TR EMERITUS

Background: Mr Yoong Siew Wah was the Director of Singapore's Internal Security Department (ISD) from 1971 to 1974. Before his stint with ISD, he was the director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). The SPH propagandist book about the PAP "Men in White" alleged in page 441 that Mr Yoong was asked to quit CPIB in 1971 after he was "suspected" of using his personal influence to assist his friend Mr Francis Seow, then the ex-Solicitor General of Singapore in a case. Mr Yoong rebuked the allegations as baseless on his blog the Singapore Recalcitrant. We manage to catch up with Mr Yoong and conducted the interview this morning at the Grand Mercurial Roxy Hotel. Interview with Mr Yoong Siew Wah published with his kind permission: Temasek Review: Good morning Mr Yoong. We would like to find out more about the case surrounding Mr Francis Seow. Can you give us some background information about it? Yoong Siew Wah: Mr Francis Seow was a distinguished prosecutor who was then the Solicitor-General of Singapore. The house of his female friend was broken in by burglars and he made a police report. Four detectives of the division of CID were investigating the case and they took an expensive coat of Mr Francis Seow as an exhibit which was found in the house of the lady. Temasek Review: You mean to say that the four detectives took Mr Francis Seow's coat? What was the basis of taking it away? Yoong Siew Wah: This is called "pinching". Mr Francis Seow was indignant and lodged a report with both CPIB and the police. The Deputy Comissioner of the Police Mr Ratna Singam passed the case to me to investigate. As CPIB's director, I had to investigate all formal complaints. The investigations revealed there was a prima facie case against the four detectives. I submitted the report to Mr Ratna who made the decision to dismiss them. Temasek Review: But they were reinstated? Yoong Siew Wah: Yeah. The Attorney-General Mr Tan Book Teik intervened and reinstated them. No reasons were given. Temasek Review: Were you given orders to resign from CPIB by Mr Tan as portrayed by the book? Yoong Siew Wah: Not true at all! I was promoted to become the Director of ISD and after I left ISD in 1974, I was appointed the Deputy Commissioner of Hong Kong. Temasek Review: What about Mr Francis Seow? Was he asked to resign as well? Yoong Siew Wah: Mr Francis Seow was never asked to resign. It was a pure coincidence that he left the Legal Service at that time. Mr Seow had been contemplating leaving for private practice for quite some time. In fact, he was invited by Mr David Marshall to join his law firm. Temasek Review: So the authors from Men in White are wrong? Yoong Siew Wah: Absolutely! I am still expecting an apology from him (Mr Lee), but you know it is impossible. I had been very cordial with the SPH editors and authors. I hope they can correct the mistake and reverse the damage done to my reputation. Conclusion As we can see from above, the authors of "Men in White" have committed a grave injustice against both Mr Yoong Siew Wah and Mr Francis Seow in their book by insinuating that they had "conspired" to sack four detectives investigating a case involving Mr Seow's friend. The three authors of "Men in White" must issue a public apology without delay to both men and rectify their horrendous error immediately. EDITORS' NOTE: TODAY had contacted Mr Yoong for an interview this evening. We are rushing this out to prevent them from distorting the truth later on. Mr Yoong has also kindly agreed to join Temasek Review as a guest columnist. We thanked Mr Yoong for spending time with us to conduct this interview.  Read More →

