- By Gangasudhan -
SINGAPORE, 23 December 2010: Mr Michael J Fernandez, a former labour unionist who was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) on 11th September 1964 and detained without trial until April 1973, has filed a writ of summons through human rights lawyer Mr M Ravi against the Attorney General as “the legal representative of the Government of the Republic of Singapore”.
At a press conference held at his office yesterday morning, Mr Ravi shared with the local media that the claim is for “damages for battery and negligence arising from the torture committed upon him, resulting in a breach of fundamental human rights” in terms of pain & suffering, loss of amenity, mental distress, humiliation & loss of reputation, and future medical expenses.
In addition to sleep deprivation and manhandling, the writ details how Mr Fernandez was force-fed by “making him sit on a chair and handcuffing his hands behind his back and manacling his legs to the stands of the chair and forcing thick tubes down his throat”. The allegations of negligence were illustrated by the failure to ensure the cell Mr Fernandez was placed in was humanely habitable “where the walls were splattered with blood and all sorts of (graffiti) and not limited to the fact that the cell was infested with lizards, cockroaches, ants, rodents and etc.”
Specifying the injuries as severe sleeping disorders during his detention and years thereafter, frequent hallucinations of being strangled and choked, and the physical scars on his stomach – “a result of intense pinching by prison authorities and/or Internal Security Department officers”, the claim seeks unspecified damages, costs and an acknowledgement by the Attorney General that Mr Fernandez’s fundamental human rights had been breached.
Now you might wonder how this writ is going to succeed. How can you arrest under the ISA and I can sue, because it is legal isn’t it? It is legal to arrest. But is it legal to torture them?
Mr M Ravi, on his legal approach to this case
Addressing the obvious question of how he intends to argue this case since the ISA allows for the arrest and detention of any person, Mr Ravi pointed out, “It is legal to arrest. But is it legal to torture them?” He went on to explain that he will be using the laws that were applicable at the time of Mr Fernandez’s arrest to argue that the torture violated his liberty as guaranteed by Article 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore. He also welcomed others who had similarly suffered as Mr Fernandez to come forward and contact him so that he can prepare a class action lawsuit.
Detention without trial a part of history
Mr Fernandez driven by justice rather than anger
Mr Fernandez who was also present shared that he had decided to embark on this course of action as the “younger generation should know my experience of being detained for 9 years without trial is part of Singapore history.” The healthy 77-year-old added that he also felt compelled to record – “before I drop off” – his experiences and others like him which were “part of our struggle for democratic rights and justice.”
He also flatly dismissed suggestions that he had been influenced to take action at this particular time and chided the mainstream media for always wanting to “link up here; link up there, as though people have no minds of their own.”
Touching on his background, he highlighted how after finishing his teacher’s training he enrolled in university in 1960 to read law where he became actively involved in the Socialist Club “which opposed PAP”. At the time, he was supporting himself by teaching night classes at the Adult Education Board but due to his Socialist Club activities the board’s chairman, Mr Devan Nair (who later became President of Singapore), stopped his teaching involvement which consequently forced Mr Fernandez to prematurely leave the university altogether in 1962.
He returned to teaching until he was invited in 1963 to become the general secretary of the Singapore Naval Base Labour Union. On 7th October 1963, the union went on strike for 33 days regarding unsettled workers’ claims but the strike was declared illegal after 30 days. As a result, several hundred workers together with Mr Fernandez were arrested and led to him being dismissed from the security zone of Naval Base Shipyard. He then worked for a few trade unions in the city area before being arrested under the ISA without warning in 1964.
Suffering inside and out
Recounting firsthand his struggles during the nine year detention, Mr Fernandez detailed how he “went through a lot of struggles including many hunger strikes in protest against the actions by the PAP government and particularly about the political prisoners” asking for better living conditions and better food, and related in detail the horrific experience of being force-fed. He also spoke about his Singapore citizenship being deregistered in 1966 and how “they even bought bags for us to be repatriated, or to be sent back to India because we were not born here… Apparently they consulted Indira Gandhi about repatriation.”
I was handcuffed behind a chair and one huge warder sat – not only was I handcuffed – he sat on my hands just to keep me still. And another warder sat on my lap and forced open my mouth with a jaw opener and then they put in a thick tube at one end – the other end was a funnel – they poured milk into the tube. I tried to cough but the doctor warned me that I might choke or die of suffocation, not to move. So we were force-fed for 135 days. I lost a lot of weight. I lost 23 kilos and I was taken to hospital – prison hospital ; also kept for 3 weeks on drips because I couldn’t walk, I was very thin.
