Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Cold Storage and Final Negotiations

On the night of the mass arrest, I wrote to Lim Chin Siong, agreeing to allow him to go to Indonesia or another place of his choice.I said that unlike others, he never hid from me his communist beliefs and goals. He once told me in Changi Prison in 1958 that he was going to leave Singapore if his presence in Singapore would interfere with my bid to win the next election... It would not do much harm to security to make such an indication, I think it is necessary, so The letter was published to the press. Five days after the Brunei rebellion broke out, an emergency meeting of the Internal Security Committee was called at the request of the Tunku.I said at the meeting that I understood the Tunku's position: developments in Brunei made action against the communists imperative, and Barisan Barisan's statement in support of the rebellion provided an opportunity.But the action must appear to be that of defending all areas that are about to join Malaysia.I cannot appear as a British puppet, I want to give the impression of cooperating with Malaya.

The arrest operation scheduled to start in the early hours of December 16 was later canceled because the Tunku changed his mind about arresting the two federal MPs.But the matter is not over yet, as the Barisan leader is still fanning the flames.In Barisan Barisan’s New Year’s message, Lim Chin Siong said that Malaya is on the road to establishing a fascist military dictatorship.Dr Lee Siew Choh said the struggle in Brunei will continue until the people regain their freedom.They pinned their hopes of sabotaging the Malaysian plans on the Brunei rebellion and Indonesian opposition to Malaysia, statements that would surely spur the Tunku to demand action.The Tunku was growing impatient.He told the British that unless the pro-communists in Singapore were arrested, he would cancel the entire Malaysian project.Moore approached me several times and urged me to take action, which he decided was the only way to achieve the merger.This makes me suspicious, but the British are better equipped than I to understand the real intentions of the Tunku.After discussions with colleagues, I concluded that we could not risk ignoring his arguments.So the security operation named "Operation Cold Storage" was scheduled to take place on February 2, 1963.

On the same day, 370 police officers were preparing for the operation in Singapore, and another 133 Malayan police officers were on standby at the barracks of the Johor State Police Field Force.The operation had been approved by the internal security committee at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur the night before. (We removed the names of six Barisan MPs from the arrest list because the Tunku still opposed the arrest of two Malayan MPs for subversive activities.) At 3:00 the next morning, Team 65 went to various parts of Singapore to arrest Of the 169 people, only 115 were found, and the rest were not where they were expected to be found.Hunting down communists always runs into this problem.Knowing they are in danger, they keep changing where they spend the night.

The arrests began without riots, bloodshed, and curfews.Everyone expected mass arrests, and the public understood that the Communists were asking for trouble.For the Communists, this was a serious setback.This operation captured some of their most experienced leaders in the United Front.From then on, they can only regain their strength if more leaders emerge from the ground, and they are not sure whether they will have time to establish connections with the grassroots before more people are arrested.Afterwards I watched closely to see if they filled the vacancy, but saw no sign of it.They are unwilling or unable to allow more cadres to come forward to do united front work.

With the consent of the Internal Security Committee, I wrote to Lim Chin Siong on the night of the mass arrest, expressing my agreement to let him go to Indonesia or other places of his choice.I said that, unlike the others, he never hid from me his communist beliefs and aims. He once told me in Changi Prison in 1958 that he was going to leave Singapore if his presence in Singapore would hinder my bid to win the next election.Lim Chin Siong was not an important figure in the Communist Party, but he was an important agitator.There is little harm to safety in making such an indication, and I believe it is necessary, so I published the letter to the press.Unsurprisingly, he did not accept that he could not be seen as someone who deserted his comrades.But politically I got my way.This letter also sent a signal to the plenipotentiary of the Communist Party of Malaysia that in the struggle against colonialism, I have certain rules and keep my promises to the "comrades" who worked in the United Front in the past.What I didn't say is, expect them to do the same.The Plenipotentiary knows that I know he has an anti-rape team.

Among those arrested was Uhar, a Tier 1 diehard organizer.James Puduchary belongs to the main mastermind of the secondary Communist conspiracy.Another person included in the first level is Fu Chaoxian.Fu Chaoxian was a reporter and translator. He was a member of the Anti-British League and had worked in the pro-communist Chinese newspaper "Xin Bao".His articles sympathized with the student agitators and strikers, and he also volunteered to do propaganda work for two of his classmates, Lim Ching Siong and Fang Shui Shuang, who used to study at Hwa Chong High School.He was released four months later, and investigations revealed that his ties to the Anti-British League had been severed in 1962.He then joined Radio and Television Singapore and became my press secretary in 1972, serving for 21 years until his retirement in 1993.He works efficiently, not least because he is bilingual and absolutely reliable.

