Friday, August 05, 2005

Lee branded a 'traitor', told to 'sit down, get out'

Part lX of the retrospective on Singapore's road to independence




STRAITS TIMES, JUNE 2 1965

Shouts of "traitor," "sit down" and "get out" rang out in the House of Reprsentatives today when Singapore's Prime MInister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, twice tried to interrupt a speech by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Inche Senu bin Abdul Rahman.

The first outburst occurred when Inche Senu read extracts of a speech Mr Lee had made in Singapore's Delta community centre on Sunday where he had spoken of building a "new nation out of ashes..."

Mr Lee rose to clarify his remarks, but was shouted down from all sections of the House. Looking appealingly at the Speaker, he said: "As you wish."

Inche Senu continued: "He wants to destroy this nation and build a new one..."

There were more noisy interruptions when Inche Senu read extracts from Mr Lee's speeches during his recent visit to Australia.

Yelled

In one speech, Mr Lee was quoted as having said that Tengku Abdul Rahman had made a "stupid, naive mistake" about the allocation of Parliamentary seats for Borneo.

Mr Lee got up. As one man, the backbenchers thumped their tables and yelled: "Sit down ... sit down ... traitor ... get out."

The Speaker, Dato C.M. Yusof, banged his gravel hard and in a raised voice said: "Will Honourable members stop shouting out loud and behaving in an unparliamentary way..."


Leading the Alliance condemnation of the PAP was the Minister of Finance, Mr Tan Siew Sin, who said that co-operation with the Singapore Government was out of the question as long as Mr Lee Kuan Yew remained Prime Minister.

Mr Tan described Mr Lee as the "greatest disruptive force in the entire history of Malaysia and Malaya."

He warned that Mr Lee's idea of partitioning Malaysia would only lead to bloodshed. He cited India and Cyprus as examples.

At 8.15 pm, Mr Lee - as mover of the amendment to the resolution to say "thank you" to the Yang di-Peruan Agong for his gracious speech from the Throne - asked be allowed to exercise his right of reply.

The Speaker told him there were two Central Government Ministers who wished to speak before him. But by the time Inche Senu and the Minister for Lands and Mines, Inche Rahman Ya'akub, had finished it was 9pm - time for the House to adjourn till Thursday.



The Minister of Finance, Mr Tan Siew Sin, said today that co-operation with the Singapore Government was out of the question as long as Mr Lee Kuan Yew remained Prime Minister of the island State.

He told the House of Representatives: "It would be easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the proverbial needle than for the Central Government to co-operate with the Government of Singapore."

He warned that Mr Lee's idea of partitioning Malaysia would only lead to bloodshed, as had happened in India and Cyprus.

"Any man who can make these proposals "cooly and carefully," he said, "has boundless capacity for mischief.

"I say this in sorrow rather than in anger. Only a warped mind, frustrated in its quest for power, can support this idea.

"It is a warped mind which is prepared to sacrifice thousands of lives, to shed blood, in order to ensure that the owner of the mind achieves supreme power. That is the measure of Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

A pity

Mr Tan said: "It is terrible pity that this is so. It is a pity that differences are becoming so acute and so serious. I am convinced that not only should Malaysia be one but that human race itself should be one."

"In the last analysis, the interest of Malaysia is far more important than the interest of any political party, or even the interest of a single State.

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