Demanding Singapore government to abolish the ISA and to apologise and compensate the victims and their families —Joint statement in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the “2nd February Incident” [Updated]

Demanding Singapore 

government to abolish the ISA

And to apologise and compensate 

the victims and their families

—Joint statement in commemoration of 

the 60 th anniversary of the 

 “2nd February Incident”

Source: sahabatrakyatmy.blogspot.com

Background of the picture above is the report on the "Operation Coldstore" by "Sin Chew Daily" (Chinese Daily) dated 3 February 1963. “Sin Chew Jit Poh” reported that 97 persons were arrested during the “Operation Coldstore”. By the end of April, 120 were detained under the “Operation Coldstore”. 17 of them were deported to Malaya. One managed to escape, and the remaining 102 people were detained in Singapore. (See letter from the Assistant Special Officer Moore to the British Colonial Administration Governor, CO: 1030/1574, No.289, 29 April 1963.) 

Today (February 2, 2023) marks the 60th anniversary of the Operation Coldstore. To implement the “Malaysia Plan”, Lee Kuan Yew ruling clique in Singapore colluded with the British colonial government and Abdul Rahman ruling clique in Malaya, resorting to large-scale suppression of the leftists in Singapore by launching the so-called "Operation Coldstore" (also known as the "2nd February Incident"). 

Today, 60 years after the "2nd February incident", a group of the former political detainees expressed their resentment against the tyranny and draconian law of Singapore via a joint statement, sternly demanding the Lee Hsien Loong PAP government of Singapore to abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA). They also ask for an apology and compensation to victims of the ISA and their families.  

This statement and the complete list of signatories were announced by some of the signatories at a press conference held at the following location at 11:00 am today (2nd February)— 

The Arts & Civil Space 10,

Ubi Crescent 

#07-96 Ubi Techpark （Lobby E） 

Singapore 408564 

Below is the full text of the joint statement. Picture above and subtitles in the statement are added by the Editor of Sahabat Rakyat ——

We, the undersigned former political prisoners, affirm and support Dr Poh Soo Kai’s statement below. We ask for an apology from the People’s Action Party (PAP) government and reparation, whether symbolic or substantive, for physical and psychological mistreatment, and consequential deprivation of livelihood suffered by some of us during and after our imprisonment without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The ISA has to be abolished. It has been used by the PAP government repeatedly against those it feared would be threats to its power.

The ISA has done tremendous damage to us, our families and the people of Singapore.

DR POH SOO KAI'S STATEMENT

Sixty years ago, on 2 February 1963, I was imprisoned without trial along with over a hundred others. I was then the Assistant Secretary General of the Barisan Sosialis. I am now 91 years old and am one of about 50 survivors of Operation Coldstore alive today. In 1963, most of us were in our youthful twenties.

The PAP government has been relentless in using the ISA, arresting and imprisoning people without trial.

Those of us who refused to sign “confessions” were imprisoned indefinitely, some for almost two decades. Dr Chia Thye Poh, then an elected Member of Parliament, was arrested at age 25 and imprisoned for 23 years; for nine more years he was forced to live with severe restrictions – three years confined to Sentosa Island and six years within the limits of Singapore.

Today, I demand accountability for myself and all political prisoners, so that Singaporeans can understand the roots of our draconian political system. The PAP has been the only ruling party in Singapore since 1959. Its younger members may not be fully aware of how their party managed to defeat its political opponents and critics so thoroughly. It is time they know the party’s history.

On 19 September 2011, 16 ISA survivors signed a statement calling for the Singapore government to abolish the ISA when the Malaysian government announced that it would repeal their ISA.

Purpose of the "Operation Coldstore" is to suppress the leftists in Singapore

The Ministry of Home Affairs responded that the signatories were involved in “subversive activities which posed a threat to national security” and that they were not detained for their political beliefs but were “actively involved in Communist United Front activities in support of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), which was committed to the violent overthrow of the constitutionally-elected governments in Singapore and Malaysia”.[1]

I CATEGORICALLY REJECT such spurious and unsubstantiated allegations and fabricated charges. The PAP government has continued to repeat such lies for 60 years.

I CHALLENGE the PAP government to produce evidence to substantiate their allegations against me.

I STRONGLY MAINTAIN that I was arrested under Operation Coldstore because of my political beliefs, which were based on the anticolonial and proworking-class manifesto and constitution of the PAP when it was formed. I was one of its founding members.

Operation Coldstore was about Lee Kuan Yew, the compliant successor of the British colonialists, needing to keep his position as prime minister.

An account of the key political events in the 1960s will bear this out.

The people of Singapore were anticolonial. They were against the Lim Yew Hock government for arresting innocent students and trade union leaders in 1956. I now know from de-classified archival documents that Lee Kuan Yew was secretly plotting those arrests with Lim Yew Hock to win over the British, who wanted to retain her military base in Singapore.

The PAP had a landslide victory in the 1959 general election. There was no political crisis or instability in the country in its initial years as government. Once in government, Lee collaborated with the British who pressed him to act against the left faction of the PAP led by Lim Chin Siong.