There were a few others, like him, who were drawn into the communist movement at a young age under the influence of idealism and a desire to change the evil society around them.As long as they have time to see the ruthlessness of the MCP organization, they will recognize the advantages of democratic socialism or social democracy - the results are slower, and they follow the reform route, but they are fairer and less inhumane.Some of them, like Lim Chin Siong's younger brother, Lim Ching Ru, who obtained a university degree while in detention.He got his LLB (external) from the University of London, was released and employed by the Registrar of Titles, and went on to become a successful and wealthy lawyer.

Back then, the Tunku suggested that the People’s Action Party should not participate in the Sembawang by-election, and let the new alliance of the Singapore People’s Alliance-Umno-Malaysian Chinese Association-Malayan Indian National Congress directly confront the Barisan.I had to tell him as politely as I could that they couldn't win and that a Barisan Barisan win would revive the pro-Communists.At that time, I felt that the Tunku's attitude was getting tougher in general. I now conclude that the Tunku has broadened his goals to make it easier to run Singapore, to have more power over Singapore, to give Singapore autonomy only in matters of education and labour.I believe more and more that once the arrests are taken, the threat from the Communist Party will be temporarily resolved.The Tunku will take a tougher stance on the details of the merger conditions when the white paper is translated into specific provisions of the constitution.My response was to threaten the British that the merger would not happen unless the conditions we had agreed to the people of Singapore during the referendum were followed.To merge without complying with these conditions would be tantamount to betraying the people of Singapore. I cannot participate in such activities. If necessary, a general election will be held to solve the problem.If the Barisan Barisan and the Communists win the general election, the entire Malay project will be jeopardized.

not alarmist I decided to write to Scherke, informing him of my position and the problems I expected to encounter. On 12 February, I reiterated my continued concern that the Federation, ignorant of the nature of the Communist threat in Singapore, might have assumed that Operation Coldstore had eliminated the threat and that merger was less of an urgent matter.In Malaya, where the majority of voters are Malays, the CPM is outside the confines of the constitutional arena and is under constant attack, knowing that it cannot seize power through the electoral system, unlike its comrades in Singapore.Once the Tunku and his ministers decided that merger was no longer an urgent matter, my relationship with Kuala Lumpur faced several difficulties, especially in terms of financial arrangements and control of radio and television.A firm stand must be taken now.So I wrote: "Singapore would not be alarmist if I said that the conditions that were publicly debated and endorsed during the referendum last September were impossible to change now."

My object is to win the support of the British on this issue.Both Moore and Sherk responded positively. On February 13, Scherke submitted a written report to London saying: "Lee Kuan Yew said that he did not agree to violate the conditions listed in the merger white paper. I think we should take it seriously." But the obstacle in my negotiation with Tunku is that I want to merge. He doesn't want to.In order to convince the people of Singapore to support the merger, I listed all the disadvantages of non-merger, but he took them as true, so he made it difficult everywhere, because he thought that the benefits belonged to us, but he had to deal with many problems.The result is that the bargaining positions of both parties are unequal.

