Chia Thye Poh
A leftist populist, Chia is most notable for being detained between 1966 and 1989 under the Internal Security Act for allegedly conducting pro-communist activities against the government, with the intention of causing a communist revolution.
[4] In the same month, he was arrested with 25 others and charged with unlawful assembly for his participation in a demonstration against United States involvement in the Vietnam War that resulted in open confrontation with police.
[1] In early October 1966, he and eight other Barisan Sosialis MPs boycotted the Parliament over the decision by the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) to split from Malaysia.
[7] The official statement released by the Government alleged that Barisan's attempt to arouse a mass struggle outside of parliament was prejudicial to the stability of Singapore.
[8] The other detainees were released eventually after they each signed a document promising to renounce violence and sever ties with the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
"[3] Thus, in time, and without ever being the subject of an indictment or a criminal trial, he became one of the longest-serving political prisoners in the world – with some consequent restrictions upon his civil rights remaining in place for a total of more than 32 years subsequent to his initial arrest.
The length of his detention has been compared to that of Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for a total period longer than 27 years subsequent to his arrest, trial and convictions for treason, sabotage and other political crimes.
[11] In 1985, the government of Singapore asserted that the purpose of his detention related to the allegation that he had been a member of the CPM and suggested that he was therefore willing to participate in anti-Singapore political violence and terrorism.
[1] On 17 May 1989, he was released from 23 years of imprisonment[8] without charge or trial on the mainland, and instead confined to a one-room guardhouse on Sentosa[3] where he was required to pay the rent on the pretext that he was then a "free" man.
[3] Chia has stated his belief that representations by Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany in the mid-1980s[14] played some part in the Singaporean government's decision to soften its stance in regard to him.
In November 1997, restrictions were further relaxed to an extent that allowed him to accept a fellowship from the Hamburg Foundation of the German government for politically persecuted persons.
[3][16] On 27 November 1998, Amnesty International issued a public statement that restrictions on "Singapore's longest serving prisoner of conscience" had been lifted.
