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Salient. Victoria University Students' Newspaper. Volume Number 39, Issue 5. March 29 [1976]

News from Malaysia

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News from Malaysia

Singapore Accused

Amnesty international yesterday criticised violations of human rights in Singapore, pointing out that some political prisoners had been detained without trial for more than 13 years.

In a briefing paper, the first of a senes, it expresses concern at Singapore's use of internal security legislation and complex citizenship and banishment laws to repress legitimate, non-violent political opposition.

The paper also criticises the use of caning, which leaves permanent scars, as punishment for certain criminal offences; the frequent imposition and carrying out of the death penalty, and control and intimidation of the press, which has led to the arrests and detention of journalists.

Allegations of Torture

There have been consistent claims by ex-detainees and detainees' families that political prisoners are subjected to 'mental and physical tortures', primarily for the purpose of breaking their resistance and securing statement of political confession and recantation. It is alleged consistently that:
  • solitary confinement with all its deleterious effects is used as a psychological pressure to try to induce recantation.
  • prisoners wearing only light clothing are interrogated in very cold air-conditioned rooms. They are sometimes forced to strip and cold water is poured over them.
  • during round-the-clock interrogations they are often forced to do repeated and strenuous exercises, reulting in severe strain and fatigue.
  • while in solitary confinement, lights are switched on in the cell throughout the night to prevent sleep.
  • although much of the maltreatment is essentially psychological in nature, some detainees are also physically assaulted.

This evidence suggests that most ill-treatment of the detainees takes place while they are in the custody of the Internal Security Department rather than of the Prisons Department.

Allegations of ill treatment very similar in points of detail to the above were again made following the release in December 1975 of a group of eight political detainees.

(Source: Amnesty International Briefing on Singapore, February 1976)

Malaysia Insurgents Set Up Base

Malaysian communists have established a base in Perak State, in north peninsular Malaysia. Lumbermen in the state logging areas acting as couriers are said to be important links between the communists and their urban connexions. Announcing of this recently, Lieutenant-General Dato Sri Muhammad Sany, the chief of the general staff severely criticized the state government for what he described as a military setback. Perak state, the hotbed of terrorist activity in the 'emergency' from 1948 to 1960, has borders with Thailand, and until recently the communists had operated from safe sanctuaries over the borders. Increased urban terror tactics which began early last year are now being complemented by the building of bases in the jungle.

The general criticized the state government for not giving priority to projects that were designed to frustrate the enemy. Among other things, he said, it had been agreed that jungle aborigines should be regrouped and resettled as these primitive people were easy targets for communist propaganda. For a variety of reasons, including financial considerations, the plan was not carried out.

In the past month, the Government has closed several logging camps in the state, imposed curfews, closed several roads to all heavy traffic and limited the movement of people to those with special passes. Heavy troop movements into the suspect are as have been mounted and the previously successful 'food denial operations' have begun. The operations, the most concentrated in recent years, is expected to go on for a long time.

The war against the communists also takes the form of sudden closure of selected areas and curfews followed by house to house searches. Hundreds of communist suspects and sympathizers have been arrested.

Lieutenant-General Dato Sri Muhammad Sany said that the success of the operations were only dependent on the armed forces to a limited extent. He said that for success 70per cent of the coordination and effort must be civilian.

In Kuala Lumpur there was some dismay at what was regarded as military criticism of the civilian government and eyebrows were raised at the thought of Army dissatisfactions with command conditions in what is considered a total war. However, there was no immediate reason to believe that the criticism was anything more than an expression of frustration.

The newly appointed Prime Minister, Datuk Husian Onn, himself an ex-soldier, is said to be concerned about the conditions under which the army operates. Within weeks of his accession to power, he ordered a study of salaries and service conditions not only for the police who play a crucial role in containing the hit and run war conducted by the communists

The General's criticism, nevertheless, is expected to have repercussions. Tan Sri Ghazali Jawi, Chief Minister of Perak, is not expected to take the criticism lightly. If the general can show there has been negligence on the part of the civilian authorities, in view of the serious security situation, changes may indeed take place. A consideration that is now being carefully weighed is the imminent Cabinet changes the Prime Minister has promised for early March. These changes, according to reliable sources, may include state chief ministers, most of whom belong to the ruling National Front parties.

