-
IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here. The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.
Who prosecuted chia thye poh in court in 1966
- Thread starter scroobal
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2008
- Messages
- 2,518
- Points
- 0
Let us all remember Chia Thye Poh
Who is Chia Thye Poh? as the date of singapore's election become imminent, im suddenly hit by a bout of election's fever. how ironic that for the first time i am able to vote (last election was a walkover for my constituency), i am away in eastern europe.. anguish. i wanted to vote and make my tiny voice heard as i seek to do the basic responisbility of all citizens-to vote. but it was not meant to be. however unable to vote does not dampen my enthusiasm with all the rip-roar of electional activities being easily available from the internet. i become a keen spectator of all the on going events in my country.
Today I came across this name. Chia Thye Poh. i had never heard of this name before and what he had went through in his life. i guess the name Nelson Mandela would ring a bell more readily than this guy. however what he went through is by no means insignificant compared to Mr Mandela. Both are considered political criminals and thus held captive by their respective governments. Both believed in peace. Both fought for their beliefs. Both are punished for their beliefs..
In 1966, Chia with 8 other MPs decided to boycott the parliament. together they denounced the stranglehold that PAP had on the people and is becoming "undemocratic". they demanded the release of all political detainees and the termination of "undemocratic laws"-primarily the internal security act (ISA). together they were jailed under the ISA and were only released after they signed a decloration to renounce violence and cut ties with the communist party of malaya (CPM). Chia however was never released. he refused to back down from his beliefs. he was no communist and he was not violent. he rationalised that signing the argreement would imply that he is affilated to CPM and thus the allegations against him would be proven correct. thus he did not back down. This cost his 32 years of his life (22 years was in jail). He was only 25 when first jailed.
Silently he persisted. how he must had agonised on missing the best part of his life. the conflict between bowing to one's beliefs for freedom must had tormented him to no ends. he was a brave and obstinate chap who holds true to his ideologies. he did not conform to conventionality and threats when that would seems the easiest and best way out. in short, he suffered for truth. he was and remained a hero.
While Mr Lee Kuan Yew recieved all the acolades and rightly so for transforming Singapore from a backward country to one of the wealthiest and most brilliant utopian country in the east, Chia suffered in igominy. personally i held Lee in the highest esteem and i acknowledge his genuine love for Singapore. He is a patriot. but so is Chia. in our likelihood, they are rather similar. both love their country. both are courageous enough to take brave decisions. both hold true to their beliefs and refuse to cow in adversaries. both are heros in their own sense.
I still do not believe Lee would do anything deliberate for the detriment of Singapore. NO way is he such a guy. i do not know him personally for sure but how many sporeans do anyway? but looking at him weep when spore was forcefully detached from Malaya still render me speechless and poignant. this guy genuinely love his country. that scene could not be rehearshed. it is out of true love and unstingly belief that spore will suffer once out of the federation, that he weep. but he did not bowed. he did not kneel and beg malaya to take us back. despite the odds, he believe. so do Chia.
I believe Chia do not understand the magnitude of his predicament he was in. he believe that he will eventually be released since none of the allegations against him is true. however days turn to months. months turn to years. he faded into the distant memory as spore seen tremendous growth. how his aged parents must have miss him.. he must has surely being their pride. here is a graduate from the nanyang university. he was bright, young and smart. he had a wonderful future ahead of him. the world was literally at his feet especially at a time where literacy rate is low in spore. coupled with the fact that the growing economy would surely have a place for someone like Chia, he could back down and no one will begrude him that. no one but his conscience.
When he was finally released in1989, he was still not free literally. he was held in sentosa and allowed limited rights (eg. not able to speak freely to press or travel with restrictions into mainland spore). to add insult to injury, he was ordered to pay for his stay at sentosa. he was offered a job as an asst curator in Sentosa Fort. he turned it down as being a low govt employee would mean rescinding his rights to speak freely to media. he finally got his full freedom on 27-11-1998.
