Doubts About The Marxist Conspiracy
Many political commentators, academics and even members of Singapore's ruling elite have expressed scepticism over the years that there was ever a Marxist conspiracy.
Renowned historian C.M. Turnbull wrote that "The alleged Marxist conspiracy and the Liberation Theology menace turned out to be myths". Michael D. Barr, a historian at Flinders University, called the conspiracy a "fanciful narrative".
Singapore's current Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam stated on public record in 2001 that he disagreed with the arrests and that "although I had no access to state intelligence, from what I knew of them, most were social activists but not out to subvert the system.”
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (the former Prime Minister of Singapore) revealed in his interviews for Men in White: The Untold Stories of the PAP that former National Development Minister S. Dhanabalan left the Cabinet in 1992 because he was not comfortable with the way the PAP had dealt with the 1987 Marxist conspiracy. “At that time, given the information, he was not fully comfortable with the action we took...he felt uncomfortable and thought there could be more of such episodes in future. So he thought since he was uncomfortable, he’d better leave the Cabinet. I respected him for his view,” Mr Goh said.
Law lecturer Walter Woon, who would later assume the post of Attorney-General, said in a 1991 interview with the Straits Times that “As far as I am concerned, the government’s case is still not proven. I would not say those fellows were Red, not from the stuff they presented. I think a lot of people have this skepticism.”
Most importantly, there is evidence that the Prime Minister himself did not believe that those arrested were part of any Marxist conspiracy. According to notes taken by the ISD at a private meeting on 2 June 1987 at 3 p.m. between Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Catholic church leaders, the PM said that he was “not interested in Vincent Cheng and his group”, that he “did not believe Tan Wah Piow was in control,” and that he regarded the detainees as nothing more than “do-gooders, who wanted to help the poor and dispossessed”. According to Catholic priest Joachim Kang, who was present at the same meeting, PM Lee also dismissed Vincent Cheng and the others as "stupid novices" and called Tan Wah Piow a "simpleton".
Read more about this topic: Operation Spectrum
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