Ian Wah Piow had been actively involved in people's rights in Singapore up until the time of his arrest. He had been campaigning against higher bus fares and for the release of political prisoners. He had been organising Bangladesh flood relief, had set up a Retrenchment Research Centre to look into the problems of laid off workers, and was active in organising and helping squatters throughout Malaysia.

Tan Wah Piow, Ng Wah Ling and Yap Kim Hong were charged with unlawful assembly and inciting to riot in front of the premises of the Singapore Pioneer Industries Employers' Union (PIEU).

Industrial workers in Singapore are heavily exploited by foreign multinational capitalists. In 1973 the real wages of workers have fallen (wages up 8%, inflation 25%) while their productivity has risen by 17% in money terms, thus increasing the profits-normally exported from Singapore-of the companies. Lee Kuan Yew has always sided with the foreign multinational capitalists. In order to cover up the obviousness of who he favours he set up a National Trades Union Congress to nationalise all forms of exploitation and thus act as a facade to show workers they are well taken care of. In fact, the National Trades Union Congress urges workers not to ask for their rights and encourages them to leave all decision making to the few elite bureaucrats who already monopolise authority in Singapore.

Since February 1974, 14000 workers in Singapore have been laid off. Some workers have been given as little as a few minutes' notice. Compensation has been rare, and in many cases non-existent. In order to exonerate the powers that be from blame, some factories have adopted the practice of forcing the workers to resign by imposing stringent disciplinary measures such that anyone can be sacked on the slightest excuse.

The Retrenchment Research Centre that was set up by Tan Wah Piow aimed to help the thousands of affected workers. Tan Wah Piow as President and Juliet Chin as Secretary of the University of Singapore Students' Union arranged for laid off workers to speak on the campus and to use the facilities of the Student Union for meeting, printing, purposes, and other needs. As a result of this 200 of the workers laid off from an international fibre yacht company (American Marine) have formed a reasonably well organised Union.

The Pioneer Industries Employment Union, a puppet union for Lee Kuan Yew's government, was approached by these 200 workers in October 1974, and was requested to take some action on their behalf. They demanded that the PIEU fight on their behalf for compensation from American Marine and other industries, and for workers' wages to be paid in cash, not coupons. (Workers page break at American Marine were being paid in coupons; an illegal practice not officially condoned by Lee Kuan Yew's government. These coupons can only be used in a super-market run by an American Marine company and as a result the workers had no cash and couldn't afford to travel on buses or send their children to school).

In late October, a confrontation occurred between Tan and Phey Yew Kok (general secretary of PIEU, and also president of the NTUC and a member of Parliament!) in which the PIEU was given one week to start acting for workers.

After the week, workers again arrived at the Pieu offices. Officials refused to see them, closed all the doors, and even pulled down the blinds, and then proceeded, to smash union furniture and equipment! At no time did the picketing workers participate in this strange and wanton smashing of PIEU equipment by its own officials! At the time Tan Wah Piow was across the street conferring with USSU members. It was decided that he should not take a leading role in the demonstration outside the union offices.

Soon after the demonstration the PIEU union officials made an announcement that said the workers had come in through the back door of the buildings and had smashed up the equipment. One union official had in fact cut his own hand in an effort to prove that the workers had come inside and smashed everything up.

As had been previously arranged, the government and the Singapore Press accepted and endorsed the PIEU's definition of events. As a result the government ordered the arrest of Tan Wah Piow, Ng Wah Ling and Yap Kim Hong. The charge that they 'incited to riot' and 'unlawfully assembled' was of course a political fabrication. The arrest aimed to persecute and make an example of leading participants in the workers struggle against exploitation.

Tan Wah Piow was arrested at 9.30 pm on 1 November 1974 in a friend's flat by three plainclothes police, without court warrant. All his written documents were confiscated. He was interrogated for six hours immediately after the arrest and was denied his right to a lawyer. Ng Wah Ling was arrested at 2 am on 2 November and Yap Kim Hong on 7 November. All rejected the charges laid against them.

In a letter from prison Tan Wah Piow wrote that his arrest should be viewed in the light of activities of the students' Union during the last few months. 'Our protest against bus fare increases, our statement against arbitrary detention of political detainees, our protest against the $S 100 dollar increase in university fees, our involvement in the Tasek Utara Squatters issue, our intentions to start up an independent press and lastly, our setting up of the Retrenchment Research Centre, were activities and campaigns that were not viewed favourably by the authorities.'