I was tremendously touched by this guy. who else would have shown such strength and perserverance even when the odds are stack so heavily against him? the worst feeling must have not knowing when he would regain his freedom, his rights. personally i have never question any of the govt's policies. they are regarded universally as one of the least corrupted, most efficient and best in the world. i feel that they does everything that they think is for the good of spore. i do not question their intentions. i however had doubts on some of their methodologies.
Holding a person without trial is akin to depriving a human being of his basic right. his right to hear and be heard. while in extreme cases (if the suspect is known universally as a terrorist that is extremely detrimental to the safety of the general public) this may be legitimate, this cannot be augmented in the majority of other instances especially in such a context.
While i lament the lost of such a patriot, this instance bring forward an impt view that the govt composition should be more balanced and more voices should perhaps be heard. the ruling party had done a splendid job so far and they DESERVED to stay in power. with walkovers, their continued governance of the country cannot be denied and neither should they be. the party is capable of leading us to greater heights. but we need more voices in the parliament to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. the people have a choice to be heard and they must know of every incidents that are occuring. i leave you with this poem that Chia found on his prison wall that strengthen his resolve, his beliefs.
"Ten years behind bars
Never too late
Thousands of ordeals
My spirit steeled."
Mr Chia Thye Poh, i salute you.
http://colddarkworld.blogspot.com/2006/05/let-us-all-remember-chia-thye-poh.html
Who is Chia Thye Poh? as the date of singapore's election become imminent, im suddenly hit by a bout of election's fever. how ironic that for the first time i am able to vote (last election was a walkover for my constituency), i am away in eastern europe.. anguish. i wanted to vote and make my tiny voice heard as i seek to do the basic responisbility of all citizens-to vote. but it was not meant to be. however unable to vote does not dampen my enthusiasm with all the rip-roar of electional activities being easily available from the internet. i become a keen spectator of all the on going events in my country.
Today I came across this name. Chia Thye Poh. i had never heard of this name before and what he had went through in his life. i guess the name Nelson Mandela would ring a bell more readily than this guy. however what he went through is by no means insignificant compared to Mr Mandela. Both are considered political criminals and thus held captive by their respective governments. Both believed in peace. Both fought for their beliefs. Both are punished for their beliefs..
In 1966, Chia with 8 other MPs decided to boycott the parliament. together they denounced the stranglehold that PAP had on the people and is becoming "undemocratic". they demanded the release of all political detainees and the termination of "undemocratic laws"-primarily the internal security act (ISA). together they were jailed under the ISA and were only released after they signed a decloration to renounce violence and cut ties with the communist party of malaya (CPM). Chia however was never released. he refused to back down from his beliefs. he was no communist and he was not violent. he rationalised that signing the argreement would imply that he is affilated to CPM and thus the allegations against him would be proven correct. thus he did not back down. This cost his 32 years of his life (22 years was in jail). He was only 25 when first jailed.
Silently he persisted. how he must had agonised on missing the best part of his life. the conflict between bowing to one's beliefs for freedom must had tormented him to no ends. he was a brave and obstinate chap who holds true to his ideologies. he did not conform to conventionality and threats when that would seems the easiest and best way out. in short, he suffered for truth. he was and remained a hero.
While Mr Lee Kuan Yew recieved all the acolades and rightly so for transforming Singapore from a backward country to one of the wealthiest and most brilliant utopian country in the east, Chia suffered in igominy. personally i held Lee in the highest esteem and i acknowledge his genuine love for Singapore. He is a patriot. but so is Chia. in our likelihood, they are rather similar. both love their country. both are courageous enough to take brave decisions. both hold true to their beliefs and refuse to cow in adversaries. both are heros in their own sense.
I still do not believe Lee would do anything deliberate for the detriment of Singapore. NO way is he such a guy. i do not know him personally for sure but how many sporeans do anyway? but looking at him weep when spore was forcefully detached from Malaya still render me speechless and poignant. this guy genuinely love his country. that scene could not be rehearshed. it is out of true love and unstingly belief that spore will suffer once out of the federation, that he weep. but he did not bowed. he did not kneel and beg malaya to take us back. despite the odds, he believe. so do Chia.
