Thum Ping Tjin

Thum Ping Tjin
Thum delivering a lecture at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore on 17 September 2013
Born	(1979-12-17) 17 December 1979[1] Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Other names	PJ Thum
Alma mater	University of Oxford, Harvard University
Organization	Project Southeast Asia, University of Oxford

Thum Ping Tjin (Chinese: 覃炳鑫; pinyin: Tán Bǐng Xīn) (born 17 December 1979),^[1] also known as PJ Thum, is a Singaporean historian and former national swimmer. He is a research fellow at the University of Oxford and the coordinator of Project Southeast Asia,^[2] a collective of scholars of Southeast Asia at the university.^[3] The first Singaporean to swim the English Channel,^[2] he represented his country in four swim races at the 1996 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Background

Born on 17 December 1979^[1] in Singapore, Thum received his early education at five of the Anglo-Chinese Schools. He went to Harvard College at the age of 16 and graduated in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in East Asian studies. A Rhodes Scholar, he attended Hertford College at the University of Oxford, where he read for a second bachelor's degree in modern history and politics.

In early 2005, Thum was a teacher at Anglo-Chinese School (International) in Singapore. He later returned to Oxford on a Commonwealth Scholarship, where he completed a DPhil in modern history at Hertford College. From 2006 to 2007, he was also a warden at Frewin Hall, Brasenose College.

From 2012 to 2014, Thum was a research fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore (NUS).^[4] Since 2014, Thum has been a research associate at Oxford's Centre for Global History; a fellow of Green Templeton College; and the coordinator of Project Southeast Asia, an Oxford initiative to expand its range of scholarly expertise on Southeast Asia.^[5] In 2015, Thum was elected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.^[6]

In March 2018, Al Jazeera interviewed Thum for the documentary "The House That Lee Built"; Thum stated when he was a research fellow at NUS, he published and gave lectures about his research, which showed that Singapore's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew "had lied about his use of detention without trial from the 1960s onward." According to Thum, shortly afterwards a senior staff member at NUS privately informed him that he "would never be able to work in Singapore as an academic... again".^[7] When asked about this, a NUS spokesperson declined to comment.^[8]

Swimming career

Thum represented Singapore in four swim races at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.^[1]

During his studies at the University of Oxford, Thum captained the university's swimming team and earned two Blues times. In 2002, he retired from the Singaporean national swimming team but continued to represent Oxford in swimming.^[1]

On 6 August 2005, Thum swam solo across the English Channel in 12 hours and 24 minutes, and became the first Singaporean to do so. While preparing for his Channel swim, Thum also set a world record when he swam around the Rock of Gibraltar in 2 hours and 52 minutes.^[9]

Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods

In March 2018, in response to a call from the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods for submissions, Thum submitted a paper arguing that any legislation by the Singapore Parliament against online falsehood must also apply to the Singapore government. He cited the government's use of detention without trial between 1963 and 1988, when nearly 2,500 people were detained without trial. While the government argued that the detainees were part of a "communist plot" or "Marxist conspiracy" to subvert the state, it has never produced any evidence to substantiate its claims nor have any detainees been brought to trial on the charges they were detained under. Thum argued that these justifications were false claims made by politicians of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) for the purpose of political gain.^[10]

On 29 March, the last day of the sitting of the Select Committee, Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam grilled Thum about a paper he published in 2013: The Fundamental Issue is Anti-colonialism, Not Merger': Singapore's "Progressive Left", Operation Coldstore, and the Creation of Malaysia.^[11] Shanmugam sought to force Thum to give only yes-or-no answers, questioned his professional competence, and compared him to Holocaust denier David Irving.^[12] He also accused Thum of falling short of the standards of an objective historian – "ignores evidence which you don't like, you ignore and suppress what is inconvenient and in your writings you present quite an untrue picture."^[13] Thum disagreed with Shanmugam, pointing out that his paper had been peer-reviewed and that no historian has stepped forward and contradicted the central thrust of his work.^[14]