He sent two top leaders of the MCA to Singapore.They are all opposed to the People's Action Party. They once organized the Malaya Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chinese Society for Tunku.Now he wants them to come to Singapore to do the same.Chen Donghai served as the editor-in-chief of the "Singapore Standard" and later entered politics and became the head of the powerful Tammany Hall-style Malayan MCA.Xu Qimo served as the director of the Singapore Political Department and advocated arresting us, especially myself. He ran to Kuala Lumpur after the People's Action Party won the election in 1959.The Tunku appointed them both as members of the Federal Parliament, and Xu Qimo became a minister.Both of them were fat and fat, like rich and powerful guys.They didn't get along well with the Singaporean business community, which wasn't used to having to pay for business licenses, which was the case in Malaya at the time. The two senators are convinced that as long as Singapore's finances are controlled by Kuala Lumpur, the coalition will have a better chance of winning in the next election.They thus openly accused me of keeping Singapore's tax surplus for the purpose of harming the federal government and bringing it down.Their thoughts coincided with Chen Xiuxin's.Chen Xiuxin told the press, "Based on the principle of federal taxation that federal tax should be collected by the federal government", he must take over the tax work in Singapore.He wants 60% of the total tax in Singapore.I had to remind him that in the correspondence, the Tunku had guaranteed that Singapore's finances would be managed by itself.At that time, the Tunku wanted to control the security of Singapore, not the economy.But Chen Xiuxin did not budge.He stubbornly argued that less than that percentage was not enough to cover the Singapore portion of federal spending. Chen Xiuxin is in his early 40s, strong ability, hardworking, honest and not greedy.His father, Datuk Sir Tan Cheng Lok, is a respected old man in the Straits Settlements and the patriarch of one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Malacca. He once attended the inaugural meeting of the People's Action Party.But the son is mean and ungrateful, and his character is revealed in the pale horse face behind the rimless glasses.He knew that Wu Qingrui was smarter than him, but he was determined to prevail after the merger.Wu Qingrui found it impossible to negotiate with him.However, I know that all important matters are decided by the Tunku, and I cannot let Chen Xiuxin ride on our heads.Never let him do that, at least before the merger, as long as the state finances are under our control; and not even after the merger.His desire to hit Singapore's prestige made him hate Goh Keng Swee and me all the more.He was going to overwhelm us openly, laughing smugly when he thought he had the upper hand. But I paid him back unceremoniously.After he was defeated in the confrontation, Saiga Hua Abba extended a helping hand to him.Saiga Hua Abba is an Arab with Malayan nationality. He was the Secretary-General of Umno at the time and was good at making speeches at mass meetings.He warned me in the papers not to speak out publicly if a deal was to be reached.Tun Razak also spoke out for Tan Siew Sin and the MCA, saying it was unfair to make people think they were responsible for the federal government's demands.But I asked myself, what position would the Tunku take? Support Tan Siew Sin like Saikya Phabah and Tun Razak, or remain neutral? At first I believed the Tunku would remain neutral.As the pressure continued, I finally concluded that he was letting them push me as hard as possible.Chen Xiuxin is naturally difficult to get along with, and Tunku needs to restrain him.But the Tunku apparently decided not to. At that time, I believe that the Tunku never told Chen Xiuxin that he was willing to allow Singapore to control its finances as much as possible, on the condition that Singapore avoid participating in federal politics as much as possible.As a result, Chen Xiuxin demanded to control our finances to the greatest extent, and in order to influence the policies of the central government, we had no choice but to participate in Malaysia's political life as much as possible.This is a fundamental problem that was not resolved before and after the merger.The Tunku exacerbated the problem, but it worked in my favor in one way.The Barisan Barisan criticized me for betraying Singapore, saying that I "fakely cared" about the state's finances and could not deceive the public.Chen Xiuxin was arrogant and arrogant, and his demands were almost arrogant, which caused panic among the people of Singapore.They were relieved by my reaction that I would not give in easily.The debate between the two sides continued until July, and I had the support of many people.The people want me to defend Singapore. In mid-June, Kuala Lumpur offered Singapore and Brunei the final conditions for joining Malaysia, after which "there will be no further negotiations".These conditions include the establishment of a common market stipulated in the constitution, and Singapore's grant of 50 million yuan to develop the three states of Borneo.I said that Singapore is too poor to be a Santa Claus, and cannot allocate a grant of 50 million yuan as an entrance fee for joining the federation.As for the common market, the federal government had announced in October that, following the decision taken in London in July 1962, a mission of experts from the World Bank would study the economic significance of the common market.This leads us to hope that it might be to our advantage to