Former ISD detainee Dr Lim Hock Siew on the “immorality” of the political situation in Singapore today
November 17th, 2009 | 
Author: Written by our Correspondent
Former ISD detainee Dr Lim Hock Siew had spoken out against the high pay of Singapore’s leaders in a first public speech made after his release from detention in 1982.
Dr Lim, a founding member of Singapore’s ruling PAP, was incarcerated for 19 years without trial from 1963 to 1982 on “suspicions” of being a “communist”.
Singapore’s longest political prisoner is Mr Chia Thye Poh, who spent 32 years behind bars, longer than Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Syi.
Dr Lim was speaking a the book launch of the “Fajar Generation”, a book relating the history of the University Socialist Club and the politics of post-war Malaya and Singapore.
Dr Lim first described the ordeals he had been through as a political detainee, including being placed in solitary confinement in the most “hideous” prison in Singapore – the Central Police Station:
“That was a place not fit to keep animals let alone human beings. The place was so dark, so stinky and so ill-ventilated that you cannot stand inside for more than 24 hours but I was locked in there for 24 hours a day and the whole place was infested with bugs. I had a lot of bugs for company, no reading material and the light was so dim that I could hardly see the crease of my hand.”
Dr Lim said he did not relent to the demands of his captors to renounce politics and show “repentance” not because of pride, but because of principles.
He had tried to challenge and overturn the government’s decision to detain him on several occasions to no avail. When he was released from detention briefly due to a technical error, he was re-arrested a minute later by the Special Branch.
Dr Lim retire from politics altogether upon his release in 1982. Very few young Singaporeans have heard about him or his colleagues in the opposition Barisan Sosialist.
The Barisan Sosialist was formed in 1962 as a breakaway faction of the PAP. It would have won the next elections and formed the government had not for a wave of arrests under “Operation Coldstore” in 1963 which decimated their ranks and saw key leaders like Dr Lim detained without trial.
The weakened Barisan Sosialist was led by another medical doctor Dr Lee Siew Choh, who made the fatal error of boycotting the general elections in 1968 which allowed the PAP to make a clean sweep.
There would be no opposition MPs in parliament 13 years later in 1981 when the late opposition scion J.B. Jeyaretnam won a seat in the Anson by-election. Barisan Sosialist was merged with the Workers’ Party in 1988.
Towards the end of his speech, Dr Lim took a dig at the PAP leaders for rewarding themselves with exorbitant salaries to keep their “integrity”:
“In Singapore we have a situation where the government leaders said they have integrity that has to be sustained by the highest pay in the world but yet they demand from political opponents and detainees an integrity that has to be sustained by the longest imprisonment in the world. These two types of integrity – to compare them is to compare heaven and earth. Why should anybody has to sacrifice so much just to sustain his integrity and his beliefs? And the government have to reward themselves with so much high pay. This is the immorality of the political situation in Singapore today.”
Singapore’s leaders are the highest paid in the world. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was paid more than 5 times the annual salary of U.S. President Barack Obama.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew claimed lately that he would have earned “much more” had he not been a minister.
Dr Lim would have gladly served the people of Singapore for a pittance. It is a pity that he spent the best years of his life in imprisonment, sometimes under solitary confinement.
Singapore Law Minister told an American audience two weeks ago that the ISA is not abused in Singapore and there are “proper” procedures in place to safeguard the welfare and rights of the detainees.
They would have a radical change of impression had they listened to Dr Lim’s speech last Saturday.
Watch a video recording of Dr Lim’s speech here
Posted in Editorial
Coz it’s true to character of...
Dr Lim, we admired you and your peers courages & integrity.
We would appreciate if Dr Lim and his peers from the ‘Fajah Generation’ to make speeches before and during the next Generation Election to sway and convinces the younger voters, who had limited knowledge of the political situation in this state.
Your suffering for the past decades will then be known and changes will be make for the betterment of all Singaporeans.
Thank you Dr Lim.
Well said Dr Lim about the integrity of the incumbent powers that be who value monetary rewards above all else when compared with those from the Fajar Generation who were willing to risk not just their lives and limbs but also their personal liberty to stand up against social injustice.
I salute your exemplary role in upholding the integrity of the political ideals and dreams of your generation and hope we from the post-Fajar generations can also do no less. Thanks you.
Lets hope a new fajar generation will emerge. The ideal seekers are usually born during tumultuous time. Maybe this is yet the time because the young generation has no real perceived enemy to overcome.
