An extract of the FOREWORD of the book by Yash Ghai, Emeritus Professor, University of Hong Kong
Teo Soh Lung was a young, idealistic, and energetic lawyer when she was arrested in the early hours of 21 May 1987 by the Internal Security Department (ISD) on allegations that she was involved in a Marxist conspiracy to subvert the existing social and political system in Singapore. The Internal Security Act under which she was arrested allowed for detention without trial – and she was thus detained until 26 September of that year. After her release along with some other detainees, she issued a press statement in April 1988 rebutting scurrilous allegations against them of conspiracy and subversion. For these pains, she was arrested again. From that second detention, also without trial, she was not released until June 1990.
Soh Lung did not set out to change the world, or even Singapore. Although she was passionately concerned about human rights and justice for the poor and marginalized, her aim was modest. Her principal crime in the eyes of Lee Kuan Yew’s government was her attempt to establish a criminal legal aid scheme, the government having failed to set one up…These modest steps were preceived by Lee Kuan Yew as fundamental challenges to his regime, to the government’s claim to and practice of a monopoly of “politics”…The treatment meted out to Soh Lung and her fellow “conspirators”, in and out of prison, was indicative of the meanness of the prime minister and the insecurity of the regime.
Title : Beyond the Blue Gate – Recollections of a Political Prisoner
Author : Teo Soh Lung
ISBN : 978-967-5832-01-7
Book Size : 152mm X 227mm
Pages : 392
Price : SGD$35.00
Year : 2010
Published by: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, Petaling Jaya (Malaysia)
The book is available from the following:
a) Contact Rizal – cell phone: 91460944 or email: isrizal@function8.org
b) Online purchase at: http://www.ethosbooks.com.sg/store/mli_viewItem.asp?idProduct=249
c) Bookstores: Kinokuniya (Takashimaya, Ngee Ann City), Select Books (Tanglin Shopping Centre)
d) At Pagesetters Services Pte Ltd, 65 Ubi Crescent, #06-04 Hola Centre, Singapore 408559
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