Did You Know That Our Beloved MM Imprisoned A
Political Opponent For 32 Years Under Singapore's ISA Law
(Detention Without Trial) ??
How Does That Compare To The Apartheid South
African Government's Imprisionment Of The Great Nelson Mandela
For 27 Years (After a Court Trial) ??
Chia Thye Poh (simplified Chinese:
谢太宝; traditional
Chinese: 謝太寶,
b.1941) was the longest-serving political prisoner in the
history of Singapore and perhaps the longest-serving prisoner of
conscience of the 20th century, or if not, one of its
longest-serving political prisoners.
Detained under the InternaI Security Act of Singapore for
allegedly conducting pro-communist activities against the
Government, he was imprisoned for 23 years without charge or
trial and subsequently placed under conditions of house
arrest for another nine years - in which he was first confined
to the island of Sentosa and then subject to restrictions on his
place of abode, employment, travel, and exercise of political
rights.
Prior to his detention, he had been a teacher, a physics
lecturer, a socialist political activist and a member of the
parliament of Singapore. Subsequent to it, he has been a
doctoral student and an interpreter.
He traveled to Germany in 1997, and to the Netherlands at
least as recently as 2000. The supervision of his PhD
thesis in development economics was completed in
2006.
http://www.singapore-window.org/81130sc.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela
Here's The Answer :
Mr Chia resents comparisons to Nelson Mandela. He points out
that Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president, had belonged
to a banned party, had mass following, was charged in court and
given a life sentence. "He got out of prison and became a free man
straight away," he says. "I should have been set free long, long
ago. From the very beginning if they had found I had done anything
wrong they should have charged me in court and offered me a chance
to defend myself."
