Local NGO, Function 8 issues statement in response to the police report that was filed against the protest held by activists in the North-South Line on Saturday, stating that it “is deplorable that there are people who try to muzzle those who want the truth.”
Just this Monday (5 June), TODAY newspaper reported that “a police report has been lodged against a protest on Saturday (3 June) on an MRT train, and the police have confirmed that they are looking into the matter.”
A group of activist held a protest on trains along the North South Line to stand in solidarity with the 22 individuals who were detained by the Singapore government 30 years ago under the Internal Security Act and urged the government to come clean on the matter.
The NGO that was founded by a few of the former ISA detainees, wrote in its statement,
In 1987, many of the detainees of Operation Spectrum suffered assaults, cold-room interrogations, severe sleep deprivation and solitary confinement for a fabricated conspiracy. Perpetrators of that violence included employees of the State. These are detailed in a recent Function 8 publication, 1987: Operation Spectrum 30 Years On.
We deeply regret that citizens who were reading this book and chose to express their views publicly against the abuses of Operation Spectrum are to be subjected to police investigation.
It is deplorable that there are people who try to muzzle those who want the truth—calling for justice for those who suffered detention without trial. All the more lamentable that this is happening in Singapore, a country that takes pride in being a First World nation.
We call on the government to investigate instead the abuses suffered by the former detainees and make appropriate restitution.