I believe Chia do not understand the magnitude of his predicament he was in. he believe that he will eventually be released since none of the allegations against him is true. however days turn to months. months turn to years. he faded into the distant memory as spore seen tremendous growth. how his aged parents must have miss him.. he must has surely being their pride. here is a graduate from the nanyang university. he was bright, young and smart. he had a wonderful future ahead of him. the world was literally at his feet especially at a time where literacy rate is low in spore. coupled with the fact that the growing economy would surely have a place for someone like Chia, he could back down and no one will begrude him that. no one but his conscience.
When he was finally released in1989, he was still not free literally. he was held in sentosa and allowed limited rights (eg. not able to speak freely to press or travel with restrictions into mainland spore). to add insult to injury, he was ordered to pay for his stay at sentosa. he was offered a job as an asst curator in Sentosa Fort. he turned it down as being a low govt employee would mean rescinding his rights to speak freely to media. he finally got his full freedom on 27-11-1998.
I was tremendously touched by this guy. who else would have shown such strength and perserverance even when the odds are stack so heavily against him? the worst feeling must have not knowing when he would regain his freedom, his rights. personally i have never question any of the govt's policies. they are regarded universally as one of the least corrupted, most efficient and best in the world. i feel that they does everything that they think is for the good of spore. i do not question their intentions. i however had doubts on some of their methodologies.
Holding a person without trial is akin to depriving a human being of his basic right. his right to hear and be heard. while in extreme cases (if the suspect is known universally as a terrorist that is extremely detrimental to the safety of the general public) this may be legitimate, this cannot be augmented in the majority of other instances especially in such a context.
While i lament the lost of such a patriot, this instance bring forward an impt view that the govt composition should be more balanced and more voices should perhaps be heard. the ruling party had done a splendid job so far and they DESERVED to stay in power. with walkovers, their continued governance of the country cannot be denied and neither should they be. the party is capable of leading us to greater heights. but we need more voices in the parliament to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. the people have a choice to be heard and they must know of every incidents that are occuring. i leave you with this poem that Chia found on his prison wall that strengthen his resolve, his beliefs.
"Ten years behind bars
Never too late
Thousands of ordeals
My spirit steeled."
Mr Chia Thye Poh, i salute you.
http://colddarkworld.blogspot.com/2006/05/let-us-all-remember-chia-thye-poh.html
You are not going to tell me it was Francis Seow? Was it? It was only in 1969 that he became the Solicitor General, holding that post until '71.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 561
- Points
- 0
CHIA Thye Poh, a willowy, softly spoken, 57-year-old bachelor, leads a quiet, simple life these days in a spartan third-storey flat on one of Singapore's sprawling suburban public housing estates, dutifully looking after his elderly parents, both in their 80s.
He rarely goes out or sees anyone. He is poor-sighted, suffers from prostate and lung problems, a weak bladder and earns a meagre living of just a few hundred Singapore dollars a week working as a freelance translator from home.
Yet, for the past three decades, this very same man has been branded by the government a violent communist revolutionary and a threat to national security. On Friday, after 32 years of stubbornly protesting his innocence, Mr Chia was finally restored his full rights as a Singapore citizen.
Mr Chia spent 22 years, six months, two weeks and four days in jail, mostly in solitary confinement, until 1989 - becoming the world's second longest serving prisoner-of-conscience after South Africa's Nelson Mandela. The 9 1/2 years after his release were spent under severe restrictions.
"The best years of my life were taken away just like that without a charge or trial," says Mr Chia, having had his right to talk to the press finally restored. Tears swell in his eyes as he contemplates his lost chance of marrying and raising a family. "I'm getting old."
Mr Chia was detained on October 29, 1966 under Singapore's Internal Security Act (ISA), the same draconian law remnant from British colonial days in Malaya, used recently in Malaysia to controversially detain former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
For 19 years, the government gave no explanation for Mr Chia's detention. When one finally came in 1985, Mr Chia was accused of having led a call for the revival of armed struggle.
