Singapore's Stormy Petrel
SCHMID, PETER
Hotheaded, unpredictable Chief Minister David Marshall admits he is 'fumbling along,' while Communists gain strength in the strategic Southeast Asian bastion Singapore's Stormy Petrel By Peter...
...Marshall at the helm and the Communists waiting on the rocks...
...The storm continued in the Legislative Assembly, where a motion was passed almost unanimously by all parties, including the Communists, demanding immediate self-government for Singapore...
...Andrew, has been thoroughly anglicized...
...The Colonial Secretary, he said, had agreed to a conference between British and Singapore representatives in London in April 1956, when a date for the achievement of full self-rule would be fixed...
...Peter Schmid, a Swiss journalist and author, has written for Commentary...
...All he retains of his Near Eastern heritage is an explosive temper and an extreme sensitivity which makes him react violently to press criticisms...
...His facile rhetoric, combined with undeniable charm, fascinates the listener...
...He seems more at home on a stage than on a political platform...
...The only way to raise the standard of living, or even keep it at its present level, is industrialization...
...The pro-British Progressives, who would have moved toward self-government cautiously and slowly, were expected to win hands down...
...But can a fumbler expect a colonial administration to let him have free rein without retaining at least veto power...
...Those who flock to Marshall's office, therefore, are for the most part idlers who do not deserve aid or petty criminals who have quite properly felt the arm of the law...
...But David Marshall, who attended schools with names like St...
...At any rate, Marshall announced on August 15, without elaborating, that he had gotten "all he wanted...
...Thus, when he stepped onto the soapbox during the election campaign, Marshall was no unknown...
...His family traces its ancestry to Spain, from which they were expelled four and a half centuries ago by Queen Isabella, together with thousands of other Sephardic Jews...
...Singapore's rebellion against the stiff British colonial tradition is therefore apparent at first glance...
...Many called him an opportunist who casually appropriated popular slogans without ever having experienced poverty or oppression himself...
...David Marshall, a handsome bachelor of 46, has the profile of an eagle, a thinker's brow, and the wild, greying mane of an artist...
...It suddenly became apparent that social and nationalist unrest had been brewing in the seemingly tranquil Crown Colony...
...Every Saturday, his office is open to anyone with a grievance or complaint...
...The debate in the Legislative Assembly showed that the Communists, who had been Marshall's arch enemies a few weeks earlier during the strikes, are quite willing to lend him a hand whenever they feel that his actions provide grist for their mills...
...In elections last April 2, Marshall's Labor Front emerged as the strongest party, to the surprise of everyone concerned...
...Its welfare office has long aided the poor, and hardly anywhere in Asia is there less misery and official abuse of the people...
...As a young man, Marshall spent sonic time in a tuberculosis sanatarium in Switzerland...
...Since the riots, large groups of workers have joined Communist organizations...
...One of his major electoral promises was to work toward lifting martial law in Malaya, which is highly unpopular since it subjects everyone, the innocent as well as the guilty, to countless inconveniences...
...Marshall makes no bones about the fact that the ideological foundations of his "Labor Front" are rather vague...
...Thus, it was only natural that in 1934, having grown tired of his business career, he decided to become a lawyer...
...The Governor, Sir John Black, took this as an effort to provide jobs for some of the Chief Minister's friends...
...Marshall branded his refusal to approve all four an example of "arrogant colonialism," and he threatened to resign...
...The growing radicalization of the workers has already had serious results for Singapore's economic future...
...And why fear the People's Action party (PAP), which had been hopelessly compromised by its open sympathy with the Communist terrorists on the Malayan mainland...
...Yet, the recent strikes have not only discouraged foreign investors from carrying out existing plans for industrial expansion, but have made a number of firms, among them Firestone, consider liquidating their Singapore operations...
...Marshall inherited his English name from his father, who came to Singapore from Iraq and was originally named Mashal...
...It may have been awareness of this danger which induced Lennox-Boyd and Marshall to reach a compromise on interpretation of the provisional constitution and the question of eventual self-government...
...whenever he produces a particularly witty remark, he smiles and looks around as though to say: "Wasn't that well put...
...Behind this outburst of temper lurked a real issue...
...Believe me, the majority of students are not Communists, and, if the vicious pressure were removed, they would pursue their studies in peace...
...But, lo and behold, the Labor Front gained ten out of 25 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and the PAP won three...
...The slackness with which Marshall handled the threat gave the Communists a tremendous boost...
...Whether Chief Minister Marshall will last till then is anybody's guess...
