Author Description

Lim Chin Siong was the most prominent left-wing leader in Singapore for a decade until he was eliminated from the political scene by the infamous Operation Coldstore on February 2, 1963. This book is an account of Lim’s significance in Singapore’s political developments in the decade preceding. It also contains tributes by his friends and colleagues in Singapore and Malaysia. This new edition features an essay by Dr Poh Soo Kai and an extract from Lim’s posthumous manuscripts. It will redefine the debate on the post-war history of both countries and the legacy of continuing political repression in them. "The entire Singapore Special Branch file of evidence against Lim, including the transcription of Lim’s ‘Pah Mata’ speech, has been unearthed from files recently declassified by the National Archives of the UK. The Special Branch files show they had no evidence on which they could convict Lim of any crime. In order to justify his detention without trial in 1956, the government deliberately misrepresented Lim Chin Siong’s speech. After the PAP came into power, it did not provide the opportunity for Lim to clear his name either. It remains an open question if any of the detentions over the last sixty years were justified. The Internal Security Act remains in operation today. To ensure that this Act has been used appropriately and responsibly, an open Commission of Enquiry into the detentions of Singapore’s political detainees is needed to set the facts straight once and for all. Only by learning the truth of our own collective past can we learn and grow as a nation." - Dr Thum Ping Tjin (2014)