A forum, organised by Mr Martyn See, to discuss the ISA detention of 22 Singaporeans in 1987 code-named Operation Spectrum has been cancelled due to “CID investigation”.
Bestway Properties, where the forum was to be held, wrote to apologise to Mr See: “Due to the ongoing CID investigation, our company regret to inform you of the cancellation of the booking of Bestway Auditorium on 20th June 2009.”
This comes just one day after the Government denies through its US Ambassador, Ms Chan Heng Chee, that it beats and tortures ISA detainees. (See here).
The 1987 detainees were accused of conspiring to violently overthrow the Government in order to establish a Marxist state in Singapore. The silliness of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's overactive imagination notwithstanding, the episode was a great setback to the activist scene in Singapore.
After they were released in 1988, nine of the detainees issued a statement saying that they had been subject to beatings and abuse. They said that they were deprived of sleep for as long as 70 hours in freezing cold rooms, some hit hard in the face for "not less than 50 times" and assaulted in other parts of the body. They were also "threatened with arrests, assault and battery of [their] spouses, loved ones and friends."
This is not the work of police officers but gangsters authorised by state.
At first, the Government said that a commission of inquiry would be established to "get to the bottom of these allegations."
The ISD promptly re-arrested the detainees during which time the prisoners were further ill-treated and forced to sign a statutory declaration to recant the allegations made in their statement. The commission was then conveniently called off.
Some of the former prisoners have documented their treatment in That We May Dream Again. This is also the subject of the chapter on Singapore in Dr Chee Soon Juan's book To Be Free: Stories From Asia's struggle Against Oppression.
Why does See not hold it at the Speakers Corner where it is legal and free of charge?
Sat 13 Jun 2009 5:39 AM|
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seebeng - why not outside Speakers' Corner?
Why can't a forum or other gathering of citizens be held outside the Speakers' Corner?
Such restrictions for the people to exercise their constitutional rights could only be heard of in places like Burma.
Singapore under the Lee feudalism is stinking.
Sat 13 Jun 2009 12:57 PM
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Robox
I am reposting this for greater visibility.
While the theme here is "torture under the ISA", I think it might interest Singaporeans to know that the political persecution of the late JB Jeyaratnam, Dr Chee Soon Juan, Ms Chee Siok Chin, and the SDP in general, also constitutes torture under the UN definition of torture, even if this torture was not, or continues to be carried out under the auspices of the ISA.
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html
The PAP government practises torture and Singaporeans need to acknowledge it and help to bring international pressure to bear on the poliical situation in Singapore.
Sat 13 Jun 2009 3:57 PM
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quantum
seebeng: Why can't a forum or other gathering of citizens be held outside the Speakers' Corner?
answer: Because a battalion of police officers with guns are outside.
Sat 13 Jun 2009 9:14 PM|
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seebeng - Let's free ourselves from feudalism
It's only in a dictatorship the people will be faced with a "battalion of police" for exercising their just rights enshrined in the constitution.
Sun 14 Jun 2009 7:41 AM
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firepower - FiringBack
Hey People,
Time to fireback.
Whoever these ISA officers are. Please post them on the internet, Names, Photos, Home Addresses, Family members, Wife, Girlfirends, Childrens ... There are Vigilantes out there just waiting to get back at them. Give the law back to the people.
Sun 14 Jun 2009 2:42 AM
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jasuonemillion - Police State
PAP police state.A lot to hide obviously.
Sun 14 Jun 2009 7:38 AM
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firepower - ISA Officers
Dear Webmasters of SDP
Please set up a section in the Gallery to post these personal details of the ISA Officers so the public know who they are. Personal pictures, families pictures, their children, their parents, etc. When they get harassed, exposed when they have no personal space in the public eye, when their "cover" is blown, let's see how many can go on in this Dirty Business!
I bet you many will be running for cover.
Lets expose them. Time to get personal with them as they have with us!
We will not be intimidated! Time to intimidate them :)
Wed 17 Jun 2009 6:38 AM
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quantum
Ops Spectrum forum to go on - with new date and venue
“Where, after all, do human rights begin? They begin in small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world.”
A forum, organised by Mr Martyn See, to discuss the ISA detention of 22 Singaporeans in 1987 code-named Operation Spectrum has been cancelled due to “CID investigation”.
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