Francis Seow and Tang Fong Har to speak in forum on Oct 8
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Silenced No Longer
THURSDAY, 06 OCTOBER 2011
Singapore Democrats
For decades they have been silenced. No longer. This Saturday the SDP will be inviting former ISA detainees Mr Francis Seow and Ms Tang Fong Har to speak 'live' at a forum titled Silenced No Longer.
For the first time in nearly a quarter of a century, Singaporeans will get to hear and talk with two of their fellow citizens who have been unjustly accused and treated by the Government. For more than two decades they lived in exile, kept away from public attention.
Mr Seow, who was the country's solicitor-general from 1969-1971, will speak from Boston where he now lives. In 1986, Mr Seow was elected president of the Singapore Law Society. At the opening of the 1986 Legal Year, Mr Seow served notice that as president that he wanted to see "a more assertive and caring bar, that the Law Society should be consulted on the selection and appointments, promotions, and transfers of subordinate judicial and legal officers by the Legal Service Commission.".
When the PAP introduced amendments to the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (NPPA) to restrict the circulation of foreign newspapers in Singapore, Mr Seow (with the help of the Law Society council which included Ms Teo Soh Lung and Ms Tang Fong Har) spoke up on the danger of giving the Government such excessive powers.
Incensed at the audacity, then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew introduced amendements to the Legal Profession Act to bar the Law Society from commenting on legislation and their passage. He convened a parliamentary select committee to "solicit" feedback on the proposed legislation.
Thinking that he could discredit Mr Seow at the hearing, Mr Lee invited the Law Society to appear before it. The tactic backfired as Mr Seow bested the prime minister in the televised debate.
In 1987 the Government ordered the arrest of Ms Teo, Ms Tang and 20 others under the ISA. While under detention, Ms Teo engaged Mr Seow as her counsel. When Mr Seow showed up at the Whitley Road Detention Centre, he was ushered into the courtyard and told that he was under arrest.
For the next 72 days, the former top law enforcer found himself interrogated by his former subordinates and forced to confess to crimes and wrongdoings he never committed. He recounted his ordeal in his book To Catch A Tartar: A Dissident In Lee Kuan Yew's Prison. The book is not available in Singapore but can be purchased in Malaysia.
After his release, Mr Seow left for the United States to seek treatment for his heart condition. In the meantime he was charged with tax evasion and was convicted in absentia. Mr Seow has since been living in Boston from where he will speak during the forum.
This Saturday will be the first time that Singaporeans can see and talk with their former solicitor-general who stood up to Mr Lee Kuan Yew and who fought for a democratic Singapore.
Ms Tang Fong Har will also be speaking at the forum. Ms Tang was detained in 1987 and after her release left for Hong Kong where she now resides. She has asked to return to Singapore to see her elderly mother but has been denied entry to Singapore safely and without harrassment.
So come to the Quality Hotel on Balestier Road on Saturday from 2pm-5pm and meet Mr Seow and Ms Tang for the first time in more than 20 years. Be a part of history.http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4992-silenced-no-longer
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did anyone go? did u go?
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wont show in the tv?
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Tang Fong Har breaks down as she talks about her citizenship
SUNDAY, 09 OCTOBER 2011
Singapore Democrats
Former ISA detainee Ms Tang Fong Har was emotional when she spoke at the SDP's Silenced No Longer forum. She choked up with tears when she said that after 23 years away from Singapore, she could not renew her passport to return home.
An emotional Tang Fong Har addressing the audience
Ms Tang, a lawyer with Singapore's Law Society when Mr Francis Seow was its president, was speaking via the Internet from Hong Kong. It was the first time that she had done so since her release from detention.
Ms Tang also said that she could not bring herself to write about her ordeal under detention. She had shelved away all the documents and didn't want to even look at them. But after the forum yesterday, Ms Tang said that she was encouraged by the support and would write about her experience as a detainee.
Her announcement was warmly welcomed by the crowd who applauded several times during her presentation.
