Letter to the Straits Times forum by Lionel De Souza:
I READ last Friday’s report, ‘Ex-ISA detainees remember 1987 arrests’, with some consternation.
I cannot fathom the necessity to resurrect and commemorate the arrest of members of a Marxist conspiracy that aimed to create a state of anarchy and topple the government 22 years ago.
My perception is that the commemoration was calculated to stir disquiet, as some people cannot bear to see Singaporeans happy and satisfied with the Government’s competence and proactiveness in softening the effects of the financial crisis for Singaporeans from all strata.
The $13.6 billion stimulus package payouts, coupled with tax cuts and rebates to put cash in the pockets of consumers and resuscitate domestic demand, and generous Jobs Credit to keep companies afloat and prevent mass retrenchments, the farsightedness of the Government in using the downturn to upgrade skills, plus spending $4.4 billion on infrastructure, health and education improvement have certainly aroused jealousy against the Government’s ‘lifeboat’ packages.
This has caused certain elements to fume when they see most Singaporeans content and happy with what the Government is doing to make their lives a little more meaningful in these trying times.
Hence, these people, fearing they will be forgotten, have again raised their ugly heads to agitate the public by staging the ‘pantomime’ at Speakers’ Corner that drew a miserable crowd of about 50 people, which testifies to the public indifference to such antics.
Those who advocate the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) should dream again. They should thank their lucky stars they and their loved ones enjoy peace and racial and religious harmony.
If there was no ISA, Singaporeans would be living on the edge because of terrorist threats and perhaps, senseless violence perpetrated by unseen foreign puppeteers controlling their local puppets to create mayhem in Singapore.
Detention under the ISA does not breach a detainee’s constitutional rights. It therefore follows that it is better that a few who choose to preach the doctrine of conspiracy to topple the legitimate government by illegal means pay for their folly by doing time under the ISA, than have the nation destroyed.
Lionel De Souza
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In 1988, in the same Straits Times forum page. (We apologise for the poor quality of the print out.)
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This man believes that it is OK for many innocent people to be locked up. Better than letting one single criminal get away.
He also does not have clean hands. He got into trouble with police or something like that.
By publishing this type of letter the shameless times is trying very hard to maintain its number 145 ranking. Even my dog would not poo on it.
Don’t the editors know that each time you publish this type of letter, your circulation drops.Singaporeans are no longer stupid—-don’t you care for your own credibility? Wake up shareholders of SPH!
BTW this ex-polceman is giving the police force a bad name–what TRASH he pukes.
Detention under the ISA does not breach a detainee’s constitutional rights! Who told you this, LKY?
ISA should stay for our own good!
@ TMT,
“ISA should stay for our own good”,
because LKY say so and you say so ?……kindly elaborate instead of a oneliner statement. i would be convinced if you allow us to put you in detention and experience some psychological pressure, after which you tell us it is no big deal.
Dear #43 Fat Hope,
How we judge something should not be influenced by our own personal involvement.
Dear #45 JaneOw,
If you are to secure a conviction, those charges under any of the 7 Acts you listed still need to be fully justified in court.
The ISA fulfills the need to have extraordinary powers under special circumstances.
As an illustration, you may recall those Somali pirates who were apprehended – they had to be released because the international forces did not have jurisdiction over them even though they were caught red-handed. And some of those terrorists who were released from Guantanamo – they went back and became new commanders of terrorist groups!
So, things are not so simple.
Lionel, you are so cute, i love you more whenever i read you……hahaha..
To me, there are simply two types of people. The Good and the Ugly. Good people live for goodness. Even when no one is watching, they are good by nature. They live with a heart. A good person will always be tested but eventually he/she will give in to goodness and do the right thing out of love.
Good people in my heart include Jesus, Gautama Buddha, Mohammad, Gandhi and Mother Teresa. And of recent time that I know of, J.B Jeyaratnam and Aung Yong Su Chi (sorry if I’ve wrongly spelled some names). They all have something in common, i.e they all could have lived comfortable lives but instead chose to suffer for what they believe in.
On the contrary, bad or ugly people will always display a beautiful side in public. They only want to gain at the expense of others. Conscience and morality are bad words to them. They hate to be reminded of them. They will do anything for material gains at the expense of conscience and morality but it is easy for them for they are of little weight.
In the midst of all the debates, we all know who take the risk and acted out of conscience and those, of selfishness. I believe in God and his wrath.
