A Holistic Perception of Lim Chin Siong

Lim Chin Siong was a prominent figure at the height of the Communist United Front (CUF) campaign in the fifties and sixties in the last century.

Lim Chin Siong was born in Singapore but grew up in Pontian, Johore and was educated at the Chinese High School in Singapore. The Chinese HIgh School was a hotbed of communist activities and Lim Chin Siong was actively involved as a Anti-British League (ABL) cell leader. He was not an outstanding student. Special Branch officers visited the school in 1951 to arrest him but by some mysterious turn of event he evaded arrest. He was also not found at his home. So for all intents and purposes he had gone underground and was not traceable.

He was believed to have gone underground for training by the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) to prepare him to lead the CUF but he claimed after  his arrest in Operation Coldstore in 1963 that he was working at one of the branches of the Singapore Bus Workers'Union but later events were to discredit this. Special Branch had the SBWU and its branches well covered and there was no report of him although he was a wanted person.

When in 1953/1954 the Communist United Front blazed forth in Singapore like a titan overnight and Lim Chin Siong emerged as the undisputed leader of the CUF out of nowhere.  It was the start of a long journey by the Communists through the CUF to seize power and establish a Communist government. It begs the question that any sensible person especially a discerning one could believe that Lim Chin Siong could become the CUF leader without the imprimatur of the Communist Party of Malaya. The CUF was formed as a result of the direction of a 1951 October Resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the CPM to complement the armed struggle to overthrow the government and establish a Communist state, the declared aim of the CPM. Any denial by the CUF that they were directed by the CPM flew in the face of the October Resolution. Special Branch had sight of the October Resolution long before but the gigantic phenomenon was something there they did not expect and greatly alarmed them. They were resilent enough to recover quickly to fight the communist monster with experienced personnel with the necessary experties.

Tere was no question about the leadership quality of Lim Chin Siong as otherwise highly intellectual pro-communists like Devan Nair, James Puthucheary, Sydney Woodhull and unionist Fong Swee Suan would not have condescended to serve under Lim. The fact that their legal adviser Lee Kuan Yew ingratiated himself into Lim's favour was a example of Lim Chin Siong's pre-eminence. The two had subsequently become undeclared adversaries and the subtleties of their internecine interplay could not be observed by veteran Special Branch officers and some members of their inner circle.

Lim Chin Siong was Chinese educated and had a political advantage over Lee Kuan Yew among the Chinese masses. And Lim Chin Siong's mastery of the Hokkien dialect was something that endeared him to the Chinese masses which Lee Kuan Yew cannot match and could only gape in amazement. Lee Kuan Yew had even introduced Lim Chin Siong to his guests as the future prime minister of Singapore which may not be authentic but neverthless it showed the condition of his mind which was perpetually in a sublimnal preoccupied existential threat. If not for Special Branch Lim Chin Siong could easily have become prime minister of Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew his prisoner. Lim Chin Siong may not be as competent as Lee Kuan Yew in affairs of state but he could be more humanitarian.

Special Branch, with the approval of Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock, decided that Lim Chin Siong and his fellow activitists be put away at the appropriate time to make way for a democratic government. Lee Kuan Yew was a titan in bringing prosperity to Singapore and in raising the status of Singapore to a first world country. But at the same time he could not escape the odium of being inhuman in the treatment of his political opponents like Lim Chin Siong, Dr. Lim Hock Siew and Chia Thye Poh.

Lim Chin Siong's end was pathetic. After his return from exile in the UK he was at a loose end and I think his affluent younger brother helped him in the livelihood of him and his family. He died in 1996 from myscardial infarction. In a more revolutionised circumstances his name could be immortalised in history.