SIR,.—May I congratulate Mr. Sington on his shrewd appreciation of
the Singapore elections, his very just assessment of the objectionably unequal standards of living that have caused the leftward swing and his understanding of the personality of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. While these events were happening I was kept well informed by colleagues in the Singapore ,trade union movements and, seeing that two People's Action Party leaders, Mr:Rajaretnam and Mr. C. K. Lee were both on the executive of a trade union of which I was the President and both proved loyal and liberal colleagues, I do not think the apprehensive threats of local Europeans need to be taken seriously. Electoral attacks upon the local English language press were not entirely unprovoked, nor was the charge of too much money for too little work against the local European community.
It is upon the individual reaction of local British to Singapore's new look, as much as upon Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's Government that the success or failure of the Communists will now depend.
Those who under the old order became accept- able to Asians were subject to all forms of pressure from the senior British. I would so far dis- pute Mr. Sington's analysis of the attractions of Com- munism for the Chinese masses as to remind him that the first elected President of the Labour League of Youth was a twenty-two-year-old English mercan- tile assistant, a former junior officer in the King's African Rifles, whose politics are left-wing Tory!
Had not the usual pressure been exerted by his own employers (it was as recently as 19551) the trend of Singaporean youth might have been very different
today. The natural reaction of the young and thoughtful Chinese was to flock into. the PAP.
Will British firms relax their unimaginative approach and let their juniors play a part in public life and in the social life of Asian Singapore? There lies the crux. My past experience does not make me hopeful. I trust I shall be disappointed, In the alterna- tive our capital and commerce will be edged out of Singapore as it has been from Egypt and as has happened with the Dutch in Indonesia. There arc alternative sources for investment capital.—Yours faithfully, 14 Great Ormond Street, WC1 GEORGE EDINGER
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