THE TEMASEK REVIEW

Background:

Mr Yoong Siew Wah was the Director of Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) from 1971 to 1974. Before his stint with ISD, he was the director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). The SPH propagandist book about the PAP “Men in White” alleged in page 441 that Mr Yoong was asked to quit CPIB in 1971 after he was “suspected” of using his personal influence to assist his friend Mr Francis Seow, then the ex-Solicitor General of Singapore in a case. Mr Yoong rebuked the allegations as baseless on his blog the Singapore Recalcitrant. We manage to catch up with Mr Yoong and conducted the interview this morning at the Grand Mercurial Roxy Hotel.

Interview with Mr Yoong Siew Wah published with his kind permission:

Temasek Review:

Good morning Mr Yoong. We would like to find out more about the case surrounding Mr Francis Seow. Can you give us some background information about it?

Yoong Siew Wah:

Mr Francis Seow was a distinguished prosecutor who was then the Solicitor-General of Singapore. The house of his female friend was broken in by burglars and he made a police report. Four detectives of the division of CID were investigating the case and they took an expensive coat of Mr Francis Seow as an exhibit which was found in the house of the lady.

Temasek Review:

You mean to say that the four detectives took Mr Francis Seow’s coat? What was the basis of taking it away?

Yoong Siew Wah:

This is called “pinching”. Mr Francis Seow was indignant and lodged a report with both CPIB and the police. The Deputy Comissioner of the Police Mr Ratna Singam passed the case to me to investigate. As CPIB’s director, I had to investigate all formal complaints. The investigations revealed there was a prima facie case against the four detectives. I submitted the report to Mr Ratna who made the decision to dismiss them.

Temasek Review:

But they were reinstated?

Yoong Siew Wah:

Yeah. The Attorney-General Mr Tan Book Teik intervened and reinstated them. No reasons were given.

Temasek Review:

Were you given orders to resign from CPIB by Mr Tan as portrayed by the book?

Yoong Siew Wah:

Not true at all! I was promoted to become the Director of ISD and after I left ISD in 1974, I was appointed the Deputy Commissioner of Hong Kong.

Temasek Review:

What about Mr Francis Seow? Was he asked to resign as well?

Yoong Siew Wah:

Mr Francis Seow was never asked to resign. It was a pure coincidence that he left the Legal Service at that time. Mr Seow had been contemplating leaving for private practice for quite some time. In fact, he was invited by Mr David Marshall to join his law firm.

Temasek Review:

So the authors from Men in White are wrong?

Yoong Siew Wah:

Absolutely! I am still expecting an apology from him (Mr Lee), but you know it is impossible. I had been very cordial with the SPH editors and authors. I hope they can correct the mistake and reverse the damage done to my reputation.

Conclusion

As we can see from above, the authors of “Men in White” have committed a grave injustice against both Mr Yoong Siew Wah and Mr Francis Seow in their book by insinuating that they had “conspired” to sack four detectives investigating a case involving Mr Seow’s friend.

The three authors of “Men in White” must issue a public apology without delay to both men and rectify their horrendous error immediately.

EDITORS’ NOTE:

TODAY had contacted Mr Yoong for an interview this evening. We are rushing this out to prevent them from distorting the truth later on. Mr Yoong has also kindly agreed to join Temasek Review as a guest columnist. We thanked Mr Yoong for spending time with us to conduct this interview.

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