Internal Security Act (Singapore) - Instances of The Application of The ISA

Instances of The Application of The ISA

The power of preventive detention in the ISA is used only when prosecution is not practical and the threat to national security must be dealt with promptly. Thus, it has been used sparingly and only as a last resort. Instances of the application of the ISA and its predecessors, the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, 1948 and the Preservation of Public Security Ordinance, 1955 (PPSO) have been reported in the press and periodically released by the government.

On 22 Nov 2011, in a parliament reply to Non-Constituency MP, Lina Chiam, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean stated that a total of 2,460 arrests were made under internal security laws from 1959 to 1990. Of these arrests, 1,045 people were detained under the Preservation of Public Security Ordinance (1959–1963) and the Internal Security Act (1963–1990). Mr Teo said those arrested and/or detained were for a variety of reasons, including involvement in communist-related activities to overthrow the Government; racial and religious extremism; Indonesian Confrontation; foreign subversion and espionage; and terrorism.

According to The Straits Times of 28 October 1956, 234 people were detained under the PPSO. It is reported in Hansard of February 1963 to 12 February 1963 that 110 people were detained on 2 February 1963 (Operation Coldstore). The Straits Times of 28 May 1976 reported that 50 people were arrested.

As of 13 September 2011, there were 17 people on Orders of Detention, one on Suspension Direction and 49 on Restriction Orders currently.

• 1963 – Operation Coldstore, a joint Malaysian-Singaporean operation to arrest 117 opposition party and labor union leaders, some of whom were detained for up to 17 years.
• 1966 – Chia Thye Poh, a member of the leftist Barisan Sosialis, was detained without trial for 32 years under the ISA. He spent the last nine years under forms of house arrest and civil rights restrictions, including confinement on the island of Sentosa.
• 1987 – In a security operation known as Operation Spectrum, 22 Roman Catholic church and social activists and professionals were detained under the ISA. They were accused of being members of a dangerous Marxist conspiracy bent on subverting the government by force and replacing it with a Marxist state.
• 1997 – Two were arrested in Singapore for espionage activities. One was a male Singapore Permanent Resident who was a deep-cover operative of a foreign intelligence service. He had used the other, a female Singaporean, as a collaborator. The two have since been released.
• 1998 - Four were arrested in Singapore for espionage activities. Three were controlled agents for a foreign intelligence agency. One of them recruited the fourth person to collect intelligence on and to subvert a local community organisation. The four have since been released.
• December 2001 – Fifteen alleged members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group were arrested for involvement in the Singapore embassies attack plot.
• August 2002 – Another 21 alleged members of JI were arrested. Mohamed Khalim Jaffar, arrested in 2002, was released in September 2011.
• February 2006 - Alleged JI head Mas Selamat bin Kastari extradited from Indonesia and detained without trial under the ISA. He escaped from custody in February 2008. Rearrested on 1 April 2009, this time under the Malaysian version of the Act.
• June 2007 - Lawyer Abdul Basheer was arrested in a Middle Eastern country, repatriated, and detained in Singapore for planning and preparing to engage in militant activities in Afghanistan. In February 2010, he was released from detention.
• July 2010 - Full-time NSF personnel Muhammad Fadil Abdul Hamid was detained on 4 April 2010 under the Act with two others placed under restriction orders.
• January 2011 - Jumari bin Kamdi, a JI member, was arrested in Malaysia and deported to Singapore.
• June 2011 - Abdul Majid s/o Kunji Mohammad, a Moro Islamic Liberation Front member, was arrested in Malaysia and deported to Singapore.
• July 2011 - Samad bin Subari, a JI member who fled to Indonesia during the earlier arrest of JI members, was arrested in Indonesia and deported to Singapore.
• January–February 2012 - Sahrudin bin Mohd Sapian, Mohamed Rafee bin Abdul Rahman and Abd Rahim bin Abdul Rahman (Abd Rahim; Rafee’s brother) are members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist organisation who fled Singapore in December 2001 after the crackdown on JI. The three were arrested overseas and deported to Singapore. Another JI member, Jumari bin Kamdi, who was detained in January 2011, was released for good behaviour in February 2012. JI members Jasmani bin Bakran, Mohamad Ashikin bin Mohamad Yusof, Omar bin Abdul Karim, Zainodin bin Ismail and Anis bin Mohamad Mansor had their Restriction Orders lifted after being cooperative and rehabilitated.