have a high level of expertise to make the common market work.Afterwards, the report including the recommendations of the World Bank was handed over to Wu Qingrui and Chen Xiuxin, but the two sides did not reach an agreement on the specific conditions for implementing the recommendations. There are other big problems.One of them is that I demand that the power to detain secret society gangsters without trial under the provisional provisions of the Penal Code be devolved to Singapore after the formation of Malaysia.It is too dangerous to keep power in the hands of the federal government to stop gangsters from interfering in the political life of the state.The Tunku was very reluctant to accept it, and Tun Razak's position seemed to be the same as his.On the other hand, in order to prevent Singaporean communists who were originally Singaporean citizens from becoming Malaysian citizens, they wanted to amend the constitution to restrict Singaporean citizens from entering Malaysia.I insist that, in this case, the powers of both parties should be the same, and the state government should have the power to ban Malaysian citizens from coming to Singapore. Another problem is that I advocate amending the state constitution to stipulate that any legislator who was elected as a candidate of a political party and then quits the party or is expelled from the party must resign from the seat and go through a by-election in order to seek re-election as a member.This is the last thing Malaya wants to accept. Another point of concern to me is how to stop corruption after the merger.To do this, the Singapore Attorney-General must retain the power to prosecute under Singapore's Prevention of Corruption Act.This makes it easier to ensure that those who corrupt are punished.Malaya does not have this Act, nor does it have a Corruption Investigation Bureau.I request that these two items not be changed without the consent of the Singapore government. The two sides argued endlessly, but there was no result.Sandys called a final round of meetings in London to resolve remaining issues.The Tunku was angry with me and refused to participate. Pai Tun Razak negotiated with me on his behalf. After the problem was resolved, he was notified and asked to come to the signing ceremony.Sandys, on the other hand, was impatient with the brawling situation.The records of the Department of Relations of the Commonwealth record that he held a meeting before the negotiations began to discuss what to do if the negotiations reached an impasse, because the negotiations seemed to be at an impasse.In the unlikely event that such a situation arises, he said, there are three options: 1. Forcing Singapore to join Malaysia against its will; 2. Give up the Malaysia plan; 3. Let North Borneo and Sarawak participate in a reduced Malaysia, leaving the door open for Singapore to join at a later date. "The Minister of Relations of the Commonwealth thinks that it seems most likely that the Tunku must be threatened by the independence of Singapore. The meeting considered that this may force the Tunku to reach an agreement with Singapore. Because without Singapore's participation, the Malayan Defense Agreement cannot be sustained for a long time, Soon it will affect our free use of bases in Singapore... "However, there is little evidence that the Tunku may have felt that he would be in a better position to deal with Chinese influence in Singapore if he developed a friendlier relationship with Indonesia than with Malaysia." Goh Keng Swee and I arrived in London to start what are now called "close negotiations".In other words, we will not meet Tun Razak and Tan Siew Sin at first.They stayed in another hotel, and the British negotiated with both parties separately to narrow the differences.Then I had a working lunch with Tun Razak.Goh Keng Swee met Tun Razak again the next day.In the end Sandys arranged for us to sit down at a table for an all-night marathon meeting.This was his way of dealing with stubborn negotiators, pushing for concessions from both sides until an agreement was finally reached.He has treated Singaporean delegations this way in the past, serving only drinks and no food, which made us tired.This situation is not dissimilar to the way the Communists treated us in committee meetings.They'll keep dragging on until enough noncommunists go home to vote. But this time we expected them to adopt the same strategy.We went to the meeting that night with sandwiches and a few bottles of beer in a typewriter box and took them to another room where the meeting was adjourned to allow the delegations to discuss on their own.When the food ran out, the trusty cabinet secretary, Huang Shuisheng, would call Chi at the Park Lane Hotel to have more sandwiches delivered to her room.We did this until Shiba reported that room service was out of sandwiches.On the other hand, in order to keep our sanity, we declined the hard liquor that Sandys served.This prudence and provision of food kept us up throughout the night.We do not believe that Tun Razak's side has the same adequate food supply. At dawn, the two sides finally agreed that in order to cope with the "confrontation" with Indonesia and the increase in defense spending, we will hand over "40% of national tax revenue or 28% of total revenue to the federal government. Grants to the three states of Borneo 50 million yuan will be replaced by a loan of 150 million yuan, of which 100 million yuan will be interest-free for five years. The common market will be gradually realized within 12 years, and Singapore, the most important commodity in entrepot trade, will still not be taxed. During this