Exposing the hypocrisy behind Rony Tan’s “let-off”

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<TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"></TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt89 <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>8:50 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"></TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>28528.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Exposing the hypocrisy behind Rony Tan’s “let-off”: What LKY said to Archbishop Gregory Yong during “Operation Spectrum” in 1987

February 12, 2010 by admin
Filed under Opinion

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http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/12/exposing-the-hypocrisy-behind-rony-tans-let-off-what-lky-said-to-archbishop-gregory-yong-in-1988/


OPINION
With public anger rising over the apparent double standards in the government’s differential treatment of Pastor Rony Tan and the three teenagers arrested under the Sedition Act for allegedly posting racist remarks on Facebook, the state media has been tasked again to exonerate the PAP from any blame and to limit the fallout from the fiasco.
Pastor Rony Tan was hauled up by the ISD for questioning this Monday for making disparaging remarks about Buddhism and Taoism during a church session and was let off with a warning.
In contrast, three Chinese teenagers studying in Singapore Polytechnic were arrested by the police almost immediately after a police report was lodged against them for the offensive remarks on Facebook.
Then Commander of Bedok Police Division and Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Teo Chun Ching said:
“Police take a very stern view of acts that could threaten the social harmony in Singapore. The Internet may be a convenient medium to express one’s views but members of the public should bear in mind that they are no less accountable for their actions online.”
[Source: Straits Times, 4 February 2010]
Police reports have been lodged against Pastor Tan, but its inaction is baffling given the fact that Pastor Tan is in a position of authority to influence many people and therefore his remarks carry far greater weight and impact compared to the three teenagers.
When asked asked why the teenagers ended up arrested by the police, whereas the pastor was not, DPM Wong Kan Seng gave an equally vague reply:
“It is a very serious matter if anyone were to be hauled up and investigated by ISD. It is not less serious than getting investigated by the police. I assure you that it is not.”
One does not need to be a law professor to realize that being called up by the ISD for a “lim kopi” session is “nothing” compared to being arrested, charged and jailed as what happened to past offenders.
In a lengthy article published in the Straits Times today, ST journalist Rachel Chang quoted sociologist Terence Chong of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies as saying that it is Pastor Tan’s status in his community, not anything else, that must be considered:
“A well-established Christian leader being charged under the Sedition Act would send shockwaves through the Christian community and put the community under siege.”
[Source: Straits Times, 12 February 2010]
Any trial would cause greater agitation, Mr Chong added – precisely what the Government is keen to avoid.
The PAP has never flinched from using a sledgehammer to crush those who do not toe the official line, especially when they pose a political threat to them.
In this case, Rony Tan is deemed to have offended (only) the Buddhist and Taoist communities which is non-political by nature. Had Rony Tan been involved in politics, the PAP’s reaction will be drastically different.
Let us recall a case more than twenty years ago involving the Catholic Church of Singapore – Operation Spectrum which was launched on May 21 1987 by the ISD using its Internal Security Act to arrest and detain 22 young Roman Catholic church and social activists and professionals without trial.
They were accused of being members of a dangerous Marxist conspiracy bent on subverting the PAP-ruled government by force, and replacing it with a Marxist state.
Among the 16 arrested, 10 belonged directly to Catholic movements for social justice and human rights – the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Singapore archdiocese, the Young Christian Workers of the archdiocese, the Catholic Association of the students of the Polytechnic of Singapore and the Catholic Centre for foreign workers formerly called “Geylang Catholic Centre.”
The ten were Vincent Cheng, Tang Lay Lee, Kenneth Tsang, Teo Soh Lung, Ng Bee Leng, Chng Suan Tze, William Yap Hon Ngian, Wong Souk Yee and Kevin De Souza and Tang Fong Har.


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On 22 May 1987, four priests, Fr. Joseph Ho, president of the Justice and Peace Commission, Fr. Edgar D’Souza, assistant of the editor-in-chief of the journal “Catholic News”, Fr. Patrick Goh, national chaplain of the Young Christian Workers, and Fr Guillaume Arotcarena, a priest of the Paris Foreign Missions director of the Catholic Centre for foreign workers, put together a committee to coordinate, which was to write up press releases agreeable to all and to co-ordinate the reactions of the four organisations in response to the arrests.
The coordinating committee published its own communique on the very same day asking the PAP government to substantiate its allegations that the ten Catholic social activists detained under the ISA were involved in the “Marxist Conspiracy” to subvert the Singapore government.
[Source: Singapore Window]
It declared its conviction that the ten militants arrested were not Marxists and had not devised any plot against the Singapore government. On this occasion the four presentation notes of the Catholic movements implicated in the affair were also published in the Catholic News.
On 2 June 1987, the Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Singapore Gregory Yong and a delegation of nine Catholic priests and lay persons were called to meet the Prime Minster of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew.
Lee presented them with the report from the police regarding Vincent Cheng as well as his so-called “confession” in which he admitted his Marxist convictions and his participation in a plot to destabilise the State. The representatives of the Catholic Church learned also of the four reports drawn up by the police on the four priests of the co-ordinating committee.
Lee’s stance was pretty clear: the four “troublesome” priests who dared to question the PAP government must be removed or there would be open conflict between the state and the Church.
Archbishop Gregory Yong was reportedly given a stern warning by Lee:
“Put order into your house, otherwise the State will do it!”
On leaving that meeting, the Archbishop was suddenly called back by the Prime Minister’s aides for an impromptu press conference. The state media, radios and TV stations publicized the Archbishop’s “admission” that he had “accepted” the “proof” presented to him which he was unable to refute.
On 4 June, the four priests from the coordinating committee decided to defuse the tension and tendered their resignations to the Archbishop which were immediately accepted.
The day ended with a press release from the Archbishop who announced the resignations of the four priests and expressed his hope that the affair was now nearing its conclusion. He also said that the next issue of the Catholic News already printed was forbidden to be circulated.
[Source: Straits Times, 5 June 1987]

The ISD however, was not pleased with the outcome and wanted ecclesiastical sanctions to be imposed on the priests.
On the evening of the 5th of June, a communique of two paragraphs from the archbishop’s residence announced curtly that “he was suspending the four priests from preaching and from having anything to do with the organisations they were once in charge of”
[Source: Straits Times, 6 June 1987]
To this very day, there is no evidence to prove that the 22 Catholic social activists and workers were “Marxists” plotting to overthrow the PAP government.
In Singapore, regardless of race, language or religion, the only thing which matters most is your political affiliation.
In 2008, Pastor Rony Tan produced a video clip widely viewed on Youtube entitled The Singapore Song expressing his “gratitude” to the PAP government:
“In deep gratitude to our protective and caring government all these 43 years, The Singapore Song was written in their honor. It is also specially dedicated to Mr & Mrs Lee Kuan Yew,” he wrote.
That may have made the difference after all.