Time to Open the Archives
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"They came to the coffee shop in Joo Chiat where I was working at 2am. About five or six officers came, and they took me to Outram [police station], where there were already many people. I was detained for four and a half years. I was a Singapore citizen but I lost my citizenship; they took me to the border. I couldn’t return to Singapore for years...."
YEH Kim Pak was 27 years old when he was arrested on February 2nd, 1963, along with over 110 anti-colonial activists on the mere suspicion of being Communists. Yeh was not a Communist, but he did fight for workers' rights through the Singapore Coffee Shop Employees Union. The British police operation, codenamed Cold Store, was supported by the Malaysian and Singaporean leaders who used it against their political opponents. In fact, there is evidence that Singapore's leader LEE Kuan Yew urged the reluctant British authorities to take action.
The opening of the British archives has led to a critical re-examination of the official narrative, but the picture is incomplete without thorough research into the relevant Singapore archives. The Singapore government has opened the latter to the selective study of its chosen historians. What must happen is the full opening of the Singapore archives to the scrutiny of independent scholars. Enough time has passed for state security not to be an issue. If the archives are not opened, the natural suspicion is that the government has something to hide.
On the 56th anniversary of Operation Cold Store, Singapore Unbound calls on the Singapore government to open the archives to independent research. The full story must be told. If injustices have been committed, confession and reparations must be made. Yeh and his fellow former detainees are getting on in age. Yeh is 83 this year, one year older than my dad had he not died last year. In the New Naratif article, which tells his and other detainees' stories, he recounts, not without a touch of justifiable pride, "There were so many things happening at that time: independence, elections, organising… People like me are witnesses to history."
Jee Leong Koh
February 7, 2019
"They came to the coffee shop in Joo Chiat where I was working at 2am. About five or six officers came, and they took me to Outram [police station], where there were already many people. I was detained for four and a half years. I was a Singapore citizen but I lost my citizenship; they took me to the border. I couldn’t return to Singapore for years...."
YEH Kim Pak was 27 years old when he was arrested on February 2nd, 1963, along with over 110 anti-colonial activists on the mere suspicion of being Communists. Yeh was not a Communist, but he did fight for workers' rights through the Singapore Coffee Shop Employees Union. The British police operation, codenamed Cold Store, was supported by the Malaysian and Singaporean leaders who used it against their political opponents. In fact, there is evidence that Singapore's leader LEE Kuan Yew urged the reluctant British authorities to take action.
The opening of the British archives has led to a critical re-examination of the official narrative, but the picture is incomplete without thorough research into the relevant Singapore archives. The Singapore government has opened the latter to the selective study of its chosen historians. What must happen is the full opening of the Singapore archives to the scrutiny of independent scholars. Enough time has passed for state security not to be an issue. If the archives are not opened, the natural suspicion is that the government has something to hide.
On the 56th anniversary of Operation Cold Store, Singapore Unbound calls on the Singapore government to open the archives to independent research. The full story must be told. If injustices have been committed, confession and reparations must be made. Yeh and his fellow former detainees are getting on in age. Yeh is 83 this year, one year older than my dad had he not died last year. In the New Naratif article, which tells his and other detainees' stories, he recounts, not without a touch of justifiable pride, "There were so many things happening at that time: independence, elections, organising… People like me are witnesses to history."
Jee Leong Koh
February 7, 2019
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