Dear Mr Lee,
May I extend my most sincere condolence to you for the demise of
your beloved wife Madam Kwa Geok Choo.
Despite disagreeing with your political tactics over the years, I
can deeply empathise with how it feels to lose a loved one to
mortality, especially when more than 60 years of love,
companionship and good memories have transpired.
As you grieve over your unfortunate loss, do allow
me to gently remind you that time is running out – for yourself and
the surviving political detainees who
were arrested and tortured without trial, reportedly under your
instructions.
Some decades have passed by this nation. The younger generation and future
generations to come might be brought up to believe in the unjust
accusations slapped upon your political opponents from the Barisan
Socialis, the trade unionists, and the detainees of 1987 and
more.
Undoubtedly there will also be a handful of them like my colleagues
in activism and myself, who will question the use and abuse of the
Internal Security Act on these politicians, trade unionists,
journalists, lawyers, artists and social workers.
What these men and women went through were considered unjust
because they were never given the opportunity of a fair trial. They
were reportedly tortured and forced to confess on national
television, the validity of the accusations they faced, without the
existence of visible evidences.
One questions the fairness of such a procedure for how can an
individual be a guilty criminal without going through the process
of being proven to be so? You should know better as you are legally
trained.
Thus before it becomes too late for you, I implore you to give them
the right to speak, the right to a fair trial and the right to
clear their names for I believe that like anyone else with a sense
of humanity, you would also like to leave this world with a clear
heart and conscience, as well as a better name.
Time is
running out Mr Lee, do give it a
thought. Perhaps by your willingness to
give these former detainees a peace of mind to live the rest of
their lives with a proper closure to their detention as well as to
post-humously clear the names of Lim Chin Siong and many others,
will you be able to leave this world with a lesser amount of hate
upon your name, by those who are clearly aware of what had happened
before.
Help us
re-write our history with the truth never known before instead of
letting it remain possibly partially false with unproven
accusations, especially against the political detainees of 1963 and
1987. You do owe them a fair voice.
Thank you for reading my thoughts and once again, please accept my
most sincere condolence for the demise of your beloved wife.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel
Zeng
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/10/09/an-open-letter-to-mr-lee-kuan-yew/
