No prison can stop me from my just struggle

Home

Perspective

Vantage

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Gandhi Ambalam

“I'm sure you are feeling sad for being here”, my cellmate asked wearily in Changi Prison.

“No, not at all”, I answered as a matter-of-factly.

Thus began our initial conversation on the second day of our incarceration while we sat on the cement floor to have breakfast.

Ah Loy, a Singaporean in his late 40s was given a custodial jail sentence of six weeks, in addition to a fine of $5,000 for traffic offences which he promptly paid before being brought to Changi Prison. The third inmate sharing the cell at Cluster B of the Prison was a Bangladeshi in his mid-20s. He was sentenced to two years for a crime related to contraband cigarettes.

Surprised at my prompt reply, Ah Loy, was equally quick: “I'm unhappy to be here and so is our friend from Bangladesh. Are you not sad?”

“Well, you feel remorseful and sad only when you regret your misdeed.”

Hearing this from me, both Ah Loy and the Bangladeshi straightened their backs as they sipped coffee from the plastic mug on the floor.

I continued: “There's nothing to feel sorry about and in fact I'm proud of what I did”.

Until then, they did not know who I was for we had been put in the same cell only the night before. I quickly cleared their curiosity when I said I was from an opposition political party called Singapore Democratic Party.

After a pause, I said the authoritarian PAP that is in power since 1959 is bent on crushing any opposition wanting to uphold the basic rights of freedoms of speech and assembly, not unlike how Indonesia's former dictator Suharto and Philippine's Ferdinand Marcos crushed their opponents and dissidents, I added.

Ah Loy was able to follow me but the Bangladeshi, though he claimed he had worked in Singapore for six years, didn't even know who Lee Kuan Yew is.

My latest stint of one week in jail was my fifth this year. All my “offences” together with my SDP colleagues and supporters were for “illegal assembly and illegal procession”. And there was one for which I was found guilty involved the act of “distributing flyers”.

All the charges, under the Miscellaneous Offences Act and Rules, involved only a fine. But most of my colleagues and I chose to go to prison in lieu of paying the fine, in my case and that of Dr Chee Soon Juan the courts imposed the maximum fine of $1,000 for each “offence” or in default one week in jail.

There is one more verdict pending and it's coming up for judgment on 19 October at the Subordinate Courts. The offence: Illegal assembly at Toa Payoh Central on, of all the days, 9 Aug 2008, Singapore's National Day!

If I'm found guilty, together with my other seven colleagues, the fine could be up to the maximum of $1,000. My time spent in jail is not going to be a deterrent or rehabilitation as the prison authorities claim is the purpose of imprisonment. Maybe, it could work for Ah Loy and the unfortunate Bangladeshi who was here as an economic migrant.

My frequent incarceration at Changi has steeled my dedication to the cause and firmed my commitment to change the repressive regime. My struggle will continue even if it involves confining me inside a small prison cell. As the saying goes: “You can imprison a person bodily but not his spirit.”

Gandhi Ambalam is the chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party.

Share this article:

Comments (7)

Tue 12 Oct 2010 6:47 PM | JM

Gandhi, Boleh!!!

Tue 12 Oct 2010 10:26 PM | Jufrie - Amend the law yet again?

If SDP leaders remain defiant the PAP may resort to amending the law yet again. Be prepared. What are now minor offences can be made capital offences with a mere stroke of the pen.

Perhaps the panalty can be banishment or even revoking of citizenship.

Tue 12 Oct 2010 10:30 PM | Muhammad Shamin - Young at Heart

Your perseverance in the struggle inspires us! ;)

Tue 12 Oct 2010 11:29 PM | Diane

very true! you can stop a person physically but not mentally, nor his spirit! i want a democratic society in action, not just in talks! it includes freedom of speech.

Wed 13 Oct 2010 9:59 AM | seebeng - PAP is desperate

Jufrie,

Francis Seow, Tang Liang Hong and a few others driven into exile have been deprived of their citizenship.

The authoritarian PAP, in its desperation, has further tightened its repressive, anti-people measures to cling on to power. The latest is the so-called Public Order Act to criminalize even an action of a single person as “illegal demonstration”. Also, citizens face severe punishment if they defy orders not to film police actions in public places.

If the PAP, as it often claims, is liked by Singaporeans, why must it be fearful of opposition parties exercising their legitimate constitutional rights? After all, oppositionists are also Singaporeans.

Only a dictator is intolerant of any dissenting voice and resorts to extra-constitutional tactics to silence the aspirations of the people.

Wed 13 Oct 2010 4:37 PM | | dannyk - YOU'R ON THE RIGHT PATH

Dear Mr Gandhi Ambalam.

You are on the right path and keep-up the struggle.

Younger Singaporeans like me will definitely carry the touch you have lit and more like-minded Singaporeans will and are joining your course for a freeer and democratic Singapore.

This is very blatant from the increase in your membership since SDP's start of the first ever TBT campaign in 2007 and that too at Bishan-Toa Payoh. The consistent harassment of the PAP minions shows their knee-jerk reaction.

Its a real boost to a resident of Bishan like me.

Just like your namesake who had set the tone for civil dis-obedience for freedom & democracy with the Salt March and its likes, your steely resolve and no-nonsense honourable principles will definitely place you on a high point in the history of Singapore.

The shoulders of your fellow Singaporeans will carry your honour & legacy which is more worthy than a self assumed honour of a "gun carriage".

Salutes to you and all your SDP comarades.

Thu 14 Oct 2010 7:24 PM | Clear eyed

Gandhi, Singapore is privileged to have a citizen like you - courageous, determined and strong - fighting for a freer, more just and compassionate society here. You have my respect and support, and I dare say, that of a growing number of enlightened Singaporeans.