![]() ![]() It was the prime CUF body in Singapore in the 1960s, influenced, directed and led by CPM cadres, as the British officials then, as well as CPM leaders themselves since, have acknowledged. The Barisan was not an ordinary left-wing political party, and its leaders were not "unwitting dupes" of the communists. Indeed, about two months before Operation Coldstore was carried out, they had begun to urge strenuously that action be taken. The documents reveal that both Lord Selkirk and his deputy Philip Moore were concerned about the extent to which the CPM had penetrated the Barisan and had concluded that security action was imperative. But a holistic reading of all the documents debunks their accounts. For example, they quote selectively some of then UK Commissioner to Singapore Lord Selkirk's remarks to claim that Operation Coldstore was an act of political suppression with no security basis. The revisionists conveniently omit mention of the incriminating information in these documents. A full reading of the declassified documents from the British National Archives shows clearly that Operation Coldstore was a security operation meant to counter the serious security threat posed by the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and their supporters in Singapore, working through the Barisan and associated communist united front (CUF) organisations. ![]() ![]() ![]() Dr Poh Soo Kai's commentary ("Singapore's 'Battle For Merger' revisited") in New Mandala on is a misleading account of Operation Coldstore, Singapore's merger with Malaya, the Barisan Sosialis Singapura (Barisan) and his own role in that period.ĭr Poh and other revisionists like Dr Thum Ping Tjin have alleged that Operation Coldstore was a political exercise meant to suppress what they claim to be legitimate, presumably peaceful, democratic opponents of the PAP government. ![]()
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