<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Men In White: Ex-CPIB head baffled by account
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE book, Men in White, is supposed to be an objective history of the struggle within the People's Action Party, but I found it baffling to be given quite a prominent mention in it. What have I got to do with the political struggle described in Men In White?
I cannot understand why it could not have been done with due care to a person's reputation. On page 441, (which describes why lawyer Francis Seow was asked to resign as Solicitor-General in 1971), it says: 'But in 1971, after a Police raid on his woman friend's apartment, he used his influence and friendship with the then Director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, Yoong Siew Wah, to have four officers who had conducted the raid sacked. The Attorney General Tan Boon Teik intervened to reinstate the four officers. Seow was allowed to resign rather than have his actions investigated because of his track record in the legal service. Yoong was also asked to quit.'
If the authors had checked with me, I would have told them that the CPIB was duty-bound to investigate any formal complaint made by any complainant. In Mr Seow's case, he made a formal complaint and CPIB carried out investigations of the four detectives concerned. The investigation papers were sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, who made the decision to dismiss the detectives. There was never any question that I was asked to quit. You may care to check with the Internal Security Department (ISD) that I was appointed its director after my CPIB stint.
Do you think that a little note of correction in your newspaper is in order to preserve my reputation?
Yoong Siew Wah
EDITOR'S NOTE: The authors thank Mr Yoong for the feedback. What they wrote in the book was based on newspaper reports in 1986, which said that he had been boarded out as a result of the incident with Mr Seow. They apologise for not getting back to Mr Yoong to verify the reports and will do a correction in the next reprint of the book.
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE book, Men in White, is supposed to be an objective history of the struggle within the People's Action Party, but I found it baffling to be given quite a prominent mention in it. What have I got to do with the political struggle described in Men In White?
I cannot understand why it could not have been done with due care to a person's reputation. On page 441, (which describes why lawyer Francis Seow was asked to resign as Solicitor-General in 1971), it says: 'But in 1971, after a Police raid on his woman friend's apartment, he used his influence and friendship with the then Director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, Yoong Siew Wah, to have four officers who had conducted the raid sacked. The Attorney General Tan Boon Teik intervened to reinstate the four officers. Seow was allowed to resign rather than have his actions investigated because of his track record in the legal service. Yoong was also asked to quit.'
If the authors had checked with me, I would have told them that the CPIB was duty-bound to investigate any formal complaint made by any complainant. In Mr Seow's case, he made a formal complaint and CPIB carried out investigations of the four detectives concerned. The investigation papers were sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, who made the decision to dismiss the detectives. There was never any question that I was asked to quit. You may care to check with the Internal Security Department (ISD) that I was appointed its director after my CPIB stint.
Do you think that a little note of correction in your newspaper is in order to preserve my reputation?
Yoong Siew Wah
EDITOR'S NOTE: The authors thank Mr Yoong for the feedback. What they wrote in the book was based on newspaper reports in 1986, which said that he had been boarded out as a result of the incident with Mr Seow. They apologise for not getting back to Mr Yoong to verify the reports and will do a correction in the next reprint of the book.
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