Internal Security Act (Singapore)

Internal Security Act
Parliament House, Singapore
An Act to provide for the internal security of Singapore, preventive detention, the prevention of subversion, the suppression of organised violence against persons and property in specified areas of Singapore, and for matters incidental thereto.
Citation	No. 18 of 1960 (Malaysia), now Cap. 143, 1985 Rev. Ed.
Enacted by	Parliament of Malaysia
Date commenced	Extended to Singapore on 16 September 1963 when it became part of Malaysia (L.N. 231/63)

The Internal Security Act (ISA) of Singapore is a law that allows the Singapore government to investigate security threats like international terrorism, foreign subversion, espionage and acts of violence or hatred using race or religion. The Internal Security Act (ISA) of Singapore confers on the government the right to arrest and preventively detain individuals without trial for up to two years at a time in certain defined circumstances under Section 8(1)(a) of the ISA. The ISA is controversial because some regard it as a draconian law that curbs civil liberties. Proponents of the law argue that the ISA is necessary for the city-state to preemptively thwart serious security threats.

The most notable ISA case was Operation Coldstore in 1963 which led to the arrest of some 100 left-wing politicians, trade unionists and communists, including members of the socialist opposition party, the Barisan Sosialis. While the ISA has not been invoked since the 1980s against leftist political opponents, the continued existence of ISA is perceived by the U.S. State Department as restricting political opposition and criticism of the government. Chia Thye Poh, an alleged communist, was detained under the ISA from 1966 to 1998, the longest person ever to be held under this law.

Since 2001, the ISA has been used against alleged Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists in Singapore. With concerns of terrorism, there is ongoing debate on the relevance of the ISA among citizens in Singapore and the need for its reform and prevention of abuse. The leading opposition party in Singapore, the Workers' Party, supported the abolishment of the ISA and asked for specific anti-terrorism and anti-espionage laws to replace the ISA. These new laws were to allow arrests and detention without trial only under strict conditions.

History

Emergency Regulations Ordinance

British colonial Malaya introduced the "Emergency Regulations Ordinance" on 7 July 1948 during the Malayan Emergency in response to a communist uprising and guerrilla war. The regulations allowed the police to arrest anybody suspected of having acted "or being likely to act" in a way that would threaten security without evidence or warrant, hold them incommunicado for investigation and detaining them indefinitely without the detainee ever being charged with a crime or tried in a court of law.

Preservation of Public Security Ordinance

The successor to the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, the PPSO, was introduced a result of the 1955 Hock Lee Bus riots by the Labour Party government in Singapore. There was strong opposition to the Labour Party's PPSO by the opposition party then, the People's Action Party. In 1958, Lee Kuan Yew from the People's Action Party accused the Lim Yew Hock government of using the PPSO to stifle political dissent.

Internal Security Act

In 1960, three years after Malaya's independence, the Emergency was declared over. However, the Malayan (now Malaysian) Internal Security Act was passed in its place with much of the same powers. During parliamentary debates, Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman stated that the ISA would only be applied against only the remaining Communist insurgents. The Malayan Communist Party and its insurgents eventually surrendered in 1989. Nonetheless, the ISA in Malaysia was retained.

When Singapore joined the Federation of Malaya in 1963, the Malayan ISA was enacted in Singapore. Even after its separation from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore also retained the ISA.

In September 2011, the ISA debate was re-opened after Malaysia announced that it was considering repealing the ISA. Former ISA detainees in Singapore and the Singaporean government subsequently debated the legitimacy and relevance 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.

Safeguards of the ISA

The government recognizes that the ISA is a “very blunt instrument” and that the individuals detained have their normal rights of a trial suspended. Therefore, safeguards have been enacted to prevent abuse of the ISA.

1.A person can be held for no more than 30 days from the date of arrest before he is served an Order of Detention (OD), or Restriction Order (RO), or released unconditionally.

2.Both the Order of Detention and Restriction Orders have to be approved by both the Minister of Home Affairs and the President of Singapore.

3.ODs and ROs are termed at 2 years and they can be renewed at the approval of the Minister of Home Affairs and the President of Singapore.

4.Each OD and RO must be reviewed by an independent Advisory Board which is headed by a Supreme Court Judge and two qualified citizens appointed by the President.

5.A detainee must be informed of the grounds of detention and allegations made against him within 14 days of the service on him the Order of Detention.

6.A detainee has the right to make representations (engage a lawyer or any person) against his OD to the Advisory Board which shall convene within 3 months of the detention.

7. The Advisory Board shall have all the powers of a court for the summoning and examination of witnesses, the administration of oaths or affirmations, and for compelling the production of documents.

8. Even though the period of detention is for 2 years at a time, the Advisory Board shall review all cases every 12 monthly.

9.In 1991, the Constitution and the ISA was amended to enact the President's concurrence when the Advisory Board has recommended a detainee's release at the President's own discretion without the direction of the Cabinet.

10.A Board of Inspection, made up of 50 Justices of Peace and community leaders, makes unannounced visits to the ISD detention centre to ensure that the detainees are not subject to abuse and are well cared for.

Quotes

The author of the ISA, Hugh Hickling, a British lawyer, author and professor, said in 1989, in connection with Malaysia:

I could not imagine then that the time would come when the power of detention, carefully and deliberately interlocked with Article 149 of the Constitution, would be used against political opponents, welfare workers and others dedicated to nonviolent, peaceful activities.

See also

• Chng Suan Tze v. Minister for Home Affairs
• Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs
• Internal Security Act (Malaysia)
• Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005

External links

• Official website of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore