On 31/7/76 the New Straits Times reads: "Five students from Singapore Polytechnic were held for "communist underground activities and non-union or student activities.

What was happening?

The arrest

On the 29 July 1976, the Singapore Polytechnic Students' Union (SPSU) Union House, was raided by more than 15 plainclothes Internal Security Department agents.

The Union House was cordoned off and drawers forced open by the agents who seized files and photographs on the pretext of looking for drugs. Two student leaders were arrested. Later, 4 students were arrested from their homes.

The whole operation was carried out without the agents producing search warrants or warrants for arrest or allowing the students to contact their lawyers.

On the day of the arrests, the government statements say that in addition to the students, construction and factory workers, seamstresses and national servicemen were also arrested. All of them were taken in for their "involvement in satellite organisation of the 'Malayan Communist Party', " a political party banned in Singapore. As usual, no names were released but a sinister impression had been given that a red plot to undermine the government was rife. It was only after an intensive search by worried parents that the two "National Servicemen" were found to be recent graduates of the Polytechnic, Tan Puay Cheow and Ang Boon Hwee.

Lim Tiow Hui

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.

Motive for the arrests

Repression of students is not new in Singapore. In the 1950's the Chinese Middle School Students fought against the British colonial rule in Singapore which resulted in their student unions being banned and their leaders being jailed and beaten up.

In the early 1960s, Nanyang University (a Chinese Medium university) met with the same fate when they opposed the terms of merger with Malaysia and the government's attempt to turn Nanyang into an English University. When Ngee Ann Technical College Students protested against the Government's plan to seek total control of their college, they were suppressed the same way. Each time Lee justified his action by branding these organisations as being communists infiltrated.

The year 1974 saw the rising tide of student politicisation and social involvement within the elite English-educated group. Students from the University of Singapore and Singapore Polytechnic, began to voice criticisms and bring the attention to the nation to the problems faced by the majority of the population.

They worked together in issues such as the Bangladesh Flood Relief Campaign, the Anti-Bus-Fare-Hike Campaign, and the Retrenchment Research Centre. Then in November 1975, new legislation in Parliament brought the closure of the University of Singapore Student Union from July. Now SPSU is facing extreme persecution from the government.

The arrests are not the first repressive move upon SPSU. For the last two years, the Polytechnic administration refused to collect union fees for the Union, hoping to cripple it financially.

Foo Chin Yen, Lim Tiow Hui, Ng Hoon Hui & Foo Weng Fatt

Chia Yei Yei

Chia Chong

Rumours were spread by government agents among the student body to cast doubts on the sincerity of the union leaders. Students were so incensed over internal issues that the SPSU Vice president was physically assaulted. Recently some active students have been called up by the Central Manpower Base on the pretext of National Service, and subjected to long interviews. Yet the SPSU has fought on and on.

The raid was well timed on the dawn of the SPSU nomination day for the coming Student Council elections. Five of the arrested student leaders were officials and active members of SPSU. Three are eligible to stand for the coming elections. With their records of campus activity and their popularity within the student body, their chances of being re-elected were good. The arrests of the SPSU leaders will temporarily stifle the student union as a critical voice of PAPs policies.

Student response to the arrests

On the very day of the arrests, a solidarity rally was held with over 300 students despite the shock and the fear.

A mass sit-in was organised by 500 students despite the rumours on campus of more arrests, and pressure from the administration and frightened parents.

Newspapers had deliberately played down the students' arrests and the subsequent statements and demands made by the Students' Union. Tens of thousands of copies of their publication, the Singapore Technocrat were cyclostyled overnight and distributed to the public to tell the truth.

Despite the resulting fear, many students finally came forward to run for the elections to carry on the socially-orientated trend of work. The authorities' attempts to disrupt the elections was a total failure.

Whenever criticised the PAP will always claim it has the peoples' support since it has been democratically elected. But the recent arrest to suppress opposition and to sabotage even student leaders clearly shows the kind of "democratic" elections Singaporeans have.

The Demands

Sources:

Fuemso, New Strait Times, Singapore Technocrat.