Interview with Mr Yoong Siew Wah, Director of ISD (1971 – 1974): Role of ISA in Singapore
October 16th, 2009 | 
Author: 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.
In the second part of this interview, we asked Mr Yoong about his views on the Internal Security Act.
Interview with Mr Yoong Siew Wah published with his kind permission:
Temasek Review:
Mr Yoong, you were the director of Internal Security Department from 1971 to 1974. Can you tell us how it came to be formed?
Yoong Siew Wah:
It was left to us by the British which was set up during the Emergency to counter the communist threat.
Temasek Review:
The ISA allowed for detention without trial. Do you think it is still necessary now?
Yoong Siew Wah:
Of course it is necessary for security purposes. In those days, Singapore was full of communists. You had to detain them immediately because if you had waited for a trial, all the witnesses would be silenced. There would be no test to prosecute them.
Temasek Review:
What about now? There are no more communists in Singapore.
Yoong Siew Wah:
Yeah, but there are still terrorists running around. Without the ISA and ISD, how are you going to deal with them?
Temasek Review:
But we can set up an anti-terrorist unit….
Yoong Siew Wah:
That’s not good enough….
Temasek Review:
During your stint as ISD Director, were Said Zahari, Chia Thye Poh and Dr Lim Hock Siew still under detention?
Yoong Siew Wah:
Yeah, they were still detained.
Temasek Review:
Why were they detained for so long? Did you try to obtain early release for them?
Yoong Siew Wah:
Well, the role of the ISD then was to rehabilitate them. As long they recanted their communist past, they would be released. These chaps were not as innocent as portrayed. They had links to the communists.
Temasek Review:
Who had the final say in their release?
Yoong Siew Wah:
For important detainees like Chia and Lim, we had to discuss with the Prime Minister who would decide if they should be released.
Temasek Review:
What about Operation Spectrum in 1988? Were there any grounds to detain the 22 Catholic workers in the first place?
Yoong Siew Wah:
I can’t comment on it as I was already retired then.
Related articles:
>> Ex-ISD Director wants MM Lee to undo “damage” done to his reputation
>> Ex-ISD Director thanked Temasek Review
>> Interview with Yoong Siew Wah on the Francis Seow case in 1971
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6 Responses to “Interview with Mr Yoong Siew Wah, Director of ISD (1971 – 1974): Role of ISA in Singapore”
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I think that the problem doesn’t lie with the ISA per se, but rather how it is shockingly vague and open to abuses.
The sweeping powers is what makes alot of people uncomfortable as it’s too open to abuse by the powers that be, along with the vagueness of the word, “terrorism”. You know, that new buzz word that floats around these days in order to restrict and muzzle alternative voices. You know where i’m coming from.
- Anonymous Coward
mr yoong, (if you are reading this, that is)
if you are not under some secrecy oath, would you care to share what kind of evidence you guys had regarding their communist links?
Well there’s a surprise – the leopard cannot change his spots even at age 82, can he? Once a bully boy always a bully boy.
Give people like Yoong a vague, sweeping, all-encompassing law like the ISA and watch this Nazi step forward and go for your throat. Why? Simply because he can — by law. You’ve effectively handed him the power of life and death over you and your family. It would take a f***king saint to resist the primitive thrill of absolute control over one’s fellow man, just ask Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin, Lee, and every cursed tyrant who ever lived.
How come other far larger nations can manage without a law like the ISA and microscopic Singapore can’t, Yoong? Is the ISD so hopelessly useless? Until recently, the UK suffered 30 years of merciless IRA bombing campaigns which made Singapore’s so-called Communist experience laughably pathetic by comparison. Today they still have the on-going Islamic terrorists to deal with, suicide bombers in London, but they have felt NO need to abrogate citizens’ civil rights.
The same goes for Spain, France and Greece who have had to endure far worse violence than Singapore has ever had to in peacetime. None of these nations saw the need for an ISA, so what’s wrong with your tiny little dysfunctional nation, Yoong?
Could it be that…whisper it…the ISA has little to do with a communist/terrorist threat and everything to do with suppressing political dissent? Is it possible that such a Draconian law, one which civilised nations hesitate to introduce even under the most extreme provocation, is it possible that it’s a heaven-sent opportunity for an authoritarian government unable to win its argument by peaceful means to lock up all opposition and throw away the key?
Yoong, why is an anti-terrorist unit “not good enough” to deal with terrorists? Because an anti-terrorist unit cannot be used to throw your opponents into jail? Why does TR gladly let this non-answer go? TR should have asked more questions. Yoong sounds like a PAP type of character to me.
This interview is as good as not having one. These questions could have been answered by TR itself or someone who have already left ISD.
Even the spin doctors at Shitty Times could have done a better job.