Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam has reiterated on Monday, April 2 why he had to ask tough questions of historian Thum Ping Tjin:

Shanmugam wrote in a Facebook post four days after his six-hour Select Committee hearing marathon session:

"PJ’s main point... was that Mr Lee Kuan Yew was the biggest creator of fake news in Singapore, a liar, and Operation Coldstore was based on falsehoods."

"These are serious allegations made in Parliament about our founding PM."

"Either they have to be accepted, or shown to be untrue. Keeping quiet about them was not an option."

Referenced Sonny Liew

In the latter portion of Shanmugam's post, he referenced local cartoonist Sonny Liew.

Shanmugam wrote:

I can see that Sonny Liew is not happy with what happened with PJ. It is quite understandable. Based on what he says, he and PJ are quite close; they work together in a venture. His award winning cartoon, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, is also based on PJ’s version of history.

I have not met Sonny, but I have to say he is a good cartoonist. He is a talent.

This is in response to an illustration Liew did of Shanmugam earlier in the day:

Reactions

The post naturally drew responses from all quarters.

Liew responded directly on Shanmugam's post saying that the interpretation of Singapore's history will never be agreed upon by all sides -- regardless of how informed it is:

The focus, according to Liew, is the perceived fairness of the process of synthesising the past.

Shanmugam then responded to Liew:

The discussion on Shanmugam's post also brought out Singapore's intelligentsia, such as playwright Alfian Sa'at:

Alfian then left another lengthy reply also questioning the fairness of Select Committee proceedings and if such standards of rigour could be applied to the present government's account of history:

[related_story]

Crux of issue

Shamugam's post can be read as a response to the online furore that occurred following the intense grilling of Thum on March 29 for six hours.

However, his explanation appeared to cut no ice with some, who remained sympathetic towards Thum.

Despite Shanmugam's reiteration, some still felt uneasy with how the process was carried out, describing the situation as "kinda scary".

Background of Operation Coldstore

Operation Coldstore took place on Feb. 2, 1963. More than 100 people were arrested.

Those arrested included senior leaders of opposition party Barisan Sosialis.

The arrests have been justified over the years as a critical security operation to save Singapore from the threat of communism.

Historians such as Thum Ping Tjin have stated the operation was politically-motivated to stop Barisan Sosialis from taking power in the general election scheduled later that year.

Barisan Sosialis was formed by a breakaway faction of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).

Thum had also asserted the charge that Barisan Sosialis wanted to overthrow the PAP government through an armed struggle was fabricated by Lee and his fellow ministers.

This assertion was included in his written submission to the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods.

Thum was subsequently invited to the public hearing to provide oral evidence for his assertion, which resulted in the almost six-hour exchange between him and Shanmugam.

An old-school job in Singapore you had no idea existed:

?‍♂️ An audiovisual archivist at National Archives of Singapore doesn't stare at the TV all day