Here are the simple facts during the Hock Lee Bus Riots
1. The Govt in power was led by David Marshall
2. The party in opposition was the PAP with old man and Lim Chin Siong having seats in the legislative assembly.
3. The PAP had all the leftist unions chaps including Fong who was a founding member of the PAP. The strike was called by Fong
4. The PAP wanted to bring down the Marshall Govt and was clearly behind the events that led to the riots
5. Legislative Assembly Hansard shows debate and pleas to the opposition party to cool down the situation to no avail. Old man and Chin Siong were highly evasive.
6. The PAP had 2 factions - the communist controlled leftists led by Chin Siong and the opportunists led by old man. Both factions had different agendas but industrial unrests and strikes were a instigated by both factions to throw out Marsall and the Labour Govt.
7. Old man led by the opportunists were however smarter and used their leftist factions to crucify Marshall and Labour, do all the dirty work. During this time he praised Lim Chin Siong to high heaven, calling him charismatic, mover of crowds etc and basically sent Lim Chin Siong and Fong Swee Suan on an ego trip.
8. Old man in the meantime was the appointed legal advisor to these very leftists unions and middle school crowd. Note his legal and safe standing in this whole rukus.
9. When the dust settled, the entire Middle Road gang behind the unions ended up behind bars courtesy of the British
10. When Marshall and labour was kicked out, the same gang sans Devan Nair again found themselves behind bars this time courtesy of the Tungku.
Conclusion:
The communists, the pro communists, the leftists all have different agendas but they were well meaning. The desire to an ideology where workers would not be exploited. The ideology that is now a joke.
They were also not smart, intelligent, clever and mostly educated. The PAP opportunists were smarter, more crafty and certainly better educated.
Its a part of history that both sides want to re-write.
I can assure you that due to the press and our schools, most Singapore have it clear in their minds that it was the PAP that was in Govt and fighting the communists and leftists during the Hock Lee Riots.
Just send a single question via email to your colleagues and friends and I am sure one answer will be the most ticked.
Sample Question
During the Hock Lee Bus Riots, the following were against the bus strikes and fought the people behind it
A. David Marshall and his party
B. Old man and the PAP
C. Tungku and Umno.
Ps. Better to ask directly as they would google.