Following this, mainstream media outlets, including Channel NewsAsia and The Straits Times, reported that Thum admitted that there were parts of the paper which he could have worded better, that some of his statements were misleading, and that he had not read nor bother to quote many of the accounts of some communist leaders as he felt that those accounts were unreliable. These include the first-hand accounts of Chin Peng, the leader of the Malayan Communist Party.^[15][16] However, in a subsequent follow-up submission to the Select Committee, Thum pointed out that the reports took his words out of context. He argued, "the crux of my original submission was not addressed in the discussion", "the fundamental arguments of my article as laid out in the conclusion (page 21–22) were not raised nor challenged", and "at no point did I accept that any part of my article was inaccurate or misleading." He analysed the discussion, provided evidence for his assertions, explained how he used his sources, and concluded that "my overall point in my article that Operation Coldstore was fundamentally motivated by political, not security, reasons, stands."^[17]

Members of civil society strongly criticised the way in which the open hearings were conducted, saying that the Select Committee had failed to adhere to its own terms of reference, and had not been conducted in an open or consultative manner.^[18][19][20] The incident also led to several open letters in defence of Thum and academic freedom in Singapore, addressed to Select Committee chairperson Charles Chong. These letters criticised the hearing as an attempt to destroy Thum's credibility and discredit his research on Singapore’s modern history in the public's eye, with the broader goal of intimidating researchers and academics in order to suppress freedom of expression and enquiry in Singapore. The largest was signed by 284 academics, and around 100 non-academics, from around the world, and stated that the hearing "is likely to have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and academic freedom in Singapore."^[21][22]

Thum's colleagues at Oxford also wrote letters expressing their strong concerns about how Thum was treated at the hearing. Their letters said that Shanmugam had repeatedly expressed disdain for Thum's research, which they pointed out had "already met the rigorous standards of examination at Oxford and peer review by fellow historical experts on the region". The letter also states, "There is an evident irony in a Select Committee addressed to deliberate information falsehoods which proceeds by impugning and restating empirical findings. The implications for academic freedom, and for freedom of expression in Singapore, are very troubling. Instead of a hearing with the stated objective of securing truth in information, the actual conduct of its questioning appears designed to intimidate those who seek to publish the truth".^[21]

The Canadian Association of University Teachers also wrote a letter to the Select Committee's chairperson Charles Chong, stating that "the nature of the Select Committee's questioning of Thum serves to intimidate other academics in the country from exercising their academic freedom."^[23]

In response, Chong argued that Thum's written submission to the Select Committee was not an academic dissertation but a political piece, and that Thum must expect to be questioned about his claims.^[22] In a second response on 1 May 2018, Chong released a statement with attached emails between two trustees of Project Southeast Asia that appear to be inadvertently copied to the Select Committee. The statement suggested that Thum "may have had a hand in crafting" to gain support for himself, claimed that Thum had "engineered" support for himself and alleged "a coordinated attempt, with foreign actors involved, to try to influence and subvert our parliamentary processes."^[24] Philip Kreager, the chairperson of Project Southeast Asia, rejected Chong's statement, called it "clearly preposterous" and wrote, "members of an organisation keep each other informed of events and exchange views. Historians, like other professionals, do likewise. The conspiracy that Chong claims to have discovered in our private correspondence exists only in his own imagination."^[25]

On 13 April, the Parliament Secretariat announced an investigation into Thum's academic credentials and wrote to him for clarification. Following media enquiries, the University of Oxford replied that Thum is a visiting research associate with its School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography; specifically he is based in the Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group, an affiliate of the school.^[26] While this was reflected in the media reports, Thum's employment with Project Southeast Asia was not mentioned in the media. Subsequent statements by his colleagues at Oxford confirmed that "Thum is a valued member of the University."^[25]

Activism

On 11 April 2018, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) notified Thum and Kirsten Han, an activist and freelance journalist, that their 18 February 2018 application to register a private company "OSEA Private Limited" was rejected. ACRA released a press statement which stated that the company was "clearly political in nature" and contrary to Singapore's national interests.^[27] According to The Straits Times, "this is the first publicised case of a proposed incorporated entity having its application rejected due to foreign funding for domestic political activities."^[28]

OSEA was to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Observatory Southeast Asia Limited (OSEA-UK). ACRA noted that, in his application, Thum had stated that OSEA-UK has received a US$75,000 grant from the Foundation Open Societies Institute (FOSI), a charitable foundation closely associated with the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which was founded by George Soros. In their press release, ACRA argued that "OSF, founded and led by George Soros, was expressly established to pursue a political agenda the world over, and has a history of involvement in the domestic politics of sovereign countries". ACRA cited how the OSEA application proposed to organise "Democracy Classroom" sessions, workshops and events in Singapore.^[29]

