TEMASEK REVIEW
Dear Fellow Singapore Citizens and Friends,
My name is Ho Juan Thai. I am a born and bred Singapore Citizen,
I completed my full time National Service several decades ago. For
certain reasons I have been living in London as a Refugee from
Singapore for the last 32 years, but it is not my choice.
If you
believe that Singapore belongs to certain Minsters who have the
divine right in deciding which Singaporean does and does not have
the right to a Singaporean citizenship and which Singaporean can
and cannot be entitled to a Singapore passport, I would advise you
to stop reading this now as it would be more meaningful for you to
continue indulging yourself in the elite clubs of some kind.
If you believe Singapore belongs to you, Singapore belongs to me
and Singapore belongs to any other Singapore citizen and we all
have the equal right to our citizenship and passports under the
constitution, I hope you could spare some time to read on and see
what you can do.
A week or so after the December 1976 Singapore general election
a group of plain clothes armed Inter Security Department (ISD)
police officers came to my house in Jurong to arrest me. I managed
to struggle away from their cordon of the house and escaped. During
the chase one of the ISD officers took out his pistol, pointed it
at me and shouted in Chinese Hokkien dialect “don’t run, you run I
will open fire”. After I disappeared in to the lemon grove at the
back of my house, the chasing officer together with other officers,
went round the neighbors with his pistol in his hand looking for
me. I was advised to seek refuge somewhere else for my own
safety.
With the help of the late Mr. J B Jeyaretnam (JBJ), the then
Workers Party Secretary General and his late wife Margrate, as well
as others I managed to get to London in July 1977, after 6 months
of hiding out in Singapore and Malaysia. Upon my arrival in London
I asked for Political Asylum. The British Government, in accordance
with International Law, interviewed me and carried out various
investigations to establish my claim. Having completed a thorough
investigation the British Government duly granted me political
asylum the following year. I was issued with a Blue Travel Document
in accordance with the United Nations 1951 Convention for
Refugees.
Under the regulations of the United Nations and the British
Government, whoever holds a Blue Travel Document issued under the
UN 1951 Convention for Refugees is a Refugee. So I became an
official Refugee from Singapore in November 1978.
Although I was out of the Singapore government’s sight as a
refugee abroad that did not mean I was out of their minds. Their
paranoia prompted them to embark on changing the Constitution of
Singapore in 1985. The amended constitution empowers the government
to deprive any citizen living abroad for more than 10 years without
returning once, of their citizenship.
Soon after the Constitutional change I became one of only two
Singapore citizens to be served with Citizenship Deprivation
Notices. The government hoped to go through this process to
eliminate any political challenge to them, including the innocuous
and feeble one from me as a parliamentary candidate in the 1976
general election.
Together with Mr. JBJ we decided to launch an appeal against the
Deprivation Notice as a first step in drawing the attention of the
international community to how fundamental human rights were being
violated in Singapore. In the course of our appeal Mr. JBJ was
unreasonably stripped of his legal practice for some other reason.
The appeal panel known as committee of Inquiry put the appeal on
hold while a new legal representative was appointed. When Mr. JBJ
won his appeal and reinstated his practice by the final court of
appeal Mr. JBJ continued to represent me. For unknown reasons ,
after about 2 years of delays, the Home Affairs Department suddenly
informed us that they had decided to withdraw their Deprivation
Notice. As such I remain as a Singapore citizen and retain the
title as a refugee from Singapore in London.
Since then from time to time I wrote to the authority inquiring
if I could be issued with a Singapore passport. The answer has
always been uniformly NO. The reason commonly given was that I was
wanted by the Singapore police for questioning and therefore I
could not be issued with a Singapore passport. What the police wish
to question me about has never been clear to anyone. As Singapore
forbids dual nationality the only way to keep myself as a loyal son
of Singapore is to stay on as a refugee. I am always loyal to
Singapore so I always end up remaining as a refugee.
When our Premier Lee tried to champion human rights and speed up
the Human Rights Charter for Asean in 2007 the mainstream media in
Singapore made continued and prominent reports about it. I thought
that was a signal of a genuine change. I wrote to the High
Commissioner to UK, Mr. Michael Teo, asking him if I could apply
for a Singapore passport. To my total surprise my request was not
turned down as before, instead I was sent an application form. I
filled in the form and went to the High Commission for finger
prints etc. Initially, the Singapore Immigration and Control
Authority (ICA) was not happy with the documents I produced. After
2 years of working hard and with the help of my London local MP
writing many letters we managed to satisfy the ICA with the
documentary evidence it asked for.
When ICA was happy with my documentary evidence I thought that I
could soon travel as an ordinary Singaporean with a Singapore
passport and I began to think about getting married as an ordinary
Singapore citizen. My excitement about the “new dawn” initiated by
our premier Lee over the ASEAN Human Rights Charter in 2007 proved
to be a false one. As ICA could not refuse my passport application
on the grounds that I failed to satisfy them with the documents
they asked for, they simply said they could only offer me the
following “ you may be issued with a Document of Identity on
application to the Singapore High Commission in London . “ .
I wrote to ICA asking why I could not be treated just as any
Singaporean since I have committed no crime? Their one way ticket
of Document of Identity offer amounts to discrimination. Under the
constitution no one should be discriminated against. Any
Singaporean worth his salt should not accept discrimination. As a
proud Singapore citizen I will never accept any treatment that is
discriminatory.
To avoid being seen as practicing discriminatory treatments, ICA
now changed the tone in their reply. They now say that they
suspected my original expired Singapore passport had been illegally
tampered with at the time I left Singapore. Under such
circumstances they may (not will ) issue me with a Document of
Identity for me to return to Singapore for further investigation if
I apply for it.
My further reply to ICA on their latest one way ticket offer
made in 8th December 2009 was asking ICA to spell out under which
provision of the Singapore constitution was it that a person like
me could not be issued with a Singapore Passport. I also asked them
to explain why they keep changing their goal posts? So far ICA has
given no reply. The Singapore High Commission in London also
confirmed that the correspondence I sent through them to ICA has
not gone astray and they too have not had any reply. The Singapore
High Commission promised to put a chase on it for me. It has now
been more then 4 months without any reply from ICA .
The situation is now different. ICA, by giving me no reply and
not issuing me with a Singapore passport , is doing more than
simply keeping me outside Singapore as a refugee. I now have a son
who was born in London in December 2009. Under the Singapore
Constitution he has every right to be a Singapore citizen by
descent. But according to the ICA rules they sent me, ICA will not
process my son’s Singapore Citizenship application unless I can
produce a Singapore Passport. Effectively the right of my son to be
a Singapore citizenship is being unfairly denied. My London born
Singapore boy, technically at this particular point in time, is
stateless. Again the Singapore High Commission in London confirmed
to me that they too have not received any reply for the further
clarifications I sent to ICA about my son’s citizenship application
about 3 months ago..
My wife has given me an ultimatum to sort out my son’s Singapore
citizenship in the very near future otherwise it is her turn to
sort it out with the Thai or British Authorities. My wife’s
desperation is understandable as her wish to book air tickets to
visit her homeland is being delayed without our son’s citizenship
and a baby passport being sorted out. When looking at my London
born Singapore boy and the desperation of my wife, never before
have I ever felt such a pressure to seek a solution to my refugee
status.
The available routes I could go down to have my son enlisted as
a Singapore Citizen by descent and for me to gain a Singapore
passport with the usual Singapore bureaucratic processes seem to be
reaching an end. The only possible meaningful avenue left for me
now is to appeal to you as fellow Singaporeans to see what you
could come up with.
What I hope for:
1. To have a trial in an open court.
The fairest way to resolve my passport application is first of
all to put me on trial on any alleged offense I may have committed
in Singapore, except AWOL ( I will explain about my AWOL in more
detail later). If I did commit any crime and under the law I do not
deserve to have a Singapore passport, then I will be perfectly
happy to close the chapter and go off with only myself to blame. If
I did not commit any crime I do not see why a Singaporean can not
be treated as any
other Singaporean and enjoy equal rights in having a Singapore
passport.
Some years ago some Singaporeans did kindly raise this request
for me in the Strait Times but the issue went away quietly after a
while. This time I hope more people could help to raise their voice
for me using the new technologies. I do not believe the government
can operate hypocritically for too long if more people come to know
about it.
2. To Gather knowledge of Other
Mistreatment
I do believe the mistreatment I have encountered is not an
exception but rather the norm, though the mistreatment may not be
in the same degree and always involve the ICA . If you or anyone
you know of has encountered any mistreatment like mine, regarding
passports or any other issues, I hope you could let me know. I hope
the victims of mistreatment of various kinds can come together to
make a stronger joint appeal. We can see change if we can come
together . Please write to me at [email protected] (I do not
have a blog or face book etc).
3 Write to Mr. K Shanmugam, The Minister of Law and
second Minister for Home Affairs.
Mr. Shanmugam who is directly responsible for ICA. He is able to
get away with completely ignoring my repeated letters urging him to
review the ICA practice. He did not even have the decency to
acknowledge any of my letters. But if many of you could write to
him he might be obliged to come out to explain why ICA needs to
keep moving its goal posts regarding my passport application and
and who made the last minute intervention to stop issuing me with a
Singapore passport etc. What is this new political rising star up
to is a matter of public interest.
4 Write to Mr. Goh Chok Tong, The Senior
Minister
Mr. Goh once famously said Singapore needs people that are “Pak
See Bei Chao” (someone whose loyalty will never cease regardless of
being confronted with a life threatening situation). I must say I
fully agree with him on this point as I do share the thought that
what sort of country we are and will be depends on the make up of
our people.
Mr. Goh may know what sort of people Singapore should have to
make up our country. I wonder does Mr. Goh really have the final
say on matters of this kind?
Do you personally know Mr. Goh well? We are mulling over if we
should appeal further to him and others? Is there any point in
making further appeals? If you do know how the very top works
please let us know.
5 To Appeal to SAF
I come from a family which believes in having a strong and
effective force in Singapore to defend our freedom and prosperity.
My elder brother joined the Armed Forces in Singapore even before
SAF was formed. Joining the Armed Forces at that time under the
British Colonial Government meant helping to stop the Communists
from taking over Malaya (Singapore and West Malaysia). My whole
family gave my elder brother its full blessing and moral support.
When my third brother graduated he fell outside of the National
Service enlistment age. He decided to support SAF through joining
SAF as a professional soldier. He dedicated his whole career in
SAF. Again our family took pride in what he has done. All my
nephews whenever they were enlisted served the National Services
with enthusiasm and pride. For me there was no exception. I served
in both the Singapore National Service Police part-time when I was
at the high school and subsequently full time full term in SAF
before I joined Nanyang University. I served SAF with pride and
full enthusiasm. Ironically, I now have a record of being AWOL in
SAF.
My AWOL came about not because I ran away from SAF to avoid
being sent to the front line. It came about soon after the
government withdrew its Citizenship Deprivation Notice, about 13
years after I left Singapore. Suddenly Military Police were sent to
my parents house asking my mum where I was and an official record
was made that I had disappeared from the SAF reservist recall? Did
SAF really need me 13 years after I had left Singapore? Why did the
SAF military police need to visit my parent house after they
withdrew their Citizenship Deprivation Notice?
Under Singapore law any citizen who is fined for $2000 or more,
or imprisoned for more than 12 months, will automatically be
forbidden from standing for parliamentary election for 5 years.
Should I now go back to Singapore, and the government could not
find anything substantial to fine me for or to imprison me for long
enough, to disqualify me from standing for election they can always
rely on the SAF AWOL record to achieve their aim. I believe this
was why I got an AWOL record, but I hope I am wrong to think
so.
I strongly believe Singapore should do two things to achieve
peace and stability. One is to set Singapore up as a centre of
peace, a centre for talking peace and a centre for promoting peace
and humanity. Perhaps we need to do a bit more than the Swiss by
just having the UN civilian physically set up, providing various
conveniences for peace negotiations and having various peace making
NGO. We need to open up our military bases and facilities to UN-led
intervention forces,
either for peace keeping purposes or humanitarian support. UN needs
an efficient neutral strategic location for speedily responding to
various emergencies in Asia and the middle east region. If this
idea can be pulled through and accepted in UN we will have
multi-national force on our soil. Indirectly this force will give
us protection.
To help others to achieve peace and to improve our own security
is definitely a worthwhile strategy to explore. However we cannot
be under the illusion that becoming a peace promoter and having a
permanent UN–led international police force if it could be
successfully implemented in Singapore, would give us a guarantee of
total security and stability, because the complications of
International politics is beyond immigration. The only thing that
can ultimately give us a guarantee is our own invincible defence
force – SAF.
To have a strong and effective force SAF must maintain
neutrality politically. SAF must never be made use of by any
political party for their own selfish ends. Political parties may
come and go, like it or not, it is just a matter of time. SAF must
be permanently strong and well supported from Singaporeans within
and without the country. Not all the ROD guys who left Singapore
without an Exit Permit left without good reasons. Requiring the
father of an offspring to have a valid Exit Permit in order to
apply to be Singapore citizen by descent is a shot in its own foot.
It will cut its potential recruits and supports and is unfair. SAF
needs to review this policy as it has isolated some who are quite
willing to see their sons serve national service when their sons
grow up. I hope my son will grow up to help promote peace and
humanity of some kind but I also want him to continue our family
tradition in supporting Singapore in having strong and effective
forces now and at any time in the future. Should an unwelcome
situation be forced upon us from forces from abroad I will be very
proud to see my son be one of those who can be counted on as a
comrade in arms” in SAF.
I do hereby appeal to SAF to review its Exit Permit policy and
stay neutral politically.
Conclusions
Thank you for reading my appeal up to this point. I am not sure
what you make of the whole affair? As far as I am concerned the
issue superficially looks like it is me and my entitlement to a
Singapore passport, as well as my son’s constitutional right to be
a Singapore citizen by descent, which has been unjustly prevented
by someone at the top.
However, if you look at the series of events over the last 33
years you will realise that it is more about they and their
desperate attempts to deny a past parliamentary candidate from ever
again participating in open parliamentary politics in a cowardice
way.
I am nobody and am just like anyone of you who cares and loves
our Singapore. Do I deserve such treatment?
Being someone who has come from a stone broke family growing up
in a Tao Payoh Kampung where there was no public transport, no
electricity or gas supply at one time. Our family have been taking
the changes in Singapore positively. Like many Singaporeans, I do
appreciate the economic advances and the living improvements
achieved under the older generation leadership. We are grateful for
it. I am prepared to let my mistreatment “justified” under the so
called “necessary evil”, as something of the past and let bygones
be bygones in order to move on for the good of moving forward.
However, what concerns us all at this moment is that the older
generation is leaving us, most of them have already gone. But the
younger generation of leadership, especially the rising stars,
ignoring the world out there has completely changed, are still
trying to practice the old craft to justify them to continue their
outdated way of ruling which is increasingly losing support and
respect. Their complete lack of fresh ideas and courage to engage
the aspirations of the younger generation is worrying. The young do
rightly and correctly believe that national building and
advancement is more than just a matter of economic growth alone.
Their wish to have a culture of more openness, trust and
accountable for the good of humanity, social justice, freedom and
fairness, expressed in everyday alternative media has never been
respected. Based on the inspiration led by our younger generation I
hereby make my appeal for help and for change. I do share the
popular saying that together we can.
Ho Juan Thai
[email protected]
19 Claremont Road
London NW2 1BP
United Kingdom
3rd June 2010