I first surfed into Martyn See’s blog some time ago on a Google search for “LKY Knuckledusters.”
Martyn See is a Singaporean political blogger and filmmaker, who has made films on Dr Chee Soon Juan, Mr Said Zahari and the late Dr Lim Hock Siew.
His blog (online since 2004!) is a great resource in terms of research, quotations, and documentation. I am glad to have seen his name referenced in a couple of non-fiction Singapore books I’ve read. For anyone with an interest in Singapore’s history and current political landscape, do check out his blog and other links at the bottom of this post.
If I had to list some of my favourite posts from Martyn See’s online updates, this blog post might never end. Therefore I have semi-randomly selected a few excerpts and screenshots, which should be of utmost interest to “discerning Singaporeans” (to borrow a description from the scholarly Mr. Yoong).
This list is not exhaustive, as it is meant to serve as a quick introduction to the scope of Martyn’s research.
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POSTS / IMAGES BY MARTYN SEE (political blogger/filmmaker)
1. On LKY: “It is a perhaps a fitting tribute to a man who led his flock by trading emotion for economics, ideals for pragmatism and compassion for politics.”
2. On Davinder Singh: “The aristocrat’s hatchet man is laughing all the way to the bank while shadowed by the ghost of a moral conscience which he aborted and left for dead at youth.”
3. On K Shanmugam potentially making an illegal political party film
4. On LHL: World’s Highest Paid Minister
5. Top 10 Quotes From PAP Chairman Khaw Boon Wan
a) On Your Medisave: “I work hard, I earn more, my medisave is bigger. You’re lazy, you work less, your medisave is small.”
b) On University Degrees: “If they cannot find jobs, what is the point? You own a degree, but so what? That you can’t eat it. If that cannot give you a good life, a good job, it is meaningless.”
c) On The Elderly: “Singaporeans could consider living in nursing homes in Johor Baru. It would be cheaper.”
On ministers’ pay versus NS men’s pay.
7. Lee Kuan Yew’s Analects, Part III
Quoted verbatim.
8. 1994 – 2012: A Chronology of Authoritarian Rule in Singapore
Dec 1994: Novelist Catherine Lim’s column in the Straits Times is suspended after Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong publicly reprimanded her for two articles which suggested that the PAP Government may be out of touch with ground sentiments. “If you land a blow on our jaw, you must expect a counterblow on your solar plexus,” said Goh, who added that Lim must enter the political arena if she wants to continue airing her views. Lim subsequently apologises.
9. The ISA as a Political Tool
The second installment of a five part excerpt from an Amnesty International report, first published in 1980.
10. PN Balji, former SPH editor, on growing old in Singapore
“I am hitting 66 and a suffocating and crowded environment are beginning to get to me. There is no hinterland to escape to. Johore, the closest Malaysian state, is a pain to get to because of the exorbitant tolls and massive jams on the Causeway link. . .”
11. A nation that refuses to heal its wounds
KC Chew, a Harvard graduate imprisoned twice under the ISA for the bogus charge of a Marxist conspiracy in 1987/88, urges the government to seek reconciliation by issuing a national apology for the wrongful arrests and torture of ISA detainees.
Detained without trial by Lee Kuan Yew’s government for 32 years, Dr Chia Thye Poh was the longest-serving political prisoner of Singapore. This video documents his first public appearance since his release in 1998.
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(Martyn See on the right, with Dr. Chia Thye Poh on the left)
MARTYN SEE is a Singaporean political blogger and filmmaker with two banned films, two police investigations and a conscience that just won’t let him rest.
Martyn See Online: Blog (Best ISA Resource) | Facebook | Photo Album | Interview | YouTube
Singapore Politics: Blog 
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