Francis Seow says he would like to return to
Singapore
SUNDAY,
09 OCTOBER 2011
Singapore
Democrats
Francis Seow speaks via Internet
In a precedent-setting forum, former ISA detainee
Francis Seow told a packed room that he wished to
return to Singapore but added that "somebody has to go
first."
Mr Seow was speaking via the Internet at the SDP's public
forum entitled Silenced No Longer held yesterday
at the Quality Hotel. The forner solicitor-general was still an
admired figure among the standing-room only crowd even though he
has been living in exile for the last 23 years.
During his 15-minute presentation he quoted Mr Lee Kuan Yew's
initial opposition to the ISA (then the Preservation of Public
Security Act) in the mid-1950s when he was in the opposition. Mr
Lee had said:
But we either
believe in democracy or we don't. If we do, then, we must say
categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the
any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the
land, should be allowed... If you believe in democracy, you must
believe in it unconditionally.
If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the
right of free association, of free speech, of free publication.
Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at
nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a
government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and
what it must know to be right...
But that all changed when he won power. Mr Lee unleashed the ISA
with a vengeance against his opponents.
Teo Soh Lung speaking with Francis Seow
"You must not be fooled," Mr Seow cautioned
Singaporeans. "I know the man, I worked with him for
years." He said that there was no place for
the ISA in Singapore, pointing out that there were enough laws to
adequately deal with anyone out to do Singapore harm.
When asked if he would like to return to Singapore Mr Seow answered
in the affirmative. "My
family has been in Singapore for more generations than Lee Kuan
Yew's. Of course, I'd like to come
back."
However, he cannot do so because there is still a warrant of arrest
against him. Mr Seow had approached the Singapore Embassy in the US
but was told that he would be given a one-way ticket back as there
was "unfinished business" that the Government had with
him.
Despite getting on in age, Mr Seow still spoke with gusto and
challenged the Government to produce evidence against ISA detainees
instead of just insisting that there was wrong-doing.
"It's very strange, in 1987 the Government
accused the detainees of being Euro-communists, but then for me it
said that I was a CIA agent," he said to the laughter of the
audience. "They will say anything but will not produce
evidence."
SDP Chairman Jufrie Mahmood urged Mr Seow to consider coming back
to Singapore, a point which resonated with the audience. The former
prosecutor clearly left a deep impression with his listeners who
bade farewell at the close of the session with a resounding round
of applause.
http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4996-francis-seow-says-he-would-like-to-return-to-singapore
