Original Sin? : : Revising the Revisionist Critique of the 1963 Operation Coldstore in Singapore / / Kumar Ramakrishna.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Contemporary Collection eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Ramakrishna, Kumar,
• Place / Publishing House: Singapore : : ISEAS Publishing, , [2015]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (176 p.)

"Revisionist" or "alternative" historians have increasingly questioned elements of the Singapore Story - the master narrative of the nation's political and socioeconomic development since its founding by the British in 1819. Much criticism focuses especially on one defining episode of the Story: the internal security dragnet mounted on 2 February 1963 against Communist United Front elements on the island, known to posterity as Operation Coldstore. The revisionists claim that Coldstore was mounted for political rather than security reasons and actually destroyed a legitimate Progressive Left opposition - personalized by the charismatic figure of Lim Chin Siong - rather than a dangerous Communist network as the conventional wisdom holds. Relying on both declassified and some previously unseen classified sources, this book challenges revisionist claims, reiterating the historic importance of Coldstore in helping pave the way for Singapore's remarkable journey from Third World status to First in a single generation.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- INTRODUCTION. The "Alternate" Challenge to the Singapore Story as Context -- 1. Government Sources: Who Uses Them, and the Alternates' Unarticulated Ideological Outlook -- 2. Was there Really a Dangerous Communist United Front? -- 3. The Curious Case of Lim Chin Siong -- 4. Why "Was Operation Coldstore Driven by Political and Not Security Grounds?" is the Wrong Question -- Conclusion: The Enduring Need for a Singapore Story 2.0 -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR