniversary of that uprising and what has been sobering is that has never received any mention in Singapore’s history books.

     

    Source: www.theindependent.sg

  • Unfair NTUC Put Halloween Decoration But Not Deepavali

    Unfair NTUC Put Halloween Decoration But Not Deepavali

    A reader shared this post.

    “I am clearly disappointed at the sight of a Halloween decoration taking precedence over the Deepavali displays at your Sportshub branch.

    May I humbly know when did a commercial celebration that’s not even been recognised as a public holiday in Singapore has become a festivity that overshadows our Ethnic & Cultural importance in Singapore? Is this how you advocate racial respect & harmony of Singapore to visitors & residents in our country?

    I’m extremely disheartened that a country that’s hailed for it’s diverse races, in the recent years has become a more greedy commercial hub with focus on main ethnic groups and forgetting the minorities.

    Do you know what’s the meaning of Deepavali & Halloween? Deepavali’s not a new year as widely misinterpreted. It’s a Festival of Lights (bringing in joy, happiness & peace to our family) whereas Halloween is dedicated to remembering the dead. Even the meaning of Halloween has been lost over the years & it’s being celebrated as a day to invoke fun, fear & tricks.

    Fairprice is a well known local groceries merchant with multiple branches throughout Singapore. Being part of the National Trade Union Congress I’m ashamed to say you have failed to show unity in our National Celebration. I’ve always been proud of my country & always will be. Therefore I hope you will also learn to take pride in giving equal importance to all ethnic celebrations. I hope our Citizen’s pledge is not only remembered by it words but by it’s meaning.

    ‎Puvaneswari Alagan”

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

  • Most Singaporeans Want Someone Of Same Race As Prime Minister, President: CNA-IPS Survey

    Most Singaporeans Want Someone Of Same Race As Prime Minister, President: CNA-IPS Survey

    If given a choice, most Singaporeans prefer someone of the same race as the nation’s Prime Minister or President.

    This was one of the findings in a nationwide survey of 2,000 citizens and permanent residents on their views on relations between the country’s four major races. The survey was commissioned by Channel NewsAsia in partnership with the Institute of Policy Studies, and was one of the largest of its kind.

    The survey, conducted between June and July this year, was done through a random sampling of dwelling types. Malay and Indian respondents were oversampled to ensure sufficient minority representation. Selected households completed a survey questionnaire then returned it to a surveyor at a stipulated time, to reduce the possibility of interviewer bias.

    The results were then statistically weighted to ensure that the final sample resembled the national population in terms of racial composition, dwelling type and gender.

    According to the survey, the vast majority of Chinese respondents – 98 per cent – would accept a Singaporean Chinese as Prime Minister, while 96 per cent preferred a Singaporean Chinese as President.

    Malay respondents also overwhelmingly wanted a Singaporean Malay to be Prime Minister or President. A total of 93 per cent of Malays surveyed said they preferred a Singaporean Malay to be Prime Minister, while 94 per cent would accept a Malay as President.

    Among Indian respondents, 89 per cent would accept a Singaporean Indian as Prime Minister and 92 per cent said the same for the role of the President.

    The majority of respondents of all races were agreeable to a Singaporean Chinese in both positions, with more than 80 per cent of Malays, Indians and Others saying they would accept a Singaporean Chinese as Prime Minister and as President.

    A smaller number of respondents said they would accept a minority race in the positions – around 60 per cent of Chinese, 75 per cent of Malays and around 68 per cent of Others said yes to a Singaporean Indian Prime Minister or President. When it came to a Singaporean Malay Prime Minister or President, just over half of Chinese, around 70 per cent of Indians and about 80 per cent of Others said yes.

    The older a respondent, the less likely he or she would accept someone of a different race to hold the nation’s highest positions, the survey found.

    Among Chinese respondents who were below 30 years old, more than 60 per cent would accept a Singaporean Malay as Prime Minister or President, while more than 70 per cent would accept a Singaporean Indian.

    Among those over 60 years old, about 40 to 42 per cent would accept a Singaporean Malay, while between 45 and 50 per cent would accept a Singaporean Indian in the two positions.

    Source: ChannelNewsAsia