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.

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.