Many old Communist activists became good citizens, but some still deny facts: PM Lee

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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in a Facebook post on Saturday (Dec 20), said many old Communist and pro-Communist activists have reconciled with their past and become good citizens, but a few hard core Communists still deny the historical facts.

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File photo of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. (Photo: AFP/Mohd Fyrol)







SINGAPORE: Many old Communist and pro-Communist activists have reconciled with their past, and become good citizens, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on a Facebook post on Saturday (Dec 20). However, a few hard core Communists still deny the historical facts.


PM Lee, who visited the Battle for Merger exhibition in October, mentioned the book of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s radio talks in 1961, which explained what the fight against the Communists was about, and why Singapore needed a merger with Malaya.


The prime minister said the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) was a violent, illegal organisation. "So it operated secretly, underground. But the Communists infiltrated open, legal organisations like trade unions, student associations and political parties. These supported the Communist cause, but denied that they themselves were Communist. Mr Lee (Kuan Yew) exposed this Communist united front tactic."


PM Lee added that a few hard core Communists still deny these historical facts. "They don’t want to admit that they had fought on the wrong side, and that luckily for Singapore they lost. Some 'revisionist' historians make this argument too. One motivation: cast doubt on the legitimacy of the PAP government, not just in the 1960s, but today."


Prime Minister Lee said the British have been declassifying documents from their archives in London and making them available to the public. Furthermore, senior CPM leaders like Chin Peng, Eu Chooi Yip, Fong Chong Pik (aka the Plen) and others have published memoirs and their first person accounts confirm the extent of the Communist united front in Singapore.


He said they "leave no doubt that the Barisan was formed at the instigation of the CPM, and that Lim Chin Siong was a Communist cadre". "We have put together an account using evidence from the British archives as well as CPM sources, which confirm that Mr Lee Kuan Yew told the truth," the prime minister added. An account can be found here.




- CNA/al


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