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…..

:)

I saw on youtube, that some parents can teach their baby to read,. Is that true?
Sorry if this is wrong room..

Thanks
[url=http://sites.google.com/site/veryearlysignsofpregnancy/]Very Early Signs of Pregnancy[/url]

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.
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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.

I am still alive ! It’s been 3 full days. Whoeeeee !

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?

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?

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.

I took your advice to watch this space and have been watching for almost one full day already – nobody bashing you wat … relax ok?

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.

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.

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.

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.