On Thursday, a group representing 60 former detainees issued a statement demanding the repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA), an apology from the government, and financial compensation for them and their families.
The statement was issued by the civil society organization Function 8, which conducted a news conference commemorating the 60th anniversary of Operation Coldstore on Thursday morning.
In response to the statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated late Thursday that the claims and statements made by the former detainees in their statement are not new.
The statement continued, "The government has addressed this issue fully in previous public messages, which are public record."
About 80 individuals, including former ISA detainees and their families, attended the press conference.
Approximately sixty former detainees or their family members signed the declaration, including Dr. Poh Soo Kai, the former assistant secretary-general of Barisan Socialis, whose private statement accompanied the collective one, and Ms. Mavis Puthucheary, the widow of the late politician James Puthucheary.
Operation Coldstore was a security operation that resulted in the arrest of over one hundred individuals on February 2, 1963.
Numerous detainees were members of Barisan Sosialis, a political group founded in 1961 by expelled members of the People's Action Party's left wing.
The government maintains that those detained were Communist sympathizers trying to overthrow the government.
At the press conference on Thursday, activist Kokila Annamalai read the press release and Dr. Poh's remarks.
It said: “The ISA... has been used by the PAP government repeatedly against those it feared would be threats to its power.”
Dr. Poh participated remotely from Malaysia, where he presently resides.
Former lawyer, politician, and ISA inmate Teo Soh Lung, who was detained in 1987, also conducted the press conference.
If a person is regarded a threat to national security, the ISA allows for their detention without trial for a length of time.
When challenged about the ongoing relevance of the ISA in light of the recent detention of a self-radicalized adolescent, Ms. Teo stated that such situations should be addressed in open court rather than under the Act.
In 2011, in response to a separate statement by some former prisoners, the MHA stated that the detainees, including Dr. Poh, were not arrested because of their political convictions, but because they were engaging in subversive actions that threatened national security.
It noted that the Communist danger at the time was "not just a violent insurgency, but also the systemic subversion of the political arena in order to sow discord and destabilize Singapore."
The ministry went on to explain how a number of the inmates had ties to various Communist-related activities and plans.
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