...In fact, such lack of formality seems to be one of his guiding principles in the snobbish, rather fossilized atmosphere of this city...
...Marshall's forte, indeed, is his irresistible gift of gab...
...A high birth-rate and a steady influx from the mainland have rapidly increased the city's population...
...The same is true of the high schools, where Communist propaganda and threats continue unabashed...
...Neither we nor the parents can do anything so long as agitators in the schools are allowed to threaten students and teachers alike...
...On his return in 1930, the worldwide economic crisis forced him to start out rather modestly as an automobile salesman...
...Its improvised leadership was assembled so fast, and its victory was so sudden, that there was no lime to work out a common political platform...
...Joseph and St...
...Marshall, in his concern for the underprivileged, has copied a practice introduced by President Magsaysay of the Philippines which is poorly suited to conditions in Singapore...
...One even confessed to me that he would rather see Lee Kuan Yew, the leader of the pro-Communist PAP, in office...
...In a country whose administration is riddled with corruption and where feudal bureaucrats tyrannize the population, this may be a very wholesome institution...
...The twenty-odd correspondents who crowded his bedchamber unceremoniously sat on it...
...At the age of 26, he went to the university in London and within 18 months had passed his exam...
...This, no doubt, was one of the issues behind the constitutional crisis that shook the Singapore Government in early August...
...When I asked him a few factual questions, he replied: "I am just fumbling along...
...Why worry about a buffoon like David Marshall, who appeared at noon every day at a busy intersection, climbed on a soapbox, and made a flowery speech in the manner of Hyde Park...
...It is up to the Government to take the necessary measures," one of the teachers complained to me...
...David Marshall is not a Communist, but he is playing into their hands...
...Otherwise, the room appeared empty and impersonal...
...The President and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly still follow ancient British Parliamentary tradition and wear black robes and wigs, but the Chief Minister and most of his colleagues arrive in open-collared shirts without ties...
...Within a week, however, he had not only passed his driving test but had sold a luxurious orange-and-green car with leopardskin upholstery to an Arab prince...
...When he applied for the job, he did not even have a driver's license...
...The Chief Minister, in an effort to increase his popularity, is often tempted to interfere with the well-oiled administrative machinery by acting on sentimental impulse rather than thorough study, and in so doing he may well pave the way for corruption rather than prevent it...
...Singapore, however, has always had an exemplary British Civil Service which does not tolerate the slightest hint of corruption...
...Indeed, they were so certain of their victory that they did not even bother to campaign...
...Englishmen who have to deal with him despair at his unfathomable fantasies...
...It seemed a bit incongruous that an official of a British Crown Colony should, like old Mossadegh, hold a press conference in his bedroom, but somehow it fitted perfectly into the picture of David Marshall, enfant terrible of Singapore...
...Marshall had wanted to increase the number of Cabinet members from 10 to 14...
...It was the question of whether, in a critical spot like Singapore, a hotheaded politician could be allowed to accelerate to revolutionary speed the evolutionary development toward self-government...
...Yet, even his old friends laughed at him for ranting against the evils of colonialism, accusing the whites--he himself is of Arab-brown complexion--of looting the country, and promising to lead the common man to a paradise on earth...
...On a night table, I noticed a bottle of Scandale perfume and a novel by Graham Greene...
...At least, he argued, Yew is a realistic thinker and his political talent is far superior to that of the unpredictable, capricious Marshall...
...Back in Singapore, he soon became the city's leading trial lawyer...
...he also took a dim view of the quality of the proposed appointments, especially since one of them had spent time in jail for a common felony...
...Only the pleas of his colleagues and workers' demonstrations persuaded Marshall to postpone his resignation until the anticipated arrival of Sir Alan Lennox-Boyd, British Colonial Secretary...
...Hotheaded, unpredictable Chief Minister David Marshall admits he is 'fumbling along,' while Communists gain strength in the strategic Southeast Asian bastion Singapore's Stormy Petrel By Peter Schmid Singapore At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the Chief Minister's bed was still unmade...
...Hence, Sir John limited his approval to two new ministers and thereby started a political tempest...
...As a matter of fact, David Marshall is a typical political dilettante who is actually not too clear about what he is doing...
...At present, he no longer talks of resignation, and the Singapore Government seems headed for another stretch of stormy sailing, with the disconcerting Mr...
...But as soon as Marshall assumed his post and the extremists realized that he would not play rough with them, a series of bloody riots broke out in May and June when trade-union members and Chinese high-school students demonstrated in the streets...
Vol. 38 • October 1955 • No. 43