At the time of his detention, Mr Chia had been a raw and ready 25-year-old novice member of parliament for the Barisan Sosialia (Socialist Front) opposition party. He entered full-time politics almost by default.
Having graduated in physics, he worked for a short time as a secondary school teacher, before returning to Nanyang University as a graduate assistant. His ambition was to travel abroad to study a masters in physics.
February 2, 1963, was the day that changed his life. The Singapore government, headed by a then more youthful Lee Kwan Yew, carried out the arrest of about 100 political activists fearful of a communist insurgency.
Elections were due to be held in September that year, so Mr Chia became one of a number of socialist-minded graduates who came forward to replace those arrested as candidates. Mr Chia insists his views were not communist, but anti-colonialist. He wanted to fight for a "fair, just independence" from Britain.
However, he shot to fame when banned permanently from entering Malaysia after allegedly making a speech at a conference held by the pro-communist Perak division of the Labour Party of Malaysia on April 24, 1966.
Shortly before his arrest later that year, Mr Chia and other Barisan MPs quit the Singapore parliament to allegedly organise street demonstrations, strikes and protest meetings in the republic, seen as further evidence of his alleged communist tendencies.
Mr Chia recalls things differently. He claims he ran into trouble with the authorities after Singapore's then Prime Minister Mr Lee and his ruling People's Action Party (PAP) suddenly announced Singapore's split from the Malaya Federation in 1965. "The separation was never discussed in parliament. There was no referendum. We protested and asked for a convening of parliament," Mr Chia recalls.
To drive their point home, Mr Chia says he and a small number of other like-minded MP's staged a boycott. At the same time, the Vietnam War was raging and Mr Chia says he was among the peace campaigners calling for an end to the heavy American bombing of Indo-China. "We wanted peace. If the war escalated, it probably would have spilled over to the rest of the region." He insists to this day he was a peace campaigner, not an insurgent for the Vietnamese communists or Red China.
When Nelson Mandela was finally released from jail in 1989 after much international outcry, the world spotlight turned temporarily on Mr Chia, who until then had been comparatively a forgotten man. After several months of foreign pressure, the Singapore authorities part-relented.
But rather than granting his freedom like Mr Mandela, he was placed under internal exile on Sentosa Island where he spent the next 3.5 years leading a Kafka-esque lifestyle. He was forced to live in a one-room former guardhouse on the small island just south of the city and placed under severe restrictions. He was made to pay rent and buy and prepare his own food in the pretence that he was a free man. He had no money, so the government offered him a job as assistant curator of Sentosa Fort, a position he turned down because as a grade two civil servant he would not have been able to talk to the media without official approval. "It would have been another muzzle," Mr Chia says.
Instead, he negotiated a position as a freelance translator for the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC), a position he still holds. "At that time, Sentosa was not inhabited," Mr Chia recalls. "There were only some youth hostels. There were no hotels."
While Mr Chia sat in his one-room guardhouse the SDC built a giant Disney-style theme park around him. He was allowed to move freely within the island and receive visitors, but millions of day-trippers came-and-went over the years unaware they were missing out on the star attraction.
In 1990 and 1992, his restrictions were gradually relaxed to allow him to visit the Singapore mainland daily and subsequently reside with his parents. He believes intervention by former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt may have helped.
In November last year, his restrictions were relaxed further to allow him to travel abroad, change his address or look for a new job without prior written permission from the director of the Internal Security Department.
He subsequently left for a year in Germany with Singapore government approval on the invitation of the Hamburg Foundation for Persons Persecuted for Political Reasons, where he studied democratic politics and German.
He returned to Singapore in August this year to undergo a prostate operation. But until last Friday, he still needed written approval to make public statements, address public meetings or take part in any political activity, at home or overseas. Of course, if he had applied, this would have been automatically refused.
He could not make contact with any political activists or former political detainees. He could not even belong to any organisation, not even a chess club.
