Monday, February 04, 2013
50th Anniversary of Operation Cold Store, 2 February 2013
Speech by Teo Soh Lung
Good afternoon friends, ladies and gentlemen.
I am privileged to be given this opportunity to speak at this
historic event and in this historical Hong Lim Park. I want to
thank:
1. The organisers for working so hard in making this commemoration
happen.
2. Mr Tan Kok Fang and his team for putting together a very
important publication We Remember 2 February 1963 which is
available to all of you today.
3. The contributors to this impressive publication for putting
their thoughts down for posterity.
4. The survivors of Operation Cold Store and the survivors of all
subsequent operations who are here today. Thank you.
The ISA is a cruel and draconian law which allows the government to
imprison anyone without trial for as long as it wishes.
The Late Dr Lim Hock Siew had this to say about detention without
trial.
“.. detention without trial is not a peaceful action. It is an act
of violence. They come to see you not in the daylight with an
invitation card. They come in the morning, 4 am. That is the time
when decent people sleep, and when political terrorists and tyrants
strike. And when you are detained, you are subjected to all kinds
of mental and even physical torture.”
The result of Operation Cold Store was to instil great fear in
Singaporeans. Wave after wave of arrests throughout the sixties,
seventies, eighties and even the turn of this century, silenced the
population and enabled the government to enact oppressive laws and
policies that curtailed our fundamental freedoms and human rights.
Instead of a government which listens to the people and carry out
the wishes of the people, we have a government that did what it
wanted to do. Those who opposed its plans were put away in jails,
sued for defamation and charged for frivolous offences.
Periodic arrests throughout the decades divided the nation and even
divided those who were detained. Detainees kept to themselves after
their release. Few would speak about their traumatic experiences,
not even to their children and grandchildren. The fear that telling
their stories would expose them to rearrests and bring shame and
discrimination was real. To be critical of the government and to be
involved in politics became synonymous to inviting trouble. How
often do we hear of parents telling their children to stay away
from politics. And that was how Singaporeans became
depoliticised.
When I was in prison in 1987, my only knowledge of the ISA dated
back to the arrests of the so called Euro Communists in 1977. In
that year, my employer, G Raman and several of his friends in the
legal profession were arrested. According to DPM Teo Chee Hean,
more than 800 were arrested in the 1970s. Though I was strongly of
the view that Raman and others were unjustifiably detained, the
majority thought otherwise. Their favourite rebuttal to my defence
of those arrested was “they must have done something that you and I
do not know”.
Raman and his friends were released after a year or so. Like
detainees before them, they never tell their stories because the
fear of rearrests was real. In all probability, they also felt that
no one would believe in their innocence.
In prison, I was threatened with indefinite detention and reminded
of Chia Thye Poh who was then still in prison even after 21 years.
I was in the dark as to why he was detained and that itself
generated even more fear. If the government could imprison a person
for so long, how can anyone be sure of a release?
Today, people are beginning to be aware of Operation Cold Store
because more and more literature of that era is emerging. Back in
the 1970s, I knew almost nothing about those arrested in the 1960s.
The first time I heard about Said Zahari was when I saw a friend,
the late Francis Khoo, selling a little collection of poems by Said
Zahari. The title was Poems from Prison. I bought a copy. I took
another copy from him and attempted to sell it to a priest. I can
still remember the shocked look on his face. He shook his head,
refusing to even touch the little book and walked away
hurriedly.
That sadly, was the political climate of the early 1970s. Taking
advantage of the silence of released detainees and the fear of the
ordinary citizens of being arrested under the ISA, the PAP governed
without restraint.
We are very fortunate today that despite the devastation caused by
Operation Cold Store, we still have survivors like Dr Poh Soo Kai,
Said Zahari, Michael Fernandez, Tan Kok Fang and others. They have
not only survived the darkest days of Singapore’s history, they
have survived to tell their side of history. They have spoken and
written books in the last decade, telling us the contributions of
their generation which the PAP government have deliberately
distorted and maligned.
