Thread by @kixes

I was so fixated on sharing @NewNaratif's research article on the 50th anniversary of May 13 in #Malaysia yesterday that I forgot to tweet about another May 13 anniversary: the 65th anniversary of the anticolonial students' movement in #Singapore.

On 13 May 1954, a group of students in #Singapore delivered a petition to the colonial authorities opposing military conscription. Hundreds of their peers assembled at the foot of Fort Canning Hill in solidarity. They were met with brutal repression by riot police.

This was a significant moment for the anticolonial movement in #Singapore. It galvanised the students. They linked up with other anticolonial activists, such as union workers. The movement grew.

This is what the late Dr Lim Hock Siew (doctor, politician, political prisoner) wrote in 2011 about the impact of 13 May 1954 (remembered by the Chinese-educated leftists as "五一三"): theonlinecitizen.com/2019/05/14/a-t…

It was also this movement that swept the People's Action Party into power in 1959. As a young lawyer, Lee Kuan Yew represented some of the students and unionists. The early PAP rode on the support and mobilisation of the leftists.

Five years ago, I attended the 60th anniversary luncheon of the May 13 student movement. It was my first ever encounter with it; I'd not learnt about it in school. I have no memory of it appearing any school history textbook.

I wrote this back then: medium.com/@kixes/may-13-…

Why had I, and Singaporeans of my generation, not learnt about such a pivotal moment in our history? Why were we not taught about the students and the leftists, if they played such a big role in getting the PAP—who continue to govern today—into power?

*deep breath*

WELL...

Because these leftists and the PAP that they'd supported is not the PAP of today. In those days, the PAP was made up of the English-educated Lee Kuan Yew and his peers, and the Chinese-educated leftists led by figures like Lim Chin Siong.

They could collaborate when it was about fighting for self-determination and pushing back against colonialism, but after the PAP came to power the two camps were too ideologically and politically different for the situation to be very sustainable.

The split came in 1961, when the idea of a merger with the Federation of Malaya (to form what became Malaysia) was mooted. Lee Kuan Yew's camp were in favour of it but the left-wing camp did not approve of the terms under which merger would occur.

To cut the long story short, the schism led to the expulsion of left-wing members from the PAP—they went on to form the Barisan Sosialis, with Lim Chin Siong as secretary-general. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barisan_S…

Keep in mind: when the PAP was first formed, Lee Kuan Yew's camp needed Lim Chin Siong and the leftists—they were the ones who had the ability to mobilise the grassroots and get out the vote. Lim and his Hokkien speeches touched hearts more than the Cambridge-educated Lee.

So now the Barisan Sosialis was an opponent to be reckoned with. And, suffice to say, Lee Kuan Yew (with the complicity of the British, who wanted a pro-British party in power) did not play fair. Leftist activists were arrested and detained without trial: roadsandkingdoms.com/2015/lunch-wit…

The most notable was 1963's Operation Coldstore (ostensibly to deal with a "Communist conspiracy", which crippled the Barisan Sosialis. Last year, @NewNaratif spoke to some of the former detainees and published their case files from back then: newnaratif.com/journalism/rem…

Why is it important to remember all this stuff, beyond historical interest? Why do I keep insisting to Singaporeans that we should keep reading and talking and remembering this?

Because it dispels a lot of myths about #Singapore and Singaporeans that we tell ourselves today.

We tell ourselves that Singaporeans don't like to be "political", that we don't protest, that it's just not "the #Singapore way". We tell ourselves that we can't deal with the mess that is a more competitive democracy.

BUT...

...our own history shows that many Singaporeans were in fact political animals, that we've been capable of mobilising, and organising for our freedoms. That we cared about democracy and democratic processes, and that we once had a much more vibrant, competitive political scene.

And this matters, because there is a psychological effect of allowing ourselves to believe that we are passive creatures who shouldn’t stick our noses into political matters.

There is an immense value in being able to reclaim our own history.

Adding to this thread from yesterday to share a podcast segment I produced for @NewNaratif on the annual lunch of the old left in #Singapore: newnaratif.com/podcast/southe…