Main Stories, Truth/Propaganda? - Written on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 14:27 - 14 Comments
TOC Editorial: But butterflies are free
Singaporeans should question the relevance of the Internal Security Act
Invoking the memory of the so-called “Marxist conspiracy” of 1987, in which more than 22 citizens were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for supposedly conspiring to overthrow the government, seems a bit like flogging a dead horse.
Society has largely moved on: while some of the older folks might still bristle at the mention of the affair, for most of the younger generation it has been consigned to a bygone era when the ruling PAP government resorted to illiberal means against dissent. Such draconian methods, the thinking goes, are surely no longer possible in the slightly more liberal climate of the present.
Even so, it seems that Singapore continues to labour to some extent under the pall cast by the government’s actions over the “Marxist conspiracy”. The opposition parties, which seemed to be on the brink of blooming during the late 1980s, were set back by the detentions of 1987 (most of the detainees had links to a leading opposition party) and several related arrests in 1988, in particular of an opposition politician who represented one of the 1987 detainees.
Singapore still has no meaningful opposition movement today. Elements in the Catholic Church, which some of the detainees were affiliated to, remain quietly rankled by the episode.
The government’s practice of suing foreign publications for libel also dated from the “Marxist conspiracy” fallout, which began a marked deterioration in the foreign press’ opinion of the PAP. In 1989 the Far Eastern Economic Review was sued for an article on the subject; for its coverage of that libel case the Review’s sister publication, the Wall Street Journal, was similarly sued in 1991.
The dreaded ISA remains more entrenched than ever today. It was given a new lease of life after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the US as a means of countering Muslim extremists, even as other countries in the region have moved away from similarly draconian legislation.
In Malaysia, for instance, which has a version of the ISA similar to Singapore’s, several Malaysian politicians have recently called for the ISA to be reformed to prevent political abuse. In 2007, a Malaysian court even awarded damages to a former ISA detainee for the government’s abuse of the ISA and his mistreatment during detention.
Yet no such reprieve appears possible in Singapore, even with allegations that the ISA had been abused in the “Marxist conspiracy” affair. The government clings staunchly to the moral high ground, maintaining that the ISA produces results.
Yet the detainees have claimed that their confessions about being conspirators had been coerced after “psychological pressure” – an euphemism coined by then-Minister Lee Hsien Loong that included a litany of tactics that included sleep deprivation, blatant threats and physical intimidation[i] – was applied on them, allegations which resemble the unsavoury revelations in the US over the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” against suspected terrorists in American custody.
The questions now being raised in the raging debate in the US are applicable to Singapore as well, such as how to prevent misuse or who should be accountable for abuses. Most of all – are such tactics or legislation actually effective or even necessary?
Such questions are pertinent given that the use of the ISA has been stepped up in recent years, and particularly since the vast majority of detainees (both past and present) being Singaporeans rather than foreigners. It seems that, at present, a state which is supposed to be the guardian of a citizen’s liberty can all too easily turn into his gaoler.
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[i] Statement of 18th April 1988 by nine ex-detainees of Operation Spectrum. The statement was later recanted by eight of them after they were re-arrested under the ISA.
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14 Comments
What “independent council” to oversee impartiality and humane treatment of detainees? That is an ideal construct with is practically unreachable in the world of Realpolitik. There is no council for overseeing impartiality against detainees anywhere, except perhaps the UN. But it’s not like the UN can control what a country does.
Positively, however, we can see it like this – we now know that the Gahmen knows how tenuous its grip on power is, and how much they actually fear a popular opposition. The only way to control something you fear is to make that fear you even more…so it is good that people are reminded, year after year, what once happened and how much you can or cannot trust those in charge. It is because we let ourselves get bullied into fearing the Gahmen that they have carte blanche as it is, when indeed the Gahmen should fear us more because we can simply put them out of power.
ISA kept us safe all these years…why change it?
@ TMT,
we need to change it so that you will not be a victim of such a system one day.
of course you should have no fear if you are a PAP supporter, but who knows a new govt in the future may use the ISA on PAP members who are the opposition.
history teaches us that evil begets evil simply because evil imitates evil. get it ?
To truth hurts……yes indeed! Those little thugs in the security apparatuses are all protected and condoned by the Big Thug at the head of the Govt. Not only our LKY (look at his pic in the 80s/90s…does his face not look like a typical samseng kia?), but Mugabe, Suharto, Marcos, Than Swee and dozens more all over the world.
Righteous good men must now stand up to these cruel, corrupt, and greedy scums of the earth and get rid of them!
What is the issue here?
The people have the right to vote for who they want to be ruling them right?
So? what is the issue here?
Who in this world can hold on to power for so long if not for such underhand tactics in cowing the opposition into silence, what more for a man who is past his prime, many decades over.
Looking back in history, it is exactly these cruel methods that make this leader no different from the scums of this earth like Hitler, Mugabe, Vietcong, Burmese Generals, etc.
I believe no one is really indispensaple unless he is God. All this mentoring is just bullshit.
Hello TOC
Where were you?
Singaporeans have always questioned the relevance of the Internal Security Act.. Even LKY questioned ISA, when he ws in Opposition.
Questioning ISA is not the issue. The issue is: Those in power find it a convenient tool.
@stone cold
Yes, we have the right to form 5-6 man teams with huge deposits to give Singaporeans the right to vote.
We have the right to face attacks on our integrity over the one-sided mass media, and then we have the right to be challenged to go to the police to overthrow those accusations.
When the police report is made, and when it was announced, then we have the right to be sued because the courts can construe that police report as grave demation to our leaders and then we will have the right, the honor and the priviledge to pay up millions or be bankrupted.
Sure, Singaporeans have lots of rights where politics are concerned.
Reform not Repeal the ISA « Chemical Generation Singapore
[...] is a balanced one. Very often we come across very extreme views on the ISA where there is the rabid anti-ISA mob on one hand, and the deranged ISA apologists on the other, both citing boring shallow [...]
We can see that since no one had ever gone to court to seek damage on wrongful detention under ISA, this goes to show that none of the detainees thus far had been unlawfully detained! Simple as that.
The fact that no one had ever goes to court to seek damage for being wrongfully detained in Singapore means that no one had ever been wrongfully detained in Singapore under ISA! Simple as that.
Furthermore, to bring us forward, it is the GRC system that needs to be demolished, not the ISA that had been keeping us safe all these years!
Isn’t it easy to talk cock when one has the law and security in the pocket ?
Simple as that.
Isn’t it true ISA has kept us safe but even safer for some only ?
Simple as that.
TOC – a community of Singaporeans | The Online Citizen
[...] Focus Week; for the bridging of the divide between the government and blogosphere; against the Marxist Conspiracy and the continued relevance of the ISA; against the Film’s Act; for Siew Kum Hong – for him to [...]
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Uncategorized - Jan 15, 2010 10:12 - 126 Comments
It is affordable – Mah Bow Tan
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Uncategorized - Jan 15, 2010 10:12 - 126 Comments
It is affordable – Mah Bow Tan
More In Uncategorized
- Rebutting Law Minister K Shanmugam
- Challenge of communication
- TOC & Talk Politics hold successful Year in Review forum
- “Live” from Post Museum – TOC’s Year End Review
- The Fajar Generation
Any kind of state security apparatus can be useful if the application is not abused
for political purposes. There should be an independent council to oversee impartiality and humane treatment of detainees deemed a threat to public safety.
Several articles recently posted on TOC highlighting the bullying tactics used on our citizens confirmed we have thugs masquerading as state security personnel.
Isn’t it sickening that it takes a bigger thug to condone the wrong doings ?