~picture: Joshua Chiang~
from The Straits Times dated 3 February 1991:
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Singapore will seriously consider abolishing the Internal Security Act if Malaysia were to do so, said Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Brigadier-General (Res) Lee made this response to seven Malaysian journalist s in his office recently when asked why the ISA was still needed in Singapore even though the Communist Party of Malaya no longer posed a threat.
He said that if Malaysia did not abolish the same Act, which provides for indefinite detention without trial, it must have its reasons.
In the interview published in the Nanyang Siang Pau, a Malaysian daily and Lianhe Zaobao yesterday, BG Lee said: “Communism may be dead, but it is not the only threat. We must still deal with other groups, like religious extremists – members of a Malay group were arrested under the Act for making preparations to commemorate the May 13th incident.”
The May 13 riots in Malaysia in 1969 started soon after Alliance won a narrow victory in the general elections. A series of bloody clashes broke out between the Chinese and Malay communities, leading to a state of emergency.
He added: “There were also the dissidents and church members involved in a conspiracy to subvert Singapore’s political and social order three years ago; another incident involved Francis Seow being exploited by the US. Had there been no ISA, these cases could never have been exposed. So, it is still better for us to retain the Act.”
In an earlier meeting with the journalists, Law and Home Affairs Minister S. Jayakumar stressed the need to deal with racial and religious extremism, even though there was no threat from communism.
On the detention order on former Barisan Socialis MP Chia Thye Poh, he said that although Mr Chia is restricted to Sentosa, he is allowed to visit mainland Singapore during the day, but must return to the island in the evening.
Asked by Nanyang Siang Pau about the possibility of a complete withdrawal of the detention order, Prof Jayakumar said he did not rule this out. But, he said, even though Mr Chia has been conducting himself well on the island, he is still not willing to disavow communism.
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KL to scrap ISA – see HERE
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Looks like reports of their demises in Singapore have been exaggerated by naive and over-optimistic netizens. LKY is still alive, kicking asses – and in charge of unrepentant Singapore! He has suddenly reappeared and is hogging the headlines. Today is his birthday. And the ISA is still around (though Malaysia has just repealed it). We are all living in a “hung” zombieland zone – between the Neolithic Age and a so-called more civilised and democratic era. Some 35 % of this zombieland are still asleep.
Removing ISA is one thing but what is most important is that it will not adversely affect the majority of Singaporean, the government should not remove it for the sake of pleasing the minority. Some people only want to bring down the government, do we have sufficient law to dual with such devil?
@yeoman
You said it, man!
On one hand we are told we need ISA to DEAL with a certain group of people, but on the other, we open our doors and arms wide to welcome this exact same group of people! Send our youth in YP to interact with their youth leaders too! Do we even need ISA anymore??
Damn
‘Send our youth in YP to interact with their youth leaders too! Do we even need ISA anymore??’
a very valid point you made.
how can our own fellow singaporeans be more ‘communist’ in thinking than the commies themselves.
cheerio!
This is what you call Leadership: follow your neighbour first. Pui, I rather have Najib as my PM now.
@chou Ah Lian,
How did you get the notion that only the minority favour the aboishment of the ISA? Where did you get this from? The indefinite detention without trial is no longer acceptable in this modern times and era. Francis Seow was not a threat at the time. Only because he was backed by the US that he was detained. I wonder why he was allowed to leave and seek political assylum in the US. Lets see what LHL will do when Malaysia abolished the ISA and he keeps to his words now that he is the PM. This, I cannot wait to find out. And wait, Malaysia will also allow more freedom of expression and assembly. I think the present Malaysian PM is more progressive with the times and so far, the best they have.
@Damn
@yeoman
You said it, man!
On one hand we are told we need ISA to DEAL with a certain group of people, but on the other, we open our doors and arms wide to welcome this exact same group of people! Send our youth in YP to interact with their youth leaders too! Do we even need ISA anymore??
………….
Ya, a very good point. This is what ISA is for. It says ISA is to deal with communist threats. With ISA, YP is beyond law and can anyhow go and make dubious horse trading deals with YP communists through the backdoor while others get locked up as Marxist conspirators without trial with ISA.
cho u Ah Lian
Some people only want to bring down the government, do we have sufficient law to dual with such devil?
………….
what isa law are you mubblin ere?
do you know ow do the malaysian government tackled such issues?
you don’t know..and yet you 1st 2 talk bout law and order?
If we truly have the talent, and our ministers be paid millions for their talent, then it is a surprise that our talent do not know ISA is anti-people, anti-freedom, anti-right and anti-democracy while being easily abused as a tool to carry on abuses of power, corruption and cronyism to serve the people in control of power.
Why be copy cat. Just study the pros and cons of ISA and the answer is there.
Singapore should prove it has the talent to do the right thing and take a lead for Najib to follow instead of waiting for Najib to lead.
Maybe PAP should replace ISA with:
PAP-SA: PAP-Security Act – Detention without trial against anyone who poses a threat to the PAP.
This seems to be a more appropriate name?
That’s old news from 1991.
In 2001, the Twin Towers of World Trade Centre was attacked causing 3000 deaths. After that, there were 2 wars on “terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan. The WWW is now used to spawn terrorism.
ISA out live the use by date. Russia, China, Eastern Block and even in Cuba. They were once a so call Communist Society. They had changed and neutralized their way of life many years ago with changing time to be inclusive to the world at large.
But not Singapore, we are First World Country with 3rd World Mentality. We are still talking about ISA and communism and we are too Small to Fall to communism.
We have to take our hats of to our neighbor Malaysia. They are able to see the future, and trying to change by slowly liberalize the Media Law and ISA. They have more reason to stick with ISA than Singapore but they want their citizens to be inclusive in moving Malaysia forward together as One Malaysia.
Sadly, not in Singapore. We are still living with 3rd World Mentality in a 1st World Environment.
@chou Ah Lian
You must be a PAY and PAY Pappie. Stop promoting the Pay and Pay lah. U call people moinority?
People here are suffering , full of debts, housing defaults, cant pay bill, out of jobs and made cashless, homeless under PAY and PAY, who’s the real evil?
U’re the real deciver and evil one, not those whose dun like the current regime
He don have his own idea of managing his own country? Why must look into other ppl? Or is ISA an err?
Time to reconsider merger with Malaysia. Prefer Najib to Ah Long and prefer UMNO to PAP.
Pinkie, you gave your word didn’t you?
Are you now going to swallow it like so much shit?
Grow up and grow some balls and do the right thing.
PM Lee is increasingly gaining a reputation for merely paying service to this and that issue.
Ah long, why follow malaysia? Make up your own mind. Think independently.
Of all the laws, the ISA is most open to abuse by a rogue government.
How come ST does not give publicity to
LHL’s promise in 1991 to abolish the
ISA if Malaysia does likewise?
He thought Malaysia will never scrap the ISA that is why he said it.
People move on, and we are stuck in the mud?
After due consideration, the answer is “no”, and rightly so.
We cannot and should not scrap the ISA. Period.