From our Correspondent The former Director of Singapore Internal Security Department (ISD) from 1971 to 1974 Mr Yoong Siew Wah has emailed Temasek Review thanking us for pointing out the factual inaccuracies in the SPH propagandist book about the PAP - "Men in White". In page 441 of the book, the authors insinuated that Mr Yoong was asked to quit from CPIB due to some impropriety on his part regarding a case involving Singapore's ex-Solicitor General Mr Francis Seow. It turned out that Mr Yoong was promoted to the director of ISD in 1971. As the director of CPIB then, he was duty-bound to investigate all formal complaints. One of the authors of Men in White, Mr Richard Lim initially assured Mr Yoong that he would add a line after the sentence that he was also asked to quit to indicate that he was actually appointed Director ISD after his CPIB stint in future editions of the book in order to be" fair" to him. After we had published an article on the case this Monday which was by nearly 10,000 readers already, SPH was forced to make a rare concession to Mr Yoong by promising to remove the disaparaging sentence altogether. The Temasek Review just met up with Mr Yoong Siew Wah for tea in the morning and will be publishing our interview with him soon. We are of the view that SPH must publish a clarification in the Straits Times about the factual error in the book - that Mr Yoong was not asked to quit from CPIB - he was promoted to head ISD. The email below was published with permission from Mr Yoong: Dear Temasek Review, I must thank you for your wonderful support for my cause in seeking justice from the hubristic Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. Your presentation of my case was done so dramatically that I could not help admiring your professionalism. Richard Lim, one of the authors of the Men in White contacted me this evening to say that, after consideration, he is removing the disparaging sentence that I was also asked to quit from future editions instead of his original plan. I am really grateful to you for your very strong support. Regards. Yoong Siew Wah  Read More →

From our Correspondent The Chairman of the Workers' Party, NCMP Ms Sylvia Lim has written a reply to rebut the letter by Minister for National Development’s Press Secretary entitled: “Ministry: MP Low wrong on lift upgrading” which was published on Tuesday. Ms Lim took issue with MND's reply which seems to imply that the grassroots advisor was more appropriate than the MP to announce the LUP plans because he was able to gather residents’ input and marshal support for the plans. The PAP grassroots representative for Hougang Mr Eric Low sparked a public backlash when he unshamedly claimed credit for bringing LUP to Hougang two weeks ago which led many Singaporeans to question why the announcement was not made by the MP for Hougang, Mr Low Thia Kiang instead. Writing on behalf of Hougang MP Mr Low Thia Kiang who is currently out of town, Ms Lim wrote that Mr Low's letter was not about claiming credit for LUP: "He (Low) has stated that he is prepared to work with the government’s appointees for the benefit of his constituents, and indeed has met the grassroots advisor several times over many months to give input on the LUP plans for Hougang." She added sarcastically that the LUP was introduced "to rectify a design flaw in public housing which does not cater for an ageing society. Given this imperative, the public interest should trump politics." According to Ms Lim, Mr Low was "compelled" to write the letter to Straits Times Forum because HDB's initial reply to Mr Yusuf who had written in lampooning HDB and PA for not following protocol seems to insinuate that Mr Low was unwilling to work with the government. Mr Eric Low had earlier revealed that he enjoyed a cordial working relationship with Mr Low Thia Kiang and the two even had coffee together after the last meeting on the LUP. Ms Lim also rebuked MND's claims that LUP Is funded from budget surpluses which Opposition MPs are not responsible for generating. She wrote that the budget surpluses are hardly the effort of the government alone, as they include significant contributions from the public through taxes, levies and stamp fees, which the government simply reaps. Ms Lim ended the letter by berating MND for not respecting the people's choice of their MP: "Finally, MND also appears to interpret the General Elections as an event where the only outcome which matters is who forms the government. This shows the respect the government has for the people’s choice of Member of Parliament, who is vested with the Constitutional mandate to represent the constituency." The PAP won 82 out of 84 seats contested during the last general elections. The two opposition wards are Hougang and Potong Pasir which were denied critical estate upgrading by the PAP government because they did not express "support" for the government's plan. Upgrading was constantly used as a carrot to entice residents to vote for the PAP though being taxpayers, they are entitled to it. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong had promised a $100 million upgrading plan for Hougang and Potong Pasir if the PAP candidates won. Though Mr Eric Low lost to Mr Low Thia Kiang, he still lingered around in Hougang as the "grassroots adviser", an euphemism for PAP losers. The PAP government has drawn online flak for choosing to work through their unelected representatives instead of the opposition MPs who are voted in by the residents. Unless more opposition MPs are voted into parliament the next election, this age-old "practice" promulgated by the PAP is likely to continue.  Read More →