Chandra Muzaffar, a political science professor at the University of Malaya, says: "It is a damning indictment on the Singapore Government to have held a chap for all those years and then when finally releasing him issue all those restrictions. It was such an inhuman thing to do to incarcerate him for so long."
Mr Chia resents comparisons to Nelson Mandela. He points out that Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president, had belonged to a banned party, had mass following, was charged in court and given a life sentence. "He got out of prison and became a free man straight away," he says. "I should have been set free long, long ago. From the very beginning if they had found I had done anything wrong they should have charged me in court and offered me a chance to defend myself."
The Singapore government has justified its marathon stranglehold on Mr Chia with his refusal to renounce violence. Asked why he never took this option, Mr Chia says: "To renounce violence is to imply you advocated violence before. If I had signed that statement I would not have lived in peace."
At the same time, while in jail, Mr Chia bizarrely never sought to appear before the advisory board set up under the ISA to challenge the reasons for his detention.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng explained to parliament in July that trials of Communist Party members used to be impossible because the party intimidated and liquidated witnesses who gave evidence in court.
While in detention, his captors are said to have taunted Mr Chia by driving him around the city-state showing him how fast Singapore was developing. Just sign this little piece of paper, they said, and you can be part of these exciting new developments. When he refused, Mr Chia claims he was told he could rot in jail.
"I told them, 'yeah it is clean and green,' but they should let me out so I can talk to people to ask them what they thought first and let them comment."
It is unclear what triggered the sudden lifting of Mr Chia's restraining orders last week. The sceptics suggest it could be because Singapore is due to host a human rights convention in a month's time when Mr Chia's plight was due to be raised.
Bruce Gale, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc) manager for Southeast Asia, has another theory.
He rarely goes out or sees anyone. He is poor-sighted, suffers from prostate and lung problems, a weak bladder and earns a meagre living of just a few hundred Singapore dollars a week working as a freelance translator from home.
Yet, for the past three decades, this very same man has been branded by the government a violent communist revolutionary and a threat to national security. On Friday, after 32 years of stubbornly protesting his innocence, Mr Chia was finally restored his full rights as a Singapore citizen.
Mr Chia spent 22 years, six months, two weeks and four days in jail, mostly in solitary confinement, until 1989 - becoming the world's second longest serving prisoner-of-conscience after South Africa's Nelson Mandela. The 9 1/2 years after his release were spent under severe restrictions.
"The best years of my life were taken away just like that without a charge or trial," says Mr Chia, having had his right to talk to the press finally restored. Tears swell in his eyes as he contemplates his lost chance of marrying and raising a family. "I'm getting old."
Mr Chia was detained on October 29, 1966 under Singapore's Internal Security Act (ISA), the same draconian law remnant from British colonial days in Malaya, used recently in Malaysia to controversially detain former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
For 19 years, the government gave no explanation for Mr Chia's detention. When one finally came in 1985, Mr Chia was accused of having led a call for the revival of armed struggle.
At the time of his detention, Mr Chia had been a raw and ready 25-year-old novice member of parliament for the Barisan Sosialia (Socialist Front) opposition party. He entered full-time politics almost by default.
Having graduated in physics, he worked for a short time as a secondary school teacher, before returning to Nanyang University as a graduate assistant. His ambition was to travel abroad to study a masters in physics.
February 2, 1963, was the day that changed his life. The Singapore government, headed by a then more youthful Lee Kwan Yew, carried out the arrest of about 100 political activists fearful of a communist insurgency.
Elections were due to be held in September that year, so Mr Chia became one of a number of socialist-minded graduates who came forward to replace those arrested as candidates. Mr Chia insists his views were not communist, but anti-colonialist. He wanted to fight for a "fair, just independence" from Britain.
However, he shot to fame when banned permanently from entering Malaysia after allegedly making a speech at a conference held by the pro-communist Perak division of the Labour Party of Malaysia on April 24, 1966.
Shortly before his arrest later that year, Mr Chia and other Barisan MPs quit the Singapore parliament to allegedly organise street demonstrations, strikes and protest meetings in the republic, seen as further evidence of his alleged communist tendencies.