Lee Kuan Yew caught in awkward situation in three by-elections

Instability emerged within the PAP itself when Lee expelled his rival Ong Eng Guan. Ong defended and retained his seat convincingly as an independent in the Hong Lim by-election of April 1961. He had campaigned on the platform of keeping the PAP government true to its election pledges, including freeing prisoners held without trial by Lim Yew Hock.

From the Hong Lim by-election, the British realised with alarm that the PAP was no longer the force it was when it came into power in June 1959, and that the electorate had a mind of its own.

In July 1961, the PAP lost the Anson by-election in the face of the same demand to free those imprisoned without trial. When the seat of Sembawang became vacant not long after, Lee (having lost two by-elections) did not dare to face another by-election.

Labelling the anti-(fake) merger as a "subversive" activity

The British threw Lee Kuan Yew a “lifeline”, as they put it. They gave Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman the merger deal of a Malaysia which included British North Borneo and Sarawak and which put Singapore’s internal security in the Tunku’s hand. Lee relentlessly called the PAP left “communists” and expelled them when they refused to give him complete control to decide on the terms for merger. The expelled PAP left-wing formed the Barisan Sosialis which was then the strongest political force in Singapore. But Operation Coldstore totally decimated them.

Operation Coldstore was ordered by the British, Singapore and Federation of Malaya members of the Internal Security Council to overcome the challenge from the Barisan Sosialis. Nine out of the 16 Central Working Committee members led by Lim Chin Siong were arrested and imprisoned. Their imprisonment eliminated the Barisan’s top echelon from the September 1963 general election, giving the PAP a clear win. Despite that, the government almost immediately ordered another wave of arrests, including of another three members of the Barisan Central Working Committee who were successful in the general election.

Separation took place less than two years after merger, and the ISA continued to be the instrument used to suppress political activities which were constitutional but which the government labelled “subversive”, without needing to provide evidence. I remained in prison at the pleasure of the PAP government even when Barisan’s objections to the terms of merger were shown to be valid.

After 60 years, the PAP government should go beyond just repeating unsubstantiated allegations. It should provide evidence to support the justifications they gave for launching Operation Coldstore.

Allegation that Barisan Sosialis is involved in the "armed rebellion" is ridiculous

The 2011 Ministry of Home Affairs’ statement repeated the lies that Barisan Sosialis was ready to join forces with “groups resorting to violence and bloodshed as in the Brunei revolt” and that national defence and Singapore’s security were jeopardised.

Nothing can be further from the truth. What Barisan Sosialis did was no more than issue a statement of moral support for the Brunei revolt of December 1962. It was a statement of solidarity with all colonies rising to overthrow colonial rule. As the PAP government well knew, Barisan Sosialis did not possess or supply any weapon to the Brunei People’s Party led by A. M. Azahari who had won the election but was denied the right to govern Brunei.

The 2011 Ministry of Home Affairs statement also mentioned that one of the signatories had given medical aid to a CPM saboteur. While the person was not named officially, I believe it was a reference to me.

I was arrested for a second time in June 1976. A month earlier, the Dutch Labour Party had tabled a memorandum to expel the PAP at the Socialist International meeting. My speeches highlighting the prolonged imprisonment without trial in Singapore were cited.

Poh Soo Kai rebuts allegations of his arrest

However, no mention was made of the Socialist International memorandum as reasons for my arrest. Instead the government alleged that in December 1974 I had given medicine for an injured bomber who had intended to assassinate the managing director of the Nanyang Shoe Factory.

The person who came to my clinic made a televised “confession” that he had passed on medicines from me to his injured comrade. At the same time, the ISD said to me that their raid of my clinic showed that I had given him medication for his sore throat and that my records were in order. They were showing me that they were free to make false accusations and I was in no position to stop them.

Then in 1977, I was alleged to have also treated the other injured bomber hiding in Masai, Johor. My wife, a nurse was alleged to have accompanied me there.

This “Masai incident” was a total fabrication. I only found out about this alleged incident later. “Masai” was never mentioned in my prison interrogations.

I have categorically denied and rebutted these allegations for the last ten years and more. I have done this in my speeches and writings, and whenever the authorities repeated the lie.

Three strong demands of the former political detainees and their families

Operation Coldstore carried out on 2 February 1963 was the start of the pernicious use of state power by the PAP government to imprison political opponents without trial and for as long as it chooses.

ON THIS THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF OPERATION COLDSTORE, THE UNDERSIGNED FORMER ISA PRISONERS AND I ARE PUTTING ON RECORD THAT WE DEMAND:

❶ The immediate abolition of the ISA;

❷ An apology from the PAP government to rectify the grievous crimes it had committed against us; and

❸ Compensation for us, former political prisoners and the families of those who are deceased.

We ask this as a matter of right, as survivors of the most serious and baseless allegations which the PAP government has chosen to ignore.