Mr Fernandez, on being force-fed
He also shared how he suffered even after his release when he was refused travel documents to visit his dying mother in India until only after her death. Similarly, when he tried to return to teaching he was not allowed to do so, and even his attempts at private tuition failed when his first batch of 13 students inexplicably disappeared within 2 weeks – “perhaps, our good friends in the ISD helped to make them vanish,” he speculates. Calling it “prime life lost”, he drew attention to how the years between age 30 and 39 had been taken away from him and how he was forced to go into selling insurance to support himself.
Our citizenship was deregistered in 1966 and there was a legal rigamarole that we could appeal against the decision to the citizenship review board… We asked the review committee to have a public hearing, they refused… You know what happened? We were in Changi Prison, they even bought bags for us to be repatriated , or to be sent back to India because we were not born here… Apparently they consulted Indira Gandhi about repatriation. Indira Gandhi said, “no, if they on their volition want to return to India they are welcome. But if you repatriate them forcefully we won’t allow them in.” So I became stateless from 1966 to 1984.
Mr Fernandez, on almost being removed from the country
The Attorney General now has eight days to enter an appearance and fourteen days thereafter to respond to Mr Fernandez’s lawyers.
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Further reading – ISA: Nine years in Changi and after
M Ravi’s blog – Do We Exist?
Michael Fernandez’s blog – Michael Fernandez
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It sounds like the kind of treatment prisioner received during Japanese occupation. If forcing a tube down into somone’s mouth has happened to Fernandez during the time he was under detention, it is a totally inhuman act not to mention about human rights. I wonder how those people who carried out the torture able to sleep well, if they ever sleep at all.
More horrid details on torture in ISA detention:
http://singaporerebel.blogspot.com/2007/03/surviving-long-term-detention-without.html
http://singaporerebel.blogspot.com/2007/02/political-detention-in-singapore.html
http://singaporerebel.blogspot.com/2007/02/life-in-singapores-political-prisons.html
http://singaporerebel.blogspot.com/2007/03/detention-of-journalists-and-lawyers.html
I hope that justice will come to him, after being in prison for so long, for believing in a just cause, which was looking for workers rights. ISD took away his freedom( all those year ) government must pay a fair to him.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to Micheal and all. God Bless
Looks like the Govt copied the Japanese
Army in treating detainees. My grandfather had water forced down his throat when imprisoned by the the Japs during World War two. He died within a week of the Japanese Surrender.
Lucky thing, with the grace of God, Fernandez survived to tell his tale, for Singaporeans to know.
Do you think he stand a chance to have a fair trial in sg? Just like anwar’s sodomy case in malaysia?
If possible in future, we should formed panel to have a thorough investigation of the various operation that ISD have had conducted in the past.
If most of you on TOC sincerely believed that the court is controlled by the PAP,then please tell me how is this going to be tilted to Mr.Fernandez’s favor?.Or are we led to believe that the court judges are now allowed to think independently without any interference from the ruling party?.
Watch the interview before you run your damn mouths. They were running a hunger strike, and if a man’s trying to pull a hunger strike, he’d better be prepared to get force-fed on the doctor’s orders. I’d don’t think the Hippocratic Oath would have objections.
Of course, I’m aware that many ISA detentions were boderline legal if at all, but lets not forget that Operation Coldstore was carried out by the British when we were not even independent yet. Whether and when the PAP govt should have opened trials or released them after we gained independence from M’sia is, of course, something we have to think about.
i honestly believe everyone will have to pay some day. by doing so much and yet no retribution, this isnt impossible.
The fundamental contention should be on the jurisdiction of the Internal Security Act itself.
I salute and also sympathize with Mr Fernandez and the tribulations he went through.
Personally think that the ISA, however inhumane it may be in depriving one’s humane rights as an individual, has continued if not increased relevance in today’s society.
Yes, it is undeniable that the communist threats have long been overwhelmed by the incumbent PAP, however, the threat of radicalism and their terrorist counterparts continue to pose an extremely viable threat to our very existence.
Let’s not allow emotions in deluding the rationality of subjects here.
Regards.
Funny how an evil person who did so many evil things in the early days can also be become the legal garment today yet so many still believed in him that he is doing the right thing. I think this is how evil works.
The Honourable Mr. Ravi should get a world panel to observe this case to ensure justice is carried out. World wide human rights organisations should also be present to publish court proceedings and take further action if singpore’s kangaroo court system fails to be fair. (as expected)