No to Detention Without Trial

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newlstter. Sign up here.

On February 2nd, 1963, 57 years ago, the British authorities in Singapore arrested over 110 anti-colonial activists in a security operation codenamed Cold Store. They were suspected of being Communists, but they were never tried in an actual court of law. Evidence from the British archives suggests that Malaysian and Singaporean political leaders, such as Lee Kuan Yew, urged the British to take action in order to eliminate their political opponents, and not because there was a real Communist threat. Singapore Unbound again calls for the Singaporean archives to be opened for the inspection of independent historians to ascertain the truth of the matter.

The use of the Internal Security Act for detention without trial comes under public scrutiny again recently. The Ministry of Home Affairs has detained a 16-year-old Protestant Christian under the Act for planning to attack Muslims at two mosques. Singapore Unbound unequivocally condemns any violence committed by religious prejudice. However, we also question the use of detention without trial for a minor. We see this as a growing creep in the use of the law. Former detainee and lawyer Teo Soh Lung explains why this detention contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Singapore has been a signatory since 1995.

The rights of the child are also at stake in the debate over the Ministry of Education's proposal to download a Device Management Application (DMA) on every student's computing device. Although the DMA does not track location, it will capture info such as web history. Schools and parents will also be able to restrict access to certain apps or websites. Some time back, when a similar proposal was made in my Manhattan school to monitor student attention in class, it was fiercely, and rightly, opposed by the teachers. Not only was it an invasion of privacy, it also undermined the very goals that it purported to support. If we want student engagement, we should be engaging them with interesting and relevant classes and with age-appropriate education on the use of their devices. Constant monitoring will only sap students' sense of autonomy and transform teachers into cops. In the case of Singapore, it is not hard to imagine that what begins as monitoring of students will graduate into monitoring of adults. If you are a Singaporean, please consider signing this petition to stop MOE from implementing DMAs on student laptops.

In solidarity with the protestors for transgender rights in Singapore schools, Singapore Unbound called on the Ministry of Education to set up a special task force to review school treatment of LGBTQ students. We're so pleased to learn that teachers, social workers, counselors, and other social service professionals in Singapore have signed a statement in support of transgender students. There are over 300 signatories now. If you’re a current/former education or social service professional in or from Singapore, you can sign the statement here.

Jee Leong Koh
February 4, 2020

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