- Read the sources below regarding Lim Chin Siong.
- Post a comment about whether you think Lim Chin Siong really was a communist, and why. Refer to the sources in your argument (eg In Source D, Chin Peng states that...). Try to balance the sources agreeing with your point of view, against those that disagree.
- You may find more information regarding Lim Chin Siong here.
Documents and Sources
Source A
“Lim Chin Siong says: I’m not a Communist”
Excerpt of Letter to the Editor
Straits Times, 31 July 1961
Your editorial comments and news reports in the last week have focused attack on me. By repeating the fiction that I am a Communist front-man I suppose my political enemies hope that it would stick in the minds of some.
While Mr. Lee and his men keep crying Communism to cover up a multitude of sins, let me, for my part, try to get the record straight.
Let me make it clear once and for all that I am not a Communist or a Communist front-man or, for that matter, anybody’s front-man.
Lim Chin Siong,
Singapore.
Source B
“He [Lim Chin Siong] was well-meaning and seemed deeply sincere. All the applause and adulation of the crowds had not turned his head. But we never developed a close friendship. Instead, we recognized each other for what we were. He knew I was not a communist and I knew he was one. And we accepted each other as such. He needed me; I needed him. He would trust me to be honest in money matters, and in general not to lie to him. But he did not trust me in political matters. That was the nature of our relationship.”
Source C:
Harold Crouch: What sort of relationship did the people who became the Barisan Socialis in Singapore have with your people in southern Thailand at that time? Had there been any contact at all?
Chin Peng: I think among them, there were some communists, there were some non communists, for example, Lee Siew Choh. We considered him as radical left.
Anthony Short: Lim Chin Siong never had any contact with the Party in southern Thailand, did he?
Chin Peng: I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Lim Chin Siong never admitted he was Communist Party member.
Anthony Reid: Was the Barisan Socialis under the control of the CPM (Communist Party of Malaya)?
Chin Peng: I don’t think we can control it from far away. It would depend on the man on the spot. They discussed among themselves and they coordinated their activities, not controlled from the Central. Take the case of the Singapore left wing, I don’t think they used the name of communists. They all regarded each other as left-wing figures, and then they discussed themselves, they coordinated their policy, and they decided.
Chin & Hack (eds)., Dialogues with Chin Peng,
(Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2004), pp. 190 – 192.
Chin Peng was the head of the Communist Party of Malaya
Source D
“While we accept that Lim Chin Siong is a Communist, there is no evidence he is receiving orders from the CPM [Communist Party of Malaya], Peking or Moscow. Our impression is that Lim is working very much on his own and that his primary objective is not to create a Communist country, but to obtain control of the government of Singapore. It is far from certain that having obtained this objective Lim would prove an obedient tool of Communist China or Russia.”
Source E
“Contrary to the countless allegations made over the years by Singapore leaders, academics and the Western press, we never controlled Barisan Socialis. We certainly influenced them. But neither Dr. Lee Siew Choh, the Party chief, nor, as I understand it, other prominent opposition figures like the Puthucheary brothers – James and Dominic – had ever been CPM (Communist Party of Malaya) members. Nor had we ever been able to control them. Unquestionably we tried to control them, but we failed.”
Chin Peng (head of the Communist Party of Malaya), My Side of History,
(Singapore, Media Masters, 2003), p. 438.
Source F
“It is possibly because of Lim’s desire to remain part of Singapore’s history that he has denied, to his dying day, that he was a communist. While his denials in the 1950s, could be for political reasons (and so he will not be arrested), later denials may indicate a fear that he may be put out into the historical cold, given the still-existing sensitivity to communism in the nation. To Melanie Chew’s comment, ‘Throughout your career, you always had to deny you were a Communist,’ Lim vigorously responds, ‘To brand someone as Communist at that time … was the best and most convenient way to put him in jail’. Chew pursues the matter, asking bluntly: ‘Did you have any connection with the Communists?’. The simple response? A flat ‘No’.”
Lam & Tan, (eds.), Lee’s Lieutenants, (Australia, 1999), p.174.