Ms Tang's husband is from Hong Kong. She mentioned that when they were talking about marriage, one of her requests was for their family to reside in Singapore. "It turns out that I am the one who is not allowed to stay in Singapore."
Filmmaker Mr Martyn See read out a passage that Ms Tang described about an incident when she was hit across the face by a male ISD officer by the name of S K Tan. "Do you still have a grudge against people like S K tan?" asked Mr See.
"Yes, I still have a grudge against S K Tan. In fact I have a grudge against a long list of people," the former lawyer said without hesitation.
These people have done much wrong and there needs to be justice, she added. She repeated the call for a commission of inquiry to be held so that the truth can be revealed. Several of the 1987 detainees have openly defied the PAP, calling for an inquiry. The Government has steadfastly refused to call for such an inquiry.
Ms Tang was no exception. She said that if the Government has evidence against her, it should produce it in a court of law and not resort to cowardly measures like detention without trial where prisoners are tortured and confessions extracted.
She singled out Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam who was associated with some of the 1987 detainees. Tharman was also brought in for questioning by the ISD but was detained.
Mr Tharman should know whether his contemporaries were Marxist conspirators or not. "Tharman was almost a victim of the ISA himself. He should have the courage to do the right thing," said Ms Tang. She also mentioned former minister Mr Dhanabalan who had indicated that he disagreed with the detentions when he was in cabinet.
Ms Tang indicated that she would be visiting Johor Bahru to see her 80-year-old mother later this year. She would be reunited with her family for the first time since her departure from Singapore.
She concluded by encouraging everyone in Singapore to continue working to abolish the ISA and bring about a free and democratic Singapore. She doubted she would be allowed to enter Singapore anytime soon but quickly added, "But if I am given the okay, I would take the next flight home tomorrow." The applause rang out long and loud. -
Francis Seow says he would like to return to Singapore
SUNDAY, 09 OCTOBER 2011
Singapore Democrats
Francis Seow speaks via Internet
In a precedent-setting forum, former ISA detainee Francis Seow told a packed room that he wished to return to Singapore but added that "somebody has to go first."
Mr Seow was speaking via the Internet at the SDP's public forum entitled Silenced No Longer held yesterday at the Quality Hotel. The forner solicitor-general was still an admired figure among the standing-room only crowd even though he has been living in exile for the last 23 years.
During his 15-minute presentation he quoted Mr Lee Kuan Yew's initial opposition to the ISA (then the Preservation of Public Security Act) in the mid-1950s when he was in the opposition. Mr Lee had said:But we either believe in democracy or we don't. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed... If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally.
If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right...
But that all changed when he won power. Mr Lee unleashed the ISA with a vengeance against his opponents.
Teo Soh Lung speaking with Francis Seow
"You must not be fooled," Mr Seow cautioned Singaporeans. "I know the man, I worked with him for years." He said that there was no place for the ISA in Singapore, pointing out that there were enough laws to adequately deal with anyone out to do Singapore harm.
When asked if he would like to return to Singapore Mr Seow answered in the affirmative. "My family has been in Singapore for more generations than Lee Kuan Yew's. Of course, I'd like to come back."
However, he cannot do so because there is still a warrant of arrest against him. Mr Seow had approached the Singapore Embassy in the US but was told that he would be given a one-way ticket back as there was "unfinished business" that the Government had with him.
Despite getting on in age, Mr Seow still spoke with gusto and challenged the Government to produce evidence against ISA detainees instead of just insisting that there was wrong-doing.
"It's very strange, in 1987 the Government accused the detainees of being Euro-communists, but then for me it said that I was a CIA agent," he said to the laughter of the audience. "They will say anything but will not produce evidence."
SDP Chairman Jufrie Mahmood urged Mr Seow to consider coming back to Singapore, a point which resonated with the audience. The former prosecutor clearly left a deep impression with his listeners who bade farewell at the close of the session with a resounding round of applause. -
Francis Seow? and Tang Hong Har, old rivals of LKY?
even LKY is out of the local political limelight, what make francis thinks he is still relevant in the political scene here?