Mr Chia recalls things differently. He claims he ran into trouble with the authorities after Singapore's then Prime Minister Mr Lee and his ruling People's Action Party (PAP) suddenly announced Singapore's split from the Malaya Federation in 1965. "The separation was never discussed in parliament. There was no referendum. We protested and asked for a convening of parliament," Mr Chia recalls.
To drive their point home, Mr Chia says he and a small number of other like-minded MP's staged a boycott. At the same time, the Vietnam War was raging and Mr Chia says he was among the peace campaigners calling for an end to the heavy American bombing of Indo-China. "We wanted peace. If the war escalated, it probably would have spilled over to the rest of the region." He insists to this day he was a peace campaigner, not an insurgent for the Vietnamese communists or Red China.
When Nelson Mandela was finally released from jail in 1989 after much international outcry, the world spotlight turned temporarily on Mr Chia, who until then had been comparatively a forgotten man. After several months of foreign pressure, the Singapore authorities part-relented.
But rather than granting his freedom like Mr Mandela, he was placed under internal exile on Sentosa Island where he spent the next 3.5 years leading a Kafka-esque lifestyle. He was forced to live in a one-room former guardhouse on the small island just south of the city and placed under severe restrictions. He was made to pay rent and buy and prepare his own food in the pretence that he was a free man. He had no money, so the government offered him a job as assistant curator of Sentosa Fort, a position he turned down because as a grade two civil servant he would not have been able to talk to the media without official approval. "It would have been another muzzle," Mr Chia says.
Instead, he negotiated a position as a freelance translator for the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC), a position he still holds. "At that time, Sentosa was not inhabited," Mr Chia recalls. "There were only some youth hostels. There were no hotels."
While Mr Chia sat in his one-room guardhouse the SDC built a giant Disney-style theme park around him. He was allowed to move freely within the island and receive visitors, but millions of day-trippers came-and-went over the years unaware they were missing out on the star attraction.
In 1990 and 1992, his restrictions were gradually relaxed to allow him to visit the Singapore mainland daily and subsequently reside with his parents. He believes intervention by former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt may have helped.
In November last year, his restrictions were relaxed further to allow him to travel abroad, change his address or look for a new job without prior written permission from the director of the Internal Security Department.
He subsequently left for a year in Germany with Singapore government approval on the invitation of the Hamburg Foundation for Persons Persecuted for Political Reasons, where he studied democratic politics and German.
He returned to Singapore in August this year to undergo a prostate operation. But until last Friday, he still needed written approval to make public statements, address public meetings or take part in any political activity, at home or overseas. Of course, if he had applied, this would have been automatically refused.
He could not make contact with any political activists or former political detainees. He could not even belong to any organisation, not even a chess club.
Chandra Muzaffar, a political science professor at the University of Malaya, says: "It is a damning indictment on the Singapore Government to have held a chap for all those years and then when finally releasing him issue all those restrictions. It was such an inhuman thing to do to incarcerate him for so long."
Mr Chia resents comparisons to Nelson Mandela. He points out that Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president, had belonged to a banned party, had mass following, was charged in court and given a life sentence. "He got out of prison and became a free man straight away," he says. "I should have been set free long, long ago. From the very beginning if they had found I had done anything wrong they should have charged me in court and offered me a chance to defend myself."
The Singapore government has justified its marathon stranglehold on Mr Chia with his refusal to renounce violence. Asked why he never took this option, Mr Chia says: "To renounce violence is to imply you advocated violence before. If I had signed that statement I would not have lived in peace."
At the same time, while in jail, Mr Chia bizarrely never sought to appear before the advisory board set up under the ISA to challenge the reasons for his detention.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng explained to parliament in July that trials of Communist Party members used to be impossible because the party intimidated and liquidated witnesses who gave evidence in court.
While in detention, his captors are said to have taunted Mr Chia by driving him around the city-state showing him how fast Singapore was developing. Just sign this little piece of paper, they said, and you can be part of these exciting new developments. When he refused, Mr Chia claims he was told he could rot in jail.