And so to all of
them and to all the survivors of Operation Cold Store, I say thank
you for liberating us from the British colonial masters and thank
you for sacrificing the prime of your lives in pursuit of a dream
for a Malaya, embracing Singapore and building a land that believes
in equality, democracy, multi culturalism and human rights.
Although that dream for a united Malaya was interrupted by
Operation Cold Store and wave after wave of arrests under the ISA,
I am confident that the decades of silence is over. In the last ten
years or so, the internet has returned the voice to Singaporeans.
Thanks to you, the young people of Singapore, this voice is getting
louder and louder and it will not be silenced again.
Today, there are about 19 people in prison under the ISA, some of
them for more than 10 years. This is wrong and I call upon the
government to either charge them in open court or release them
immediately. We cannot be expected to trust the reasons for their
detention, when we ourselves have been wrongfully detained.
The abolition of the ISA is long overdue. Malaysia has abolished
this law and I cannot believe that Singapore which possesses the
most sophisticated weapons and spyware in Asia cannot do without
this law that has caused and continues to cause untold miseries to
thousands of detainees, their families and friends and silenced the
people of Singapore. And so I call upon the government to abolish
the ISA.
It is my hope that all those who have been imprisoned under the ISA
will one day receive a public apology from the Government of
Singapore. It is important that we recognise the invaluable
contributions of an earlier generation of Singaporeans who fought
selflessly for our country. An admission of how badly the ISA has
been abused will be the beginning of a proud history of
Singapore.
Last but not least, I call upon the government to let all exiles
return to Singapore without conditions. They have sacrificed their
youth for our freedom and they have every right to return home to
the embrace of their families.
Thank you.
COMMEMORATION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF OPERATION COLD STORE ON 2
FEBRUARY 2013
FROM SAID ZAHARI AS TRANSMITTED VIA POH SOO KAI
On 23 December 2012, I visited Said Zahari at the ground floor
apartment in Puncak Alam 3, Selangor, Malaysia, where he lives with
his daughter Riz and grandsons. As this day was a Sunday, his son
Roesman and his family were also there paying their weekly visit to
the grand old man.
Said came into the tiny cozy living room in his wheelchair, a broad
smile on his face. We were instantly relieved at his cheerful and
hearty appearance though we had been given the good news a few days
earlier – that he had been discharged from hospital where he had
been warded for two mild strokes.
On 16 Dec 2012 at about 8.30 a.m., a text message had appeared on
my cell phone informing me that Said Zahari had a second stroke and
was in Sungei Buloh Hospital, ward 4A, bed 24. The message was from
his son Roesman.
Not knowing his actual conditions, I was anxious and at once,
transmitted Roesman’s message to Syed Husin Ali, who fortunately
was able to see Said that evening at about 7.45 p.m. After the
visit, Husin emailed to say:
"Visited Said this evening. He can speak well, as usual, his mind
is alert n memory good. But he cannot move his right hand n leg. He
looks normal n not weak."
As good luck would have it, the following day of 17 December at
about 10 p.m., I got a text message from Said’s son, Roesman that
Said had just been discharged and had gone home.
During our visit on 23 December, Said was very happy and touched to
know that many comrades and friends – and we went through their
names - were concerned about his condition when they learned of his
recent strokes. Among them, the Monsooners and not least was, of
course, Soh Lung on behalf of friends in Singapore, who
enquired:
"(Got) message from Roesman. Has anyone visited Said? How is
he?"
In commemorating the 50th Anniversary of 2 February 1963, Said
noted sadly that there are not many of us around any more.
Nevertheless, he has no regrets to have stood up for the editorial
independence of Utusan Melayu. He knows today that the historic
Utusan strike of 20 July 1961, which lasted for 93 days, continues
to inspire the young people of today, who cannot imagine this
glorious past of Utusan, given the paper it has become today as a
tool of UNMO. This was evident from readers’ posting in Pusat
Sejarah Rakyat’s facebook when PSR commemorated the Utusan strike
on 20 July this year with a newspaper clipping of that time showing
Said with other strike workers. In fact, Said had gleefully gone
into Pusat Sejarah Rakyat’s facebook with the help of his grandson,
and registered his “like”!