To the love-gifted ones, you have liberated the persecuted ones. They are now at peace and feel gratified. To the otherwise, be afraid.
To Lionel De Souza,
What are people jealous of then, if they remember the Holocaust or Japanese occupation? There are museums (latter one in Spore) reminding us of all these that happened.
smallvoice585 #41 and Kelvin Tan #42,
One cannot be convinced unless one hears something or sees something that supports the plot, called evidence. This is why trials must always take place to convict a criminal. Eg can we convict any fundamentalist Muslims as terrorists simply based on their close friendship with terrorists? If this is so, then the terrorists families and relatives will all be found guilty although they may not even agree to terrorism.
Cut down with your crap.
“The $13.6 billion stimulus package payouts, coupled with tax cuts and rebates to put cash in the pockets of consumers and resuscitate domestic demand, and generous Jobs Credit to keep companies afloat and prevent mass retrenchments, the farsightedness of the Government in using the downturn to upgrade skills, plus spending $4.4 billion on infrastructure, health and education improvement have certainly aroused jealousy against the Government’s ‘lifeboat’ packages”
If there is really something to jealous about, it is the ability of the government to squander unaccountable billions in frailing FIs and investment loser and yet pretend nothing has ever happen, and still doing hip hopping and around talkingcock and giving excuses.
Lionel De Souza,
By the way, people ‘resurrect and commemorate’ atrocities by leaders because the World must be rid of such evil, we must not let evil of this degree ever happen again!
What the hell is ST doing publishing this type of letter? The merits and downsides of the ISA is still being debated, we don’t need this type of rubbish tainting rational debates. I hope TOC will reconsider publishing in full anymore letters from this Lionel De Souza. Do not inadverantly help spread this type of narrow minded hogwash.
to smallvoice585,
You had asked for other alternatives. I gave you seven.
Now you said the 87 detainees were “special circumstances”.
What is your evidence to show that the 87 detainees were so “special” that they had to endure torture while under detention without trial?
How can anyone have a constructive discussion in this site whereby the views are so skewed towards gahmen bashing, that anyone that do not sing to this tune sure kena bashed? (this KopitiamApek included) So don’t you think these people posting on this site have behaviours mirroring what they have been complaining their gahmen should not be doing?
Just watch the bashing I will get after this post.
Sigh !
Dear #64 JaneOw,
I have no evidence whatsoever to show you or justify the incarceration of the detainees under ISA in the Marxist conspiracy affair.
My point is merely to inform that the ISA may be needed under special circumstances. I am in no way saying that its application in 1987 is fully justified.
If (this is a big IF here in TOC) we trust the Govt, it can be assumed that they must have sufficient reasons to apply the ISA in that particular instance. Whether we have that trust or not depends on our prejudices and political leanings.
@smallvoice585
This 1987 affair is one of the incidences where the application of the ISA is most questionable. In the decades since the government have had an overwhelming excess of time and opportunity to be more transparent on the matter – but the government chooses instead to withhold any and all further information from Singaporeans.
It is precisely that our government is willing and able to apply the ISA to subjects that are challenges to their rule – and yet not furnish, nor be compelled to furnish information to prove that the usage is justified, that we must review, redesign and remove if neccessary the ISA to prevent further gross miscarriages of justice.
Dear #67 AC,
I agree with your points except that I think the ISA should not be abandoned altogether.
The problem is not the ISA itself, but how the Govt applies it. If the Govt abuses it, then it has to answer the people at the ballot box.
smallvoice585 : “If the Govt abuses it, then it has to answer the people at the ballot box.”
Which is fine and fair except that the elections here are hardly ‘fine and fair’.
If the ISA powers are open to the possibility of abuse, then it should be mandatory that safeguards/independent checks should be build in to check, control and prevent abuses.
Linking transparent and accountable usage of the ISA to an event that occurs only once every 4-5 years, on a playing field that have been deliberately heavily skewed to favour the government, is naivety verging on the point of foolishness.
Hi KopitiamApek,
I took your advice to watch this space and have been watching for almost one full day already – nobody bashing you wat … relax ok?
Dear AC,
I appreciate your anguish at the perceived abuse of the ISA in 1987.
But I believe it is self-defeating to put ourselves in a state of permanent cynicism towards the Govt. Not many people have the full facts regarding the Marxist conspiracy and the Govt’s reluctance to declassify documents or provide facts of the case even after 18 years is not going to help matters.
