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| Toh was founder Chairman of the People's Action Party in 1954 |
Toh Chin Chye tells it different. Lee Kuan Yew, in his frustration with Malay rights, was becoming more and more anti-Malay in his speeches, particularly when he was abroad. All this was duly reported by Reuters and Cablenews and reached the ears of the Malaysian Government. Of course Kuala Lumpur reacted badly, some of the things he said were really insulting. He called them "Mad Mullahs" and all that.
It was Toh's turn to be frustrated. He told Melanie Chew, ("Leaders of Singapore", Resource Press (1996), page 97):
"He was crying,I don't understand him at all. On one hand, he worked so hard for merger. Having gotten the cupful, he shattered it. And then cried over it."
Lee held two successive conferences, and in both of which he cried. When he learnt from the press secretary, Lee Wei Ching (no relation), another was being scheduled, Toh had had enough. "You ought to tell the Prime Minister to go to Changi and take a rest. Call the press conference off! Another crying bout, and the people of Singapore will think the government is on its knees."
When asked if Lee was in a very emotional state because he felt he had made a blunder, Toh would only say, "You have to interview him on that. I cannot answer for him."
Chew's bulky volume is a good read, and contains interviews with every Singapore personality who had a hand in our nation building. Devan Nair, Goh Keng Swee, Lim Kim San, Rajaratnam, Ong Pang Boon, Lim Chin Siong, Lee Siew Choh, they are all included. With the significant exception of one Lee Kuan Yew. As they say, dead men tell no tales. Just don't expect the hard truth from the state controlled media.