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

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Singapore : ISEAS Publishing, [2015]Copyright date: 2015Description: 1 online resource (176 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9789814620437
  • 9789814620444
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 959.5705 23/eng/20240417
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
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
Summary: “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.

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

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“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.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 19. Oct 2024)