Kishore Mahbubani, the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, recently wrote in his column in The Straits Times on Dec. 13, 2014 that Singapore is not ready for a serious political cartoonist.

Source

These are his exact words:

"Singapore is clearly not ready yet for a serious political cartoonist. However, we can try to encourage a culture of cartoonists by getting some of our leading citizens to allow themselves to be parodied. I am confident that some of our leading lights - like Tommy Koh and Chan Heng Chee, Ho Kwon Ping and Gerard Ee - would not object to being lampooned once in a while."

Well, clearly the man is ignorant mistaken.

Meet Morgan Chua, Singapore's very own political cartoonist who has been taking potshots at Lee Kuan Yew since 1970, five years after Singapore's independence.

" width="760" height="428" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">

The urban legend surrounding Chua is as such: He started drawing for Singapore Herald, a local newspaper, in 1970.

In 1971, the newspaper was closed down as it was believed that Chua's Lee Kuan Yew cartoon had something to do with it.

But the closure of that newspaper only marked the start of Chua's political sketches, as he continued to capture the essence of Lee Kuan Yew in his works of art for the Far Eastern Economic Review from Hong Kong over the next 24 years.

Now aged 65, his cartoons featuring Lee have been compiled into a book, L.K.Y: Political Cartoons, published by Epigram Books.

To sample his other works, some of which can be found online, you can check out Divercity Singapore - A Cartoon History Of Immigration.

As his LKY cartoons was recently published, Mothership.sg caught up with Chua to ask what he thought about Mahbubani's comment and if political cartooning has a future in Singapore. Read on to find out how you can win a signed copy of his book.

1. What are your thoughts about Kishore Mahbubani's statement that Singapore is not ready for a serious political cartoonist considering that you have been at it for so long?

Morgan: Mr. Kishore should do more research on political cartooning in Singapore before speaking on this subject as an intellect.

Doesn't he know Peng? Peng is a local who drew great political/ social cartoons that appeared in The Straits Times during the 50s and 60s era.

Maybe he's been reading Enid Blyton or Brother Grimm. With this sort of mentality, I'm afraid Singapore is not ripe for this subject for many years to come. So, when is the right time? 100 years?

Local cartoonists love to draw caricatures of other leaders except our own. In fact, cartoons will inform our present leaders what's happening, in which the 'Yes men' grassroots failed to do so.

Our government consist of people like us, people make mistakes too -- the coin has both sides.

2. In 1998, you said once before that a political cartoonist should be paid as much as a newspaper editor. Do you still believe that?

Morgan: Yes, political cartoonists must be paid equally as editors, who write 1,000 words to explain their articles. Cartoonists can draw their concepts which are worth more than 10,000 words.

3. Do you think there is still a space for political cartoons in this day and age where people online create memes, assemble their own visual gags and write tweets? And when do you think Singapore will be ready for political cartoons? Or is there no such dream anymore?

Morgan: Singapore is ripe for political cartoons these days. However, the editors in our local media impose themselves resulting in self-censorship, as there is fear of losing their jobs.

In the wired high tech world we are living presently, almost all sources of media are available on the Internet.

Look at our last General Election in 2011. Does our society need the opinion of our local newspapers to cast their votes? Social media is the in-thing. Cartoons have been around.

Our government must be more mature to allow such political works as they have been around since 40 to 50 years ago and have played a part in shaping the destiny of our nation.

4. Which is your all-time favourite political cartoon you drew?

Morgan: All cartoons are my favourite, otherwise I wouldn't have penned it.

To improve myself, the present one must be better than the earlier piece, in terms of composition and strokes.

5. What is your reaction when former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew wrote a letter to you in 2011? Did you reply him with a letter?

Morgan: Yes, I was indeed very surprised to receive a letter from Mr. Lee, as we journalists knew too well... My hands are shaking when I held the envelope. I was thinking if this is a legal writ?

But I was pleasantly surprised as it was a complimentary letter about the book I did for his late wife, Madam Kwa Geok Choo, who played a key role in his life.

Yes, I did reply Mr. Lee, which to me is even better than the Cultural Medallion award from the founding father of modern Singapore himself, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.

6. What is your impression of LKY over the years?

Morgan: Mr. Lee is the man who you loved to hate, a great leader and statesman, a big fish in a small pond.

But imagine a Singapore without Mr. Lee Kuan Yew? I wonder about that too.

Mothership.sg is giving away two signed copies of L.K.Y: Political Cartoons, autographed by Morgan Chua. Share with us what you think of Kishore Mahbubani's remarks in the comment box below. We will select the two best comments and notify the winners in the comments box.

L.K.Y: Political Cartoons is available for purchase from Epigram Books online for $34.90.

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.