Dated this 2 February 2023

Complete list of signatories of joint statement

Signatories

	Name		Date of Arrest
1	Mavis Puthucheary wife of James Joseph Puthucheary	普都遮⾥	1956, 1963^
2	Otto Fong son of Fong Swee Suan	⽅⽔双	1956, 1963
3	Ng Beng Tee	黄明治	1956
4	Otto Fong son of Chan Lai Ying	陈丽英	1956
5	Tee Hong Seng	池⽅盛	1957
6	Tan Kok Fang	陈国防	1957, 1963
7	Roesman bin Mohd Said son of Said Zahari	塞.查哈利	1963
8	Liew Lai See wife of Hoe Cheok Wah	何卓华	1963#
9	Rose Tan wife of Tan Jing Quee	陈仁贵	1963, 1977
10	Lee Soon Huat	李顺发	1963
11	Wee Toon Lip	黄循⽴	1963
12	Iqbal Ghouse son of Salahuddin Ghouse	⾼式	1963
13	Chen Yutao wife of Kang Hoon Lim	江云林	1963
14	Haw Thar Heong	陶祚强	1963
15	Lee Tee Tong	李诗东/思东	1963
16	Michael Fernandez	费南德	1964, 1977
17	Lim Yew Beng	林耀明	1964
18	Chiew Kam Chow	赵⽢照	1965
19	Tan Muihua	陈美和	1966
20	Chong Ming Kee	钟明记	1966
21	Tan Gim Joo	陈锦福	1966
22	Fu Yang Yeow	傅仰曜	1966
23	Lan Ah Lek	林亚礼	1966
24	Toh Ching Kee	卓清枝	1967
25	Liu Li Ying	刘丽英	1967
26	Tan Seng Lee	陈静坤	1969
27	Wee Bee Kwee	黄⽶贵	1970
28	Chng Min Oh @ Zhuang Ming Hu	庄明湖	1970
29	Tan Sin @ Tan Seng Hin	陈成兴	1970
30	Goh Peng Wah	吴平华	1970
31	Kee Ai Tee wife of Tan Kim Sew	陈⾦寿	1970
32	Chwa Seh Kea	蔡世居	1970
33	Sim Teong Hiok	沈仲叶	1970
34	Toh Siew Tin	卓秀珍	1970
35	Ngoh Teck Nam	伍德南	1974, 1977
36	Tan Suan Poh	陈川波	1974
37	Tan Gim Seng	陈锦新	1974
38	Oh Soon Loo	胡顺裕	1974
39	Ho Chin Huat	何进发	1975
40	Lee Wan Ning	李菀宁	1975
41	Ong Sooi Eng	王瑞荣	1975
42	Oh Teng Aik	胡丁海	1976
43	Teng Ah Boo	邓银岗	1976
44	Tan Ping Wee	陈兴娓	1976
45	Chew Thiam Pow	周添宝	1976
46	Mok Kwong Yue	莫光裕	1977
47	Chua Chap Jee	蔡奕志	1977
48	Koh Kay Yew	许赓猷	1977
49	Pang Thu Sing	彭杜⽣	1977
50	Lim Pai	林沛	1979
51	Ting Moi King	陈妹⾦	1980
52	Vincent Cheng Kim Chuan	钟⾦全	1987
53	William Yap Hon Ngian	叶汉源	1987, 1988
54	Teo Soh Lung	张素兰	1987, 1988
55	Tan Tee Seng	陈智成	1987
56	Low Yit Leng	刘⽉玲	1987
57	Wong Souk Yee	黄淑仪	1987, 1988
58	Chng Suan Tze	庄瑄芝	1987, 1988
59	Tang Fong Har	陈凤霞	1987
60	Chew Kheng Chuan	周庆全	1987, 1988

^ Arrested in 1951 under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, 1948
# Arrested in 1950 under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, 1948

Photos from the press conference

Function 8, a civil society organisation in Singapore is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the "2nd February incident" in a very meaningful way by promoting the joint statement of the former political detainees that puts forward their demand. According to "Lianhe Zaobao" Singapore, about 80 people attended the press conference online and offline.

The event was hosted by Teo Soh Lung, who was detained in the "Operation Spectrum" in the 1980s under Lee Kuan Yew’s government of Singapore. Teo is a retired lawyer.

The 86-year-old former trade union leader (now still a registered TCM Physician practitioner) Chng Min Oh @ Zhuang Ming Hu took a group photo with Teo Soh Lung, the moderator and the Function 8 working team members after the press conference. Front row from the left: Chin Wye Tze, Derrick Lim, Wong Souk Yee, Low Yit Leng, Tan Tee Seng, Fong Hoe Fang. Back row from the left: Teo Soh Lung, Chng Min Oh @ Zhuang Ming Hu, Pak Geok Choo. Chng Min Oh has forged a strong bond with Teo Soh Lung and the others in their contact with each other over the years.

The English rendition of Probing Into The Sufferings Of Singapore's Left-Wing Labour Movement In The 1960s by Chng Min Oh, was edited and published by the Sahabat Rakyat editorial board in 2020. Chng Min Oh and his close comrade-in-arms Tan Sin (Chen Xin@Tan Seng Hin) (83 years old, also the eldest member of the Sahabat Rakyat Working Committee), both endorsed this joint statement.

Posted in: 1.政治, 1.政治-民主人权, 1.政治-民间组织, English, 新加坡