"I told them, 'yeah it is clean and green,' but they should let me out so I can talk to people to ask them what they thought first and let them comment."
It is unclear what triggered the sudden lifting of Mr Chia's restraining orders last week. The sceptics suggest it could be because Singapore is due to host a human rights convention in a month's time when Mr Chia's plight was due to be raised.
Bruce Gale, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc) manager for Southeast Asia, has another theory.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 561
- Points
- 0
"Malaysia and Indonesia are not on best of terms with Singapore. So Singapore has to rely more and more on the United States [for military protection]. The US is being very vocal in Malaysia [about human rights and the ISA]. What the Singaporeans are effectively saying is we are not like that. We do not detain people without trial anymore. This is a gesture of goodwill. Not that the Americans asked for it."
Mr Chia insists no deal was struck. In fact, he says he informed the Internal Security Department officer who notified him of the lifting of his restriction orders he was still interested in politics.
The government responded by issuing a statement on Friday warning that if Mr Chia should engage in activities prejudicial to Singapore's security he would be dealt with firmly under the law.
While keen to re-involve himself in politics, Mr Chia says he needs time to re-familiarise himself with life, people and issues.
"Things will have to go on slowly," he says. "After 32 years in prison and under detention, things have changed. I have to see what I can contribute after so many years."
He accepts he has to cope with premature old age and sees himself more as a follower than leader of any political party. "I am not an ambitious man. I live a very simple life. You get used to it after so many years."
His eyesight is impaired from many years in a darkened cell. His lung problem, now stabilised, stems from the same time. As we chat, he frequently gets muddled, referring to recent events as having taken place in 1966, the year he was detained.
Joshua Jeyaretnam, leader of Singapore's small parliamentary opposition movement, says: "He is hardly a violent revolutionary. He is a soft-spoken man and doesn't look like a fighter."
Mr Chia's Barisan party merged with Mr Jeyaretnam's Workers' Party in the early 90s. Perc's Mr Gale says: "I don't think the Singaporeans are risking very much. He could join an opposition political party. He has said he is still interested in politics. But opposition in Singapore has been rather muted since the last [general] elections."
Mr Chia is not sure whether he will join the Workers' Party. However, asked what his political beliefs are today, he is unrelenting. "I feel there should be a fair, just, democratic society. Down-trodden people, low-income people should be helped."
His first action after restrictions were lifted on Friday was to issue a stern public statement condemning the ISA and demanding its repeal.
Asked whether he holds any grudges against Singapore's Senior Minister and former veteran prime minister Mr Lee and his People's Action Party which has held an iron grip on power in Singapore since independence in 1957, Mr Chia said: "I have no personal grudge against anybody.
"My main concern is the policy [of detention without trial], because if the policy is not fair, many people will suffer."
Published in the South China Morning Post. Nov 30, 1998
Mr Chia insists no deal was struck. In fact, he says he informed the Internal Security Department officer who notified him of the lifting of his restriction orders he was still interested in politics.
The government responded by issuing a statement on Friday warning that if Mr Chia should engage in activities prejudicial to Singapore's security he would be dealt with firmly under the law.
While keen to re-involve himself in politics, Mr Chia says he needs time to re-familiarise himself with life, people and issues.
"Things will have to go on slowly," he says. "After 32 years in prison and under detention, things have changed. I have to see what I can contribute after so many years."
He accepts he has to cope with premature old age and sees himself more as a follower than leader of any political party. "I am not an ambitious man. I live a very simple life. You get used to it after so many years."
His eyesight is impaired from many years in a darkened cell. His lung problem, now stabilised, stems from the same time. As we chat, he frequently gets muddled, referring to recent events as having taken place in 1966, the year he was detained.
Joshua Jeyaretnam, leader of Singapore's small parliamentary opposition movement, says: "He is hardly a violent revolutionary. He is a soft-spoken man and doesn't look like a fighter."
