16 Former Singapore Political Detainees
Calling for Commission of Inquiry
Dated this 28th day of September 2011
The Ministry of Home Affairs’ statement of 23 September 2011 contains the usual rhetoric, inundated with Cold War parlance such as “Communist United Front activities” and “Marxist plot” (Click Here for Full Statement). Its intent is clearly to justify the act of arbitrary arrest under the ISA and instil fear in the people.
The statement fails to address the most important concern of the 16 of us, which is indefinite detention without trial. None of us was brought to trial before a court of law. Our imprisonment was solely based on the statements of ISD officers and statements extracted from us while we were subjected to torture, cold room treatment, deprivation of sleep and the threat of indefinite detention.
Article 9 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Singapore is a signatory declares: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
We reiterate that the ISA is a draconian law that allows the ruling party to arrest and imprison without trial anyone it deems a threat to its power. Its impact on Singapore over the past half a century has been both crippling and pernicious.
We call upon the Government of Singapore to set up an independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate if the allegations made against us as well as all former ISA-detainees are justified. More so when recent publications, memoirs and panel discussions by historians and ex-ISA detainees have given accounts different from the official narrative on the events of those years. We urge the government to have the moral and political courage to set up such a commission in the interest of truth and transparency.
Endorsement Name List:
- Dr Lim Hock Siew
- Dr Poh Soo Kai
- Said Zahari
- Lee Tee Tong
- Loh Miaw Gong
- Chng Min Oh @ Chuang Men-Hu
- Tan Sin alias Tan Seng Hin
- Toh Ching Kee
- Koh Kay Yew
- Vincent Cheng Kim Chuan
- Teo Soh Lung
- Yap Hon Ngian
- Tan Tee Seng
- Low Yit Leng
- Wong Souk Yee
- Tang Fong Har
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