Student Protest Against Withdrawal of Bus Passes

Over 1,000 students took to the street on 9th Feb. '76 in protest against the sudden withdrawal of their bus concession passes in January 1976. The students were from 7 of the institutes run by the Industrial Training Board (ITB). The concession passes are issued to pupils under 19 years of age, in a government or government aided schools. Most of the students of ITB are under 19 and join the vocational institutes after primary six or during early secondary school years. These students are usually from poor families. The withdrawal forced them to pay bus fares which they just cannot afford From $4 a month, their transport costs shoot up to as much as $1.40 a day. Some students are even forced to go without any lunch because they cannot obtain any more pocket money.

The busfare problem affected every vocational student deeply. They wrote in to SBS (Singapore Bus Service) but received no reply. Many students in some institutes boycotted classes and demonstrated [unclear: within] [unclear: then] [unclear: schools]. [unclear: many] [unclear: when] [unclear: an] [unclear: appears] [unclear: and] protest proved to be useless, the students had no choice but to bring to public attention. Students from about 7 Vocational Institutes took part in the protest. They were mostly from Pasir Panjang, Jurong, Gey Iang, Serai, Singapore, Pongol, Bukit Merah and Bharuddin Vocational Institutes. Apart from the withdrawal of the concession passes, the SBS is considering the introduction of flat rate fares of 30c and 50c. The present bus fares are 20c, 30c, 40c, 50c, which was introduced in 1974. Before that, the minimum fare was only 10c.

(source: The Straits Times 10-2-76

New Nation 11-2-76

Press Release by USSU & SPSU 10-2-76)

Editorial Note: 60% of the working population in Singapore earn less than $250 per month. A survey carried out by the NTUC (National Trade Union Congress) of Singapore 2 years ago also indicated that the minimum cost of living for a family of 4 persons was $280. The increase of busfares to a flat rate of 30c and 50c if implemented would adversely affect the lower income groups.

Ussu Held Successful Exhibition

An exhibition on 'Singapore - Her People and Future' was held from 10th Jan. to 18th Jan. by the University of Singapore Student Union (USSU).

The Exhibition materials offered a closer study of the Singapore society, economy and history. According to the organisers the idea of holding an exhibition on Singapore actually sprang out from the past 2 years' experience.

The Suara Mahasiswa (Voice of the Ungergrads), an USSU publication, said - 'The many eye-opening and traumatic events disclosed a lot of facts in the Singapore society which we never knew about. We, University students, have become so cut off in our Ivory Tower existence that we seemed to have lost touch with our people. It took the dramatic shock of the frame-up and the deportation to wake us up to realities. (On 1st November 1974 Tan Wah Piow, the then President of USSU, was arrested on charges of 'unlawful assembly' and 'rioting' and was subsequently found 'guilty'. Five office bearers of USSU were deported to Malaysia. See FNS Vol. 1 No. 1 & 6).

Questions arose and answers were sought for. Why are our workers suddenly left without jobs? Why is their plight neglected? Why do we allow malpractices to occur in retrenchment? Why did the Trade Union not fulfil its duty to the workers? Why a frame-up was resorted to? Why were the key witnesses in the 'riot' trial deported? And most important of all, why was it a crime to be concerned with our people's problems?

We students must face up to these questions. What is the root cause of all the many ugly phenomena? To find out we would need to study our society, to learn to explore, to probe and to question more. Not only a handful of students but as many people as possible should begin to understand our own society more deeply if the present situation is to be improved upon.

That is why the exhibition was planned for all people, students and other, to have a closer look at our Singapore society, our economy and our history. If we are truly responsible to our society, we must sincerely keep searching for better understanding and make efforts to spread this understanding to others.

The Exhibition attracted over 10,000 people. Donations from the people were so good that the organisers expect that it may be possible to cover the entire cost of production of the Exhibition.

(Source: Suara Mahasiswa, USSU Issue No. 10)

Cartoon of a man in a suit smoking a cigar being pulled in a rickshaw