The Straits Times, Sept 3, 1997 FORMER communist leader Fang Chuang Pi has replied to a statement from the Senior Minister's press secretary and denied any contradiction between his words and actions on the issue of Singapore's merger with Malaysia. The claim made by the press secretary, Madam Yeong Yoon Ying, that he was "self- contradictory" was "a distortion of the truth", he said in a letter published in the Lianhe Zaobao yesterday. Madam Yeong wrote to the Lianhe Zaobao a month ago following an interview Mr Fang gave to the Malaysian Chinese daily, Nanyang Siang Pau. Fang Chuang Pi aka the Plen In the interview, the former leader of the now disbanded Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), known as The Plen, was reported to have said that he had supported the merger of Singapore and Malaysia. Rebutting this, Madam Yeong said: "He strongly opposed the merger and ordered the late Lim Chin Siong (a pro-communist leader) to break up the People's Action Party and to stop the merger. There are documents and people to attest to what happened." Mr Fang said in his reply: "During my interview with the Nanyang Siang Pau, I made it clear that I had some misgivings and disagreed with the merger. My deeds match my words. Where is the 'contradiction'?" He noted that advocating merger did not mean accepting unsuitable conditions. "A hungry person will look for food, but he does not have to swallow poison. Again, where is the 'contradiction'?" he said. He added: "I also said in the interview that the brief period of merger during 1963 showed that conditions were not conducive then. I should think this is a historical fact. "The Lianhe Zaobao also reprinted the interview, did Madam Yeong not read it?" he asked. Mr Fang also took issue with the statement "it was fortunate for Mr Lee that he was not dealt with like many others who opposed the CPM, but did not receive Mr Fang's special protection". Madam Yeong made that remark when commenting on Mr Fang's reminder to Mr Lee, in 1995, that he had given Mr Lee protection in the 1950s. She said: "This protection would not have been necessary if his organisation had, as Mr Fang claims, acted constitutionally and democratically." Mr Fang said this implied that "many who opposed the CPM had been dealt with". This was not true, he said. "Have any leaders and members of the PAP, senior or junior officials of the PAP government been afflicted the slightest harm by the leftists?" He added that after the 1955 constitutional arrangements came into effect, "none of the politicians, including those who cooperated openly with the colonial masters, such as C.C. Tan, John Laycock, Lim Yew Hock, Chew Swee Kee and others, were 'dealt with' or 'harmed'." "Historical truths cannot be distorted," he said. Noting that Madam Yeong had ended her letter by saying that the past would be judged by historians, Mr Fang said: "I am in full agreement with this. "But as a party to the struggle, if I do not have the opportunity at all to speak, how will historians be able to discover the truth?" he asked. "If the historians cannot find the truth, how will they be able to make a truthful and fair judgment on history?" He concluded his one-page letter on this point: "Many other matters raised by Madam Yeong in the reply were discussed in my letter to Lee Kuan Yew and I will not dwell on them here." He ended by saying: "I am very grateful to Madam Yeong's tolerant attitude in her reply." Next: The Plen emerges but all eyes on Versace Previous Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.