Lai Teck was a leader of the Communist Party of Malaya and Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army. A Vietnamese of mixed Sino-Vietnamese descent,[5][6] Prior to his arrival in Malaya, Lai Teck was believed to have led his life as Truong Phuoc Dat until 1934, during which Dat disappeared and Lai Teck appeared.[7]
Lai Teck was a shadowy character whose real name and background are unknown. According to his successor, Chin Peng: He curiously chose the party alias 'Wright' which, given the Chinese pronunciation of English words beginning with the letter 'r' soon became distorted to Lai Te. This was further mangled, depending on who was writing or speaking English, to 'Loi Teck', 'Lai Teck' and 'Lighter'.[8]
Lai Teck was believed to have served the French as a spy in Indo-China but been uncovered. It was subsequently alleged that he was recruited by the British security services and brought to Singapore in 1934 to infiltrate the CPM. In 1938, he became the Secretary-General of the Malayan Communist Party.[9] At this he was highly successful, and by using the British police to pick off his rivals within the Party he rose through the hierarchy and attained the Party leadership (Secretary General) in April 1939. Perhaps because of this, he steered the Party on a course of non-confrontation with the British and wholly embraced the Communist International's new line of co-operation with the United States and the Western European powers against Nazi Germany and Japan.
Although many of the CPM's top personnel managed to flee Singapore before it fell, Lai Teck did not and was picked up in a Japanese sweep shortly after. Although most communists were executed by the Japanese, Lai Teck walked free a few days later. Based on later evidence, including documents in Japanese archives, it now appears most likely that Lai Teck saved his life by promising to act as a Japanese agent.
On 1 September 1942, more than 100 senior CPM and MPAJA members gathered at the Batu Caves just north of Kuala Lumpur for a secret conference. The Japanese, however, had been tipped off and staged a surprise raid at dawn. In the ensuing lopsided skirmish most of the CPM and MPAJA high command were destroyed. Lai Teck, who should have been at the meeting, wasn't. Subsequently he claimed that he had been unable to attend because his car broke down.
In 1946, faint rumours which had been circulating within the party about disloyalty on the part of Lai Teck began to receive more substantiation. This was exacerbated by the restlessness of the rank and file, especially the younger members, who favoured radical action. Lai Teck was removed from some sensitive posts, and an investigation was begun into his activities. A full meeting of the Central Executive Committee was scheduled for 6 March 1947 at which the complaints against Lai Teck were to be aired in his presence. Lai Teck did not attend but instead absconded with the bulk of the Party's funds, hiding first in Singapore, then going to Hong Kong and later Thailand.
With Lai Teck gone, the party elected a new leader, Chin Peng. According to Chin Peng, Lai Teck was killed in Bangkok some time in 1947 when Thai Communists tried to capture him.[10]
By Barry Wain
WHEN Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) boss Lai Teck failed to show for a special Central Committee meeting near Kuala Lumpur in early 1947, Chin Peng, a ranking colleague, suspected the worst. He thought Lai Teck had been picked up by the Special Branch.
Chin Peng headed for a house where Lai Teck - married with two children in Singapore - usually stayed with his Chinese mistress when he was in the area. She told him Lai Teck had been and gone.
Now worried that the Special Branch had kept the Central Committee gathering under surveillance, Chin Peng went underground for a week.
By the time he re-established contact with the party, concern had switched from the snooping British colonial police to focus on Lai Teck himself. The man who had served as secretary-general of the CPM for eight years - having been elected to the post at the outbreak of World War II - had disappeared.
Also missing were most of the party's considerable funds, consisting of gold ingots and sheets, 130,000 Straits dollars in cash and a stack of currency notes issued by the Japanese occupation administration during the war.
While the CPM established a three-man panel to investigate the affair, the senior communists recognised immediately the ugly truth:
Lai Teck, who had been re-elected secretary-general only a year earlier, months after the British had re-occupied Singapore and Malaya, was a traitor.
The stories circulating about Lai Teck having collaborated with the Japanese - which he had been summoned to address at the aborted Central Committee meeting - were true.
With no qualms, he had betrayed his comrades in spectacular fashion to the dreaded Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police, condemning dozens, if not hundreds, to certain death and temporarily crippling the clandestine communist movement - in particular its military wing, the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army, or MPAJA.
The biggest shameless traitor in Singapore's history: Lai Teck
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_Teck
Lai Teck - the traitor of all traitors
Jan 21, 2011
http://heresthenews.blogspot.sg/2011/01/lai-teck-traitor-of-all-traitors.html
Actually no need think so much.
Whoever up against a vile pappies just vote for him/her.
Sort them out later....
pinkie - his silence to defend the good name of pap is deafening. the continuous screwup cockup COE up, housing price up simi langjeow also up except pay is horrendous.
The good name of PAP can be seen everywhere - lots of well-maintained public roads, MRT system [in spite of its breakdowns], HDB apartments, skyscrapers, strong earning power of most sinkies, lots of foreigners wanting to work in Singapore, no sinkies having to go overseas to work as maids or prostitutes.
Most sinkies can accept some of PAP's flaws. In contrast, the opposition contributed nothing to nation building. They only wasted valuable time and resources of the government in fixing them for trying to destabilize our society.
This is way before most of our time.
The good name of PAP can be seen everywhere - lots of well-maintained public roads, MRT system [in spite of its breakdowns], HDB apartments, skyscrapers, strong earning power of most sinkies, lots of foreigners wanting to work in Singapore, no sinkies having to go overseas to work as maids or prostitutes.
Most sinkies can accept some of PAP's flaws. In contrast, the opposition contributed nothing to nation building. They only wasted valuable time and resources of the government in fixing them for trying to destabilize our society.