ENG 5 Q4 WEEk 1 DAY 1 Restate sentences heard in one’s own words. Use appropr...
Slide on Singapore's Lost Soul
1. Source A: Fang Chuang Pi
Fong Chong Pik, also known as Fang
Chuang Pi, was the representative of
the Malayan Communist Party
(MCP) in Singapore in the 1950s. He
was nicknamed “The Plen” or
plenipotentiary, and met up with
Lee Kuan Yew between 1958 to
1961 to try to organize a united
front against the British . He also
liaised with various leftist political
leaders in Singapore.
2. Source B: Milestones for Fang Chuang Pi
Birth: 28 February 1933
Death: 5 February, 1996
Milestones:
1926: Born in China near Sawtown in Guangdon Province.
1932: Came to Singapore with his mother and elder brother to escape the
communists and lived in Upper Bukit Timah.
1948: Finished education and worked as a teacher.
1949: Worked as an editor at the Nan Chiau Jit Poh newspaper.
1950: Nan Chia Jit Poh was shut down. Fong evaded arrest and continued producing
Freedom News from a hut in Lorong Tai Seng.
1958 – 1961: Given authority over all communist operations in Singapore . Tasked to
work closely with the PAP and to share power when they won the 1959 general
eletcions.
1963: Escaped to Riau islands in Indonesia during Operation Cold Store.
1977: Returned to fight with the MCP in the Thai-Malaysia border jungle region.
Given the name Ah Tong or Lee Ping.
1989: Haadyai Peace Accords Agreement is signed between the MCP and the
Malaysian government. Fong gave interviews and urged the Singapore government
to allow former MCP members to return to Singapore.
2004: Cancer led to his hospitalization and death in Haadyai, Thailand in 2004.
3. Source C
Interview with Fang Chong Pik in 1997
Excerpts of an interview that Fang had with the Malaysian newspaper, Nanyang
Siang Pau.
Q: Are you yourself a Singapore citizen?
In terms of political identity, I am a Singapore citizen. My name and pictures
appear in Singapore's history books. But I always consider myself a Malayan. I
consider Singapore and Malaya as one family.
Q: What do you think about Singapore’s economic progress?
I am happy for Singapore’s economic success but it is a ‘freak country’. A freak is
often a genius, and most geniuses died young. I told Lee Kuan Yew when I met him
in Beijing in 1995 that Singapore is economically affluent but it should know its
limitations and should be prepared for dangers in times of peace and should be
humble and cautious and work with a will to make the country strong.
Singapore has got a heart defect, something like a heart disease. It is lacking in
terms of political development, economics, size and population.
I give my view with love for Signaproe and worry about its future. Good advice, of
course, jars on the ear, as history has shown.
I have been forced into exile. Yet I have deep concern for Singapore, my country
and people. So I do not think I have to let my people down.
Source: http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/independence/ref/plen7.html
Editor's Notes
Link for logo – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqwAvS7jJYA
Copyrights for image - http://www.thecpmthreat.sg/history/singaporean-guerrillas