The ranting of the ruling party’s policy is not going to arouse the sleeping tigers. Some time in the future maybe.
The fajar generation is indeed unique and I besiege those who has read the book to give an account of the treasure hidden within.
…Singapore Law Minister told an American audience two weeks ago that the ISA is not abused in Singapore and there are “proper” procedures in place to safeguard the welfare and rights of the detainees….
I want to hear what shamugan has to comment about ““proper” procedures in place to safeguard the welfare and rights of the detainees”. How disgraceful.
As a young Singaporean I’m interested to know more, if not all, about these people who gave their lives for their beliefs and our future. Is anyone writing a book about them?
Everything should be written in black and white.
Hello Ah lian ar, I know your england not berry good. You want me to tell you in hockien izit?
Please refer to para 4 of the above article hor. The book is oleli here, its called the ” Fajar Generation”.
Hope you like it!
well said, the last quote on the immorality of outrageous pay.
where can we buy the book?
The Govt imprison a communist for 30 odd years and yet taking in hundred of thousands of communist a year. How ironic.
If ministers can reward themselves for not stealing from the coffers, are CEOs of commercial firms allowed to do the same? They should go to their board and say, ‘Look, I have not filched even a penny from the company, so pay me a couple of million!’
That will be the day!
Singapore’s history cannot be complete without a thorough examination of reasons behind Operation Coldstore. After 40 years, is there not a shred of evidence to prove the guilt of the detainees?
Amazing!
If Dr Lim emerged victorious during the power struggle in the 60s, we might be hearing one Mr Lee complaining about how he was treated under ISA detention today.
If Dr Lim and his like-minded peers in the world were to emerged victorious during the post-WW2 high tide of anti-colonial power struggle of the 1960s, profit above all else may not have been ruling supreme in the world today and humanity wouldn’t be held hostage to the military might of the US-Nato capitalist empire with very well-laidout plans to launch a nuclear first strike to win a nuclear war against percieved political threats from other major nuclear-armed nations such as Russia and China.
For all we know, LKY may actually recant his support for capitalism and go for socialism to continue living and hope for a change of social tide within his lifetime. People like LKY are pragmatists, their mindset can be summed up as “black cat or white cat so long it’s a fat cat that can catch big fish ie money, it’s a good cat”, aren’t they?
jiangbao: this is exactly what his is standing against. He is detained for not-being a communist.
LKY AND HIS CRONIES MUST PAY FOR THIS!!!
THE LAND CALLS OUT FOR REVENGE, VOTE THEM OUT, VOTE FOR CHANGE, VOTE OPPOSITION
@ah beng – i think u have given me a great idea for a book title call the ” Ah Beng Generation”. Sure sell hor.
The story begins with Ah Beng and his gal friend Ah Lian going to election rally together and all the fun begins….. LOL.
Dr. Lim;
I salute you and people like Said Zahari, Dr. Chia Thye Poh (the longest serving prisoner of Conscience in the World); Lim Chin Siong (deeased) and the many many unsung heroes ……yours and their sacrifices must not be swept under the carpet of sanitised history…. it must be told for the benefit of our children and their children and future generations…to come.
So goes the saying: “you can hide for a while but not for a life time”. So is this the prelude to the opening of the Pandora Box for the PAP? It looks like it…
no one is as blind as those who choose not to see…
those who have lived in Singapore knows about these atrocities but many/most choose to ignore…to an extent, that’s understandable, for what can they they do about it…?
the ordinary laymen voted their dissatisfactions – the PAP’s votes slided…how did they react ? the changed the one man vote system to vote for a team of candidates…further weakening the opposition who are already small in numbers. they also re-drew the consituency boundaries ! how low can they get ?
your experience is certainly moving !
yet the sufferings of the earlier politicians are obviously hidden from us – due to the suppression by the local media…
the running dogs of the establishment !
current opposition memebers continue to be crushed mercilessly ! from Jeyaratnam, Tan Lian Hong, Francis Seow to Chee Soon Juan…just to name a few i’m familiar with…
here is a simple request : does anyone know how i can get in touch with Dr Lim ? a private email / address / telephone no ?
please send it to me at my email address : [email protected].
the reason : i have a request from an overseas friend who is keen to get Dr Lim to be invited by the Rockefeller Foundation / Amnesty International or similar organizations to share his touching experience. more so to let the world know what happened to him ! the TRUTH about what lies beneath the image they are trying to fake to the rest of the world !
sure, the gestapo would be watching us…but we need to make a start somewhere…