Said and I continued to dwell on the past, about Said’s great
friendship with Lim Chin Siong. Recalling his passing on 5 February
1996, Said sighed and wished that if only Lim Chin Siong had lived
to see today when the youth on both sides of the Causeway are
stirring and moving to a new consciousness. Undoubtedly in early
1963 with Lim Chin Siong in charge of Barisan Sosialis and Said
Zahari newly elected to head Partai Rakyat Singapura, this personal
and political bond between these two men from the Chinese and Malay
community respectively was too much of a threat to Lee Kuan Yew.
Both men needed to be ruthlessly put away under Operation Cold
Store on 2 February 1963.
In like manner, Said recalled his friendships with Ahmad Boestaman,
the great Malay nationalist leader as well as A.M. Azahari of
Brunei whose armed revolt provided the excuse for the British
colonialists to launch Operation Cold Store under which we were all
arrested.
Our conversation went on and on, to the present in Malaysia and
Singapore. Said is buoyed by the recent developments and salutes
the youth on both sides of the Causeway for giving us hope and
cheers in our old age.
25 December 2012
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Lee Tse Tong
Lee Tse Tong was arrested
on 8 October 1963. He was held under the Internal Security Act
until November 1967. In that month, he was released after bringing
a successful application for a writ ofhabeas corpus but was
immediately rearrested under the ISA. He was then deprived of his
citizenship on the grounds that he had no proof that he was
Singapore-born. In February 1968, he was served with a Banishment
Order and transferred to Queenstown Remand Prison 'awaiting
deportation'. Since 1975, when the Banishment Order was dropped,
Lee has been held under the Internal Security Act. He has now been
imprisoned without trial for more than 16 years.
A former secretary of the now banned
Singapore Busworkers' Union, Lee Tse Tong was elected to the
Singapore Assembly for the Barisan Sosialis in the elections of
1963. His case has been taken up by the Inter-Parliamentary Union
(IPU). At its conference in Caracas in 1979 the IPU passed a
resolution urging the Singapore Government 'to release Mr Lee Tse
Tong immediately and unconditionally'.
http://singaporerebel.blogspot.sg/2007/02/political-detention-in-singapore.html
Chng Min
Oh
English translation of speech
here:
http://suaramjb1.blogspot.sg/2013/02/voice-of-victims-abolish-isa-now-author.html
Chng Min Oh was arrested on 3 August 1970. He was Chairman of
the Goldsmiths Employees Union. He was held in solitary confinement
for the first six months of his detention. In August 1978, he was
transferred to Whitley Road Holding Centre for interrogation. While
undergoing interrogation at Whitley Road, he was assaulted and
forced to pour his urine over himself. In protest at these
conditions, he went on a hunger strike. By late September 1979, he
had lost 40 pounds in weight and both he and Ho Koon Kiang, another
prisoner who had been subjected to similar treatment, were
transferred to Changi Prison Hospital. Chng Min Oh later complained
of multiple injuries including damaged ears resulting in a loss of
hearing. In November 1978, Chng was returned to the Moon Crescent
Detention Centre.
How the press reported it :
STRAITS TIMES - A report with no byline and a glaring inaccuracy.
"Operation Cold Store was the British colonial government's sweep
of communist elements in both countries." With that sentence, Lee
Kuan Yew and Tunku Abdul Rahman dodge culpability. Note: Many
detainees of Operation Coldstore remained in detention even after
Singapore's independence in 1965.
LIANHE ZAOBAO - It depicts Coldstore as a joint operation
between Singapore, Malaysia and British Colonial governments. And
ends with a quote to abolish the ISA, which was the rallying call
at yesterday's event.
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Read more :
HARD TRUTHS - Too Hard To Swallow
A renewed call from the past to abolish
ISA