Historian PJ Thum has been the centre of attention of late due to his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad last week (Aug. 30).

He became the talk of the town when he shared a photograph of the meeting:

Along with this caption:

"I met with Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir today. I urged him to take leadership in Southeast Asia for the promotion of democracy, human rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of information. I also expressed hopes for closer relations between the people of Malaysia and Singapore, and presented him with a copy of “Living with Myths in Singapore”."

Seah's take on Thum's FB posts

Following that on Aug. 31, Thum made a Facebook update commemorating Malaysia's Merdeka Day and wished Singaporeans "happy unofficial independence day".

Subsequently, Marine Parade GRC Member of Parliament Seah Kian Peng took to Facebook on Sep. 1 and accused Thum of not wishing Singapore well. This was because Seah believed that Thum's post implied that it was permissible to ask the Malaysian prime minister to interfere in Singapore's affairs.

That prompted Thum to come up with a second post on the morning of Sep. 3 which said "any notion that I am a traitor to my country is ridiculous and unfounded."

Thum added that he loves his country and his people. 

His post, which called Mahathir a "beacon of hope for democracy in Southeast Asia," was shared over 300 times.

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Facebook timeline scrutinised

With the increased scrutiny on his postings after his meeting with Mahathir and the wishing of the people of Singapore a "happy unofficial independence day" on Aug. 31, several social media pages started to look into his Facebook postings over the years.

In the span of two hours on the evening of Sep. 3, several Facebook pages started sharing screenshots of Thum's various postings across the years in relation to Malaysia's independence day.

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Some netizens pointed out that while Thum made a post commemorating the 'unofficial' independence day of Singapore, he did not make a posting on Aug. 9 this year to mark Singapore's 53rd National Day.

However, he did so in 2016:

Similarly, he did not make a posting on Aug. 9, 2017. He did, however, commemorate Malaysia day on Sept. 16 2017:

They also shared screenshots of Thum commemorating Malaysia's independence day in earlier years:

Mainstream media's reports on Thum's posts, and Bilahari's analysis on Thum's posts

Both Straits Times and Today also reported on Thum's Facebook postings.

https://www.facebook.com/todayonline/posts/10156149356062572

Importantly, former Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan gave the most detailed analysis of Thum's posts so far.

He scrutinised Thum's posts and questioned Thum's loyalties to Singapore, asking Thum to define "which is his country and who are his people?"

This is because Bilahari felt that Thum consistently referred to "Malaya" in his posts.

Bilahari believed that the loaded reference of "Malaya" is not accidental as Thum is a historian.

This is also supported by Bilahari's observations of Thum's older posts.

Thum said that it was his “fervent wish” that Singapore will one day “return to our rightful place alongside our brothers and sisters in Malaya” and that he wishes Singaporeans “happy illegal Independence Day”.

Let's hope that Thum would one day display his love for his country Singapore through actions that cannot be doubted, even by his fiercest critics.

Top image from PJ Thum Facebook