period, a special The committee will gradually standardize tariffs. But oil-rich Brunei will not join to benefit the Tunku. The wily old sultan is not satisfied with the proposals on how to distribute the oil tax revenue. Sandys is indifferent whether he pressures or threatens. I I have met the Sultan many times in his suite at the Grosvenor Hotel and exchanged views with him on the progress of our respective negotiations. I understand his doubts and reservations, and I have never persuaded him not to follow his instincts. His Instinct told him that he should continue to accept British protection. He was convinced that the British would not abandon him to Indonesia to deal with him. The agreement signing ceremony is scheduled for July 8, another auspicious number 8 for a smooth start to Malaysia.Tunku arrived two days ago.But the deal didn't work out until I asked him to take on a number of once-controversial subjects.These issues are: delegating to Singapore police powers to detain secret society gangsters; amending the constitution to make it mandatory for lawmakers to resign from the party they ran for election; billion in loans. As the Tunku's memory is flexible, I wrote these points on the back of a used envelope, and wrote "Leeds Hotel" on the letterhead, and asked him to sign it.The envelope was found on a table in the reception room of his hotel room.Last-minute bargaining with the Tunku and the fact that Macmillan was hosting a dinner dragged the signing ceremony at Marlborough House until late at night on 8 July.After speeches by Macmillan, Tunku, me and representatives from Sarawak and North Borneo, the agreement was signed after midnight and the date was not July 8, but July 9, not in the Tunku calendar Auspicious day. The British -- Moore, Schelke, Sandys -- actually sided with me.They have many aces, I don't.It was impossible for me to take any significant action myself, other than to threaten to give up and let the communists take over.During those six months, I wrote countless letters to the British High Commissioner in Singapore and the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations in London, urging, pleading and threatening them in turn.Without their assistance, I could not have won my terms.Even so, as I foresaw, I had a hard time getting these conditions to become part of the constitution before Malaysia's formation on August 31; in the end I had to accept a flexible provision that did not guarantee that a common market would materialize .The decentralization of the detention of gangsters of secret societies was agreed only in an exchange of letters and could easily be annulled.We must join Malaysia without these assurances. The Socialist Front is still noisy Unsurprisingly, my problems in Singapore have not diminished since the agreement was signed.The Barisan Barisan is still quarreling, and Lim Yew Hock and the Singapore People's League are even more unbridled. On July 24, Lim Yew Hock assisted the Barisan Barisan to obstruct the passage of the federal election bill because he would hold elections for the 15 Singapore seats in the federal parliament after the Tunku took control of the police.Even on the motion to adopt and support the Malaysia Agreement, the Rakyat Rakyat was supposed to show solidarity on important national issues, increasing the yes majority by seven votes; they abstained in the vote. The Barisan Barisan became even more rampant when UN Under-Secretary-General Narasimhan arrived in Singapore on April 22 on his way to Borneo to assess the aspirations of the local people.In order to impress Nara Chehan that Singapore is against Malaysia and at the same time to promote it, Dr Lee Siew Choo led six legislators (including the sister of the MCP plenipotentiary) and about 100 relatives of detainees to my office at the Government House Demonstrations, holding placards demanding the release of detainees.When the police stopped them and told them that the Prime Minister was not there, they rushed to the gate.A scuffle broke out between the two sides, and several police officers were injured.About 15 demonstrators rushed to the foyer outside the Prime Minister's Office on the second floor, only to be subdued by the support staff who arrived.Seven lawmakers and about 30 people were arrested and charged with rioting and attempting to intimidate the government by force.They were all released on bail.We arranged for Narasimhan to meet them at the airport before his departure. We have no reason not to let the impulsive Dr. Li speak. In mid-May, three British Labor MPs, Bottomley, Brockway and Reverend Sorensen, who paid special attention to Malaysia, visited Singapore.I encourage them to come.They met with representatives of political parties, visited detainees, and I joined them in a televised symposium at the end of their two-week trip to Singapore, Malaya and the three Borneo states.During the symposium, Dr Lee tried to vilify the merger, just as he had vilified Malaysia to Narasimhan.Labor MPs do not accept the so-called "Malaysia is a neo-colonial conspiracy" and deny that they were arranged to visit.The Labor Party is known for its sympathy for the anti-colonial movement, and the views of MPs will help those who do not yet support Malaysia's Mandarin-speaking or dialect communities to understand the truth.But it was just a small strategic victory in a long war. Note: ①Tammany Hall (Tammany HallI) is the headquarters of the Tammany Association.The Tammany Society was founded in 1789 as a powerful Democratic party in New York City. It was known in the 19th century for its political corruption and party leadership to manipulate the city.