The Mass Arrest of Young Singaporean Professionals in 1987

On 21 May, 1987, sixteen young Singaporean professionals and their families were shocked to be woken from their sleep in the early hours of the morning by Singapore’s secret police from the Internal Security Department hammering on their doors and breaking in. They were then dragged to underground cells where they would be detained for many days of round-the-clock interrogation including physical and psychological abuse without access to lawyers or families. And then the secret police came for more young Singaporeans…

The reaction of the international community was an outpouring of support for the detainees that was immediate, spontaneous and global. This took the Singapore government by surprise and it paid a high political price internationally for its brazen disregard of human rights. The claim that there was a Marxist conspiracy in Singapore was simply unbelievable to most international observers. That period was long gone.

But, within Singapore, it did achieve its goal of frightening a new generation of socially-committed Singaporeans into political submission so that the PAP could more easily transition to its own new generation of leadership without facing an emerging electoral challenge. The cost to those targeted so unjustly was severe, affecting the rest of their lives.

This saga was documented by various organisations. The Emergency Committee for Human Rights in Singapore, based in New Zealand, began sending out news releases which became regular Updates sought after by international organisations, embassies, parliamentarians and NGOs around the world, many of which launched their own formal enquiries and protests. The Updates comprise the main content of these archives and provide a public record of events as they unfolded.

For the first time, these records enable everyone to gain detailed knowledge of this dark stain on Singapore’s political history.

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