Mr Chia's Barisan party merged with Mr Jeyaretnam's Workers' Party in the early 90s. Perc's Mr Gale says: "I don't think the Singaporeans are risking very much. He could join an opposition political party. He has said he is still interested in politics. But opposition in Singapore has been rather muted since the last [general] elections."
Mr Chia is not sure whether he will join the Workers' Party. However, asked what his political beliefs are today, he is unrelenting. "I feel there should be a fair, just, democratic society. Down-trodden people, low-income people should be helped."
His first action after restrictions were lifted on Friday was to issue a stern public statement condemning the ISA and demanding its repeal.
Asked whether he holds any grudges against Singapore's Senior Minister and former veteran prime minister Mr Lee and his People's Action Party which has held an iron grip on power in Singapore since independence in 1957, Mr Chia said: "I have no personal grudge against anybody.
"My main concern is the policy [of detention without trial], because if the policy is not fair, many people will suffer."
Published in the South China Morning Post. Nov 30, 1998
Did some checking. Chia Thye Poh was charged and fined in May 1966 for "publishing seditious article" in the Chern Sien Pau, criticizing the government over the detention of another Barisan MP. It was only in end OCT that year, he was detained at His Majesty's pleasure shortly after attending court for illegal assembly with 19 co -defendants on 10/10 1966.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,769
- Points
- 48
What was the charge? ISA detainees are not charged.
I don't know about the charge of Chia Thye Poh, but I know what are Chia Ti Lik's charges, I was in court the last 2 days facing exactly the same charges as him :p
.
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
- Messages
- 945
- Points
- 28
What was the charge? ISA detainees are not charged.
I don't know about the charge of Chia Thye Poh, but I know what are Chia Ti Lik's charges, I was in court the last 2 days facing exactly the same charges as him :p
Bring back Chia Thye Poh in the political arena, surely LKY merciless blood sucker will have fear once again after the late JBJ.
Good work bro. Your guess about francis seow was also right. He indeed prosecuted Chia Thye Poh for sedition for the matter that you raised. I am glad that you did the research.
i started this thread, because it became evident that most of our wannabe politicians and critics had no clue about singapore political history.
The guy that actually gave old man sleepless night were Lim Hock Siew and Poh Soo Kai, both medical doctors. Old man caved in because of the tremendous pressure applied by the medical fraternity on both sides of the causeway and not to mention his childhood marble playing kaki, Arthur Lim. When Lim Hock Siew was released, he was the longest serving detainee - 20 years. Unfortunately, Chia Thye Poh did not have pressure lobby operating.
Yes, spot on.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,769
- Points
- 48
Bring back Chia Thye Poh in the political arena, surely LKY merciless blood sucker will have fear once again after the late JBJ.
Yes, your point noted.
But Singaporean must try to walk out of the strategy of having one Ah Pek to fight another, and we must have the younger people switched into the front line now. Let the veterans sit back in the rear to guide the young, this is the correct way.
When one elder fighter fell dead in the front line we don't try to replace him with just yet another elder fighter. We bring up young fighters to charge ahead instead.
Any way what is the BIG DEAL with Old Dog Thief LKy?
He is NOT strong, NOT Tough, NOT smart, NOT righteous, NOT respectable, he is full of shit, full of flaws, full of burdens, full of weakness, full of invulnerabilities, full of greed, full of cowardness, full of selfishness. It is so easy to defeat him, it is even fun to do so.
Surely Chia Thye Poh can let LKy shit in his pants but I think many more younger Singaporeans can also do it.
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
- Messages
- 945
- Points
- 28
Mr UncleYap,
As I agree with your action for the caused, but one thing I would like to highlight that younger members need to know what they are doing and what is the reason for what they are participating.
The younger generation needs to understand by looking into singapore past and present govern by LKY.
As the younger grow older, they will become more experience to handle politics situation.
Exeperience person like yourself can be their mentor from time to time but you still need an experience person to be the main lead before the newer and younger member takes over.
Best regards,
NissanViP
Similar threads