We must realize that the very effectiveness of the ISA lies in its apparent arbitrariness and the discretionary nature of its application does not invalidate its use.
In the final analysis, it boils down to your trust in the Govt. If we have no more faith in them, we should exercise our votes accordingly.
Dear smallvoice585
You stated “If we have no more faith in them, we should exercise our votes accordingly.” If you really must know, it is because we cannot exercise our votes that we have no more faith in this Govt. Unless GRC is removed, unless the media (print & air) are liberalised and unless opposition won’t get sued for defamation, how can we trust this Govt?
@smallvoice585
The ISA voids the constitutional rights of citizens to due legal process – it seizes and incarcerates without the provision of any evidence of wrongdoing. Given that the authorities don’t even have enough evidence to charge the subjects – there exists a distinct possibility that each arrest could be a miscarriage of justice. This is why the usage of the ISA has to be carefully controlled and used as a means of last resort. This is why there have to be proper accounting and disclosures to prevent abuses and injustices from being swept under the carpet – as the 1987 case seemed to be.
I believe that one can support a government or party and still rise above blind faith and ask questions when no answers are given. Let us reserve unquestioning faith for religions.
Ps as #72 says, most Singaporeans do not get to vote thanks to our infamous GRC system. How should they exercise their rights then?
70) gemami
///Hi KopitiamApek,
I took your advice to watch this space and have been watching for almost one full day already – nobody bashing you wat … relax ok?////
I am still alive ! It’s been 3 full days. Whoeeeee !
what the report is saying, as long as the country is prosperous, they can do frame the innocence or kill.
Quote:
If there was no ISA, Singaporeans would be living on the edge because of terrorist threats and perhaps, senseless violence perpetrated by unseen foreign puppeteers controlling their local puppets to create mayhem in Singapore.
Detention under the ISA does not breach a detainee’s constitutional rights. It therefore follows that it is better that a few who choose to preach the doctrine of conspiracy to topple the legitimate government by illegal means pay for their folly by doing time under the ISA, than have the nation destroyed.
——————————————————————————————————————
You have no basis of what you wrote here. Neither does the government of Singapore. The government of Singapore has no proof to the claims that they spewed against ISA detainees. So practically the ISA is a rubber band law. a tool for the ruler to detain whoeevr they like WITHOUT FAIR TRIAL and PROOF.
Heck If I were Singaporean, I could be jailed over this comment I posted simply because the Singapore government claim that I could bring the nation into instability.
ISA is a self serving tool for the Singapore government (which never change) and was never meant as a law to serve the people of the nation.
Hi,
I saw on youtube, that some parents can teach their baby to read,. Is that true?
Sorry if this is wrong room..
Thanks
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Okay, after reading all the posts, I have something to say.
I will just agree that ISA is definitely needed but detention without trial is definitely out of question because it is inhumane.
Somehow it reminds me of the drama 24 and Jack Bauer…..
I am also confused myself though, on one hand I do think that ISA are necesssary to handle “special circumstances” but what if it is being abused?
You cannot be too transparent when dealing with national security issues isn’t it?? Oh well…..
:)
Ong Teng Cheong, i salute you! The president that was never given a national burial and the only one because he offend the PAP! May you never be forgotten!
ISA is needed. Only trouble-makers need fear the ISA.
I fully agree with Lionel De Souza. Without the ISA those who cross the line to incite racial and religious violence etc can be arrested under the ISA. One more Law the Criminal Law to arrest Secret Society members without trial had proven to be effective to curb Secret Society activities in Singapore. Look at countries without these Laws, organised crime and the Mafia exists. Singapore is known throughout the World as a safe country to invest and stay, of course with an honest, efficient government with the PAP in Power. Go to some third world countries and be careful not to venture into a wrong area, you may not see your Singapore again. Vote Dr Tony Tan for President.
I fully agree with Lionel De Souza. Without the ISA those who cross the line to incite racial and religious violence etc can be arrested under the ISA. One more Law the Criminal Law to arrest Secret Society members without trial had proven to be effective to curb Secret Society activities in Singapore. Look at countries without these Laws, organised crime and the Mafia exists. Singapore is known throughout the World as a safe country to invest and stay, of course with an honest, efficient government with the PAP in Power. Go to some third world countries and be careful not to venture into a wrong area, you may not see your Singapore again. Dr Tony Tan for President.