toh chin chye 2

Excerpt of an interview with Dr Toh Chin Chye, published in ‘Leaders of Singapore’ by Melanie Chew, 1996

August 9, 1965

I remember that morning very clearly. In the morning, I wrote a letter to Tengku. He promptly replied in the afternoon.

I stayed behind (in Kuala Lumpur) and Lee came back to announce to the public in Singapore that Singapore had become independent. I stayed behind to clear up the mess. The Malaysian Parliament was meeting the next day. Lee Kuan Yew told me to go to the Parliament. Can you imagine the uproar? I had no chance to face the members of the Malaysian Solidarity Convention to break the news. Their support for Singapore came to nothing.

When Lee Kuan Yew got back to Singapore, he invited the members of the Convention to attend his press conference. He was crying. I don’t understand him at all. On one hand, he worked so hard for merger. Having gotten the cupful, he shattered it. And then cried over it.

He held two successive press conferences, and in which both he cried. On the third morning I went to work, and saw the press boys again. I asked Lee Wei Ching, his press secretary, “Why are they hanging around here?” Another press conference! I told Lee Wei Ching, “You ought to tell the Prime Minister to go to Changi and take a rest. Call the press conference off! Another crying bout, and the people of Singapore will think the government is on its knees. So he went to Changi, staying at the government bungalow for six weeks.

One smart reporter noted this by going through Hansard. There was a big time gap in Hansard between our last parliamentary meeting and the next meeting. More than five months. One would have thought with such a big event, Parliament should be immediately summoned and the announcement made to Parliament. The opposition came at me. Why is there no Parliament sitting? So I had to hold the fort.

I was not appointed to act for him while he was away. When he went off to Changi, Parliament did not meet. So Singapore had a Parliament in suspended animation. Keng Swee and Lim Kim San saw me and asked me what was the constitutional position. Has he recovered? What if he does not recover? So what happens? I said I thought he was getting better, although I could not see him and telephone calls were not put through.

 

Q: So after the separation, you did not have Parliamentary meetings until December?

Parliament last met on June 16th, 1965 when Singapore was still in Malaysia, and recommenced only on December 8th, 1965 after we had left Malaysia.

 

Q: But the appearance of government was normal. The government was still carrying on. It seemed like business as usual.

Your point is taken. In a crisis there will be public spirited figures who will rise to the occasion, for better or worse.

Only the constitutional position was unclear, because according to the constitution it was the Yang di Pertuan Negara who appoints the Prime Minister, who in turn appoints the Cabinet. The constitutional position was not clear about an absent or an incapacitated Prime Minister, and Goh Keng Swee and Lim Kim San were both anxious.

 

Q: Mr Lee at that time was in a very emotional state?

Yes, he was. I knew he was. And was very worried for him. That is why I told Lee Wei Ching to call the press conference off.

 

Q: Was he in a very emotional state because he felt he had made a blunder?

You have to interview him on that. I cannot answer for him.

 

Q: Could his provocative speeches have been part of a deliberate strategy?

I do not know why he did that. But he was influenced by Alex Josey, who came from the Middle East where he had been a reporter. Josey fed him ideas about the Muslims. The “Mad Mullahs.” The “Ultras.” Lee used the term, “Mad Mullahs.” This was Alex Josey’s phrase. Alex Josey was his close friend, golfing friend and biographer.

Alex used to play golf with me. He was an operator. He used to pick me up as early as five a.m., because I had no one to play golf with at that time. He was an operator, feeding me stories of his experiences with the Arabs. I had suspicions about him. Now he’s dead.

 

Q: Lee Kuan Yew asked the Tengku to write to you to explain that it was Tengku’s decision to separate.

Yes, I think that was the purpose. To tell me that it was a decision made by the Tengku.

 

Q: Was it because he was afraid?

So the blame would be on the Tengku’s shoulder. Not on our shoulders. The Tengku was far sighted. However desirable it was to continue as one country, we could not do so. He wrote, “We cannot avoid a bloodshed if we remain.”

Tengku had been in charge of multi racial Malaya since 1957. He knew, better than any of us, what was possible and impossible. The 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur proved him right.”

Subscribe
Notify of
6 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Singaporeans are able to afford property despite finding prices high, says PropertyGuru survey

Based on a survey conducted by PropertyGuru Group, it was revealed that…

【冠状病毒19】5月4日新增573例确诊

根据新加坡卫生部文告,截至本月4日中午12时,本地新增573例冠状病毒19确诊,累计确诊已增至1万8778例。 今日新增确诊中大多为住客工宿舍的工作准证持有者。有5名新加坡公民和永久居民确诊。 卫生部表示,将会更多细节在今日晚间公布。

淡马亚2022年接任国际传染病学会主席

淡马亚当选国际传染病学会(International Society of Infectious Diseases)主席,于2022年接任。 新加坡民主党今日(15日)于脸书上恭喜该党主席淡马亚教授,于2022年出任国际传染病学会主席。在此期间,淡马亚将会在该学会持续担任秘书长一职。 该学会致力研究传染病学,总部位于波士顿,目前有高达逾9万名会员,共来自155个国家参与。该学会中的旗舰计划包括国际预警系统ProMED,即指新发传染病控制项目(Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases),曾协助世界对各重大传染病包括SARS、中东呼吸综合症和冠病等传染病发出警讯。 目前是临床微生物学与传染病学亚太学会会长的淡马亚教授,是国立大学医学教授,同时也是国大医院传染病学部高级顾问。有着传染病学研究专业背景,引导他投入社会运动,参与新加坡艾滋病行动小组(Action…