OSEA-UK replied on their website,

"Any notion that we are, as ACRA alleges, "being used by foreigners to pursue a political activity in Singapore" is unfounded. New Naratif is substantially supported by revenue from its members, who subscribe at levels between US$52 and US$552 per year. We have over 420 members in 17 different countries, and have also received numerous donations from individuals. On top of this, we are also honoured to be the recipient of a grant from a prestigious international funding body, Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI). FOSI awarded the financing to New Naratif on the basis of our project concept and the grant does not impose any conditions beyond goals that we defined ourselves. FOSI and the Open Society Foundations (OSF) do not have any involvement or input in New Naratif’s editorial decisions or the day-to-day running of our start-up."^[30]

On 1 May 2018, Select Committee chairman Charles Chong noted that Thum and Philip Kreager – both trustees of Oxford's Project Southeast Asia – were directors of OSEA-UK on the British government's company registry.^[31]

Meeting with Mahathir Mohamad

On 30 August 2018, Thum, Tan Wah Piow and others met Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and asked him to take a lead role in promoting democracy in Southeast Asia. This prompted Seah Kian Peng, a Singaporean Member of Parliament, to post on Facebook that "it appears quite clear to me that Thum does not wish Singapore well"; some people also called Thum a "traitor" online. Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam commented that to invite "a foreign politician, to intervene in our domestic politics ... is an absolute no no". Thum rejects the notion that he is a traitor.^[32]

Thum, Kirsten Han and Jolovan Wham, who also met Mahathir, sent letters of complaint to Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore, denouncing the conduct of Seah, who is also a member of the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods, for making serious accusations without substantiation. Han responded that Seah's Facebook post "dog-whistled to online trolls and unleashed abusive online harassment – although he's since called for civility, he has not retracted his claims nor provided evidence, and his allegations continue to provide fodder for personal attacks". The trio also urged Charles Chong, the chairperson of the Select Committee, to "take leadership in promoting responsible behaviour and engaging in evidence-based discussion".^[33]

The Ministry of Home Affairs replied to Thum's letter: "We can have vigorous debates within Singapore about our own affairs. But you cross a red line when you invite foreign powers or foreign leaders into Singapore politics."^[34]

Bibliography

• Living with Myths in Singapore (with Loh Kah Seng and Jack Chia, eds.). Singapore: Ethos, 2017.
• “The Malayan vision of Lim Chin Siong: Unity, Non-Violence, and Popular Sovereignty,“ Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Vol 18, No 3 (2017).
• ‘The Fundamental Issue is Anti-colonialism, Not Merger’: Singapore’s “Progressive Left”, Operation Coldstore, and the Creation of Malaysia. ARI Working Paper Series 211.
• “The New Normal is the Old Normal: Lessons from Singapore’s History of Dissent,” in Donald Low (ed.), Hard Choices: Challenging the Singapore Consensus. Singapore: NUS Press (2014).
• “Flesh and Bone Reunited As One Body: Singapore’s Chinese-Speaking and their Perspectives on Merger”, in Hong, Lysa and Poh, Soo Kai (eds.), The 1963 Operation Coldstore in Singapore: Commemorating 50 Years. Kuala Lumpur: Strategic Institute of Research and Development (2013).
• “Flesh and Bone Reunited As One Body: Singapore’s Chinese-Speaking and their Perspectives on Merger”, Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies Vol 5 (2011 – 12).
• “The Politics of Southeast Asian History,” IIAS Newsletter 62 (Winter 2012).
• “The Limitations of Monolingual History,” in Tarling, Nicholas (ed.), Studying Singapore’s Past: C.M. Turnbull and the History of Modern Singapore. Singapore: NUS Press, 2012: 1 – 18.
• “Constance Mary Turnbull, 1927-2008,” in Tarling, Nicholas (ed.), Studying Singapore’s Past: C.M. Turnbull and the History of Modern Singapore. Singapore: NUS Press, 2012: 98 – 120.
• “‘Living Buddha’: Chinese perspectives on David Marshall and his government, 1955-56”, Indonesia and the Malay World, Vol 38, Issue 113 (July 2011).
• “Chinese newspapers in Singapore, 1945 – 1963: Mediators of elite and popular tastes in culture and politics”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol 83, Part 1 (June 2010).

References

External links

• PJ Thum's academia.edu page