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Salient. Victoria University Students' Newspaper. Volume 39, Number 23. September 20, 1976

Prison Condition

Prison Condition

These students and workers are now detained in the Whitley Holding Centre, a new detention centre well known for its modern gadgetry for torture. They will be detained for an indefinite period and subjected to psychological strain and physical ill-treatment. Some even face the possibility of having their citizenship revoked while under detention.

For more than a week, after the arrests, the parents were not allowed to see their children. Booh Hwee's parents were not granted the permission until 8 days later after insistance from the parents. Parents who saw the detained students said they were detained and subjected to long hours of interrogation and there was even signs of physical assault.

There are among those detained under internal Security Act; which can detain people indefinitely without trial, notably Dr Lim Hock Siaw. Said Zahari etc who were in jail since 1963 for their 'crime' of opposing Singapores joining with Malaysia then. Now Singapore has been separated from Malaysia for 11 years but they are still under detention.

Lee Kuan Yew's ultimate aim is to force them to make public statements to renounce their beliefs and endorse a fictitious statement of confession invented and written by the government. Such statements are usually of some fantastic stories of communist conspiracy will be used by Lee to justify their detention as well as further repression and others.

The use of the red bogey to arrest all political opponents and to suppress all opposition voices has been a consistent tactic of Lee and his Peoples' Action Party (PAP) since their ascendence to power in 1959. In the Socialist International Bureau meeting, Devan Nair claimed that Singapore was infiltrated by communists. To verify his statement, political oppression was launched since early this year. Arrests were made and a highly dramatised "red plot confession" on the state controlled television was sickened. Then in June, Dr Poh Soo Kai a well-known political figure was re-arrested.

During the same month, 2 Malay journalists were also arrested. The time of arrest coincided with the general meeting of UMNO in Kuala Lumpur. Only a few days later the detainees appeared on television to give confessions. The timely arrangement clearly reveals that they are aiming at saving themselves from being expelled from S.I.

All these are done to create an atmosphere of terror in the Island. So that no one would dare to voice the idea of opposing the regime.

These laws are to be seen in the context of Lee Kuan Yew's present political standing. He is isolated in the international level and opposed internally. In order to discourage any opposition to his regime in the general election to be held soon, Lee ruthlessly suppresses all potential or imaginary opponents.