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Were they get arrested again for the forum in spore?
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SDF silenced? they were up and coming during Chiam ST times as the head of opposition in Singapore, they were heard and supported all the way, until Chiam got ousted by Chee SJ.
SDF was still very much in the news, with Chee on hunger strike, legal fight, talks in the US....but no relevance to the people in Singapore.
Take a lesson from the Worker's Party, show Singaporean you have young people with vision and know how to work as a team.
SDF once again proves that it is allowing itself to be used by politicians with their own private agenda.
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how come no one at SDF ousts Chee SJ the clown? is he still fit to lead SDF in future GEs?
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
how come no one at SDF ousts Chee SJ the clown? is he still fit to lead SDF in future GEs?
If the Democrats had any balls, they'd have replaced CSJ with James Gomez.Only SPP stay true to Chiam's original ideals.
Surprise that Tan Jee Say, Ang Yong Guan and Vincent W joined SDP of all parties.
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Tharman cannot remain silent
MONDAY, 10 OCTOBER 2011
In her speech at the SDP's Silenced No Longer forum on Saturday, Ms Tang Fong Har revealed a little-known fact: Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, now the Deputy Prime Minister, is "almost a victim of the ISA himself". Tharman was questioned in 1987 by the Internal Security Department (ISD) although he was not detained.
The Singapore Democrats understand that Mr Tharman had visited Mr Tan Wah Piow in the UK in the mid-1980s. When he returned to Singapore, he was picked up by the ISD for questioning.
Mr Tharman's role in the saga is crucial because Operation Spectrum, as the detentions were codenamed, centred on the fact that Mr Tan Wah Piow had masterminded a conspiracy involving 22 activists in Singapore to overthrow the PAP Government through the use of force.
Mr Tan was convicted of inciting a riot in 1974, a case which itself attracted many questions and much controversy. He served an eight-month jail-term. Fearing for his own safety, he left for the UK after his release and sought asylum there.
Given that Mr Tharman had met with Mr Tan, it is clear that the DPM would know whether Mr Tan was trying to hatch a violent Marxist plot. If there was such a plan, the DPM should come right out and tell Singaporeans what that plan was.
If there wasn't any such discussion, then Mr Tharman owes it to the people to clear the air once and for all, that the Government was wrong and Operation Spectrum should not have been ordered.
As it stands, a grave injustice has been done to the many who were detained. Not only have their lives and careers been shattered, they have been ripped from their families and, in Ms Tang's case, still barred from being re-united with her loved ones. Their names have been dragged through the mud and their honour brutalised. Worse, ISA detainees have repeatedly said that they were beaten and tortured by ISD officers. Such allegations have yet to be investigated.
Now all the detainees want is a commission of inquiry to get at the truth. If there is evidence, they should be presented before such a commission or in a court of law. Mr Tharman, having had first-hand dealings with Mr Tan Wah Piow, would be well-positioned to lend weight to the Government's case. Unless, of course, the DPM himself thinks that Operation Spectrum was unjustified.
The Government's refusal to convene such a commission speaks volumes. But whether it does or not Mr Tharman cannot keep quiet any longer - not when so much injustice has been been done to persons whom he had known.http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4998-tharman-cannot-remain-silent
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...
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During his 15-minute presentation he quoted Mr Lee Kuan Yew's initial opposition to the ISA (then the Preservation of Public Security Act) in the mid-1950s when he was in the opposition. Mr Lee had said:
But we either believe in democracy or we don't. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed... If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally.
If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right...
But that all changed when he won power. Mr Lee unleashed the ISA with a vengeance against his opponents."You must not be fooled," Mr Seow cautioned Singaporeans.
Yes that is good advice, we must not be fooled.
Who ever comes into power, how would be?
As opposition they say one thing, as ruler they do another thing. Happens all the time.