Head and shoulders above us all
Of late, I have been wondering about the greatness of some leaders to remind myself that all is not lost in the brave pursuit for a renewed, revived and reformed Malaysia. With the dearth of genuine leaders of caliber, I was greatly encouraged when someone told me about Dr. Lim Hock Siew, a Singaporean who holds the record of being the second longest serving political prisoner. Yup- you read it right. While many may wax lyrical about Singapore, the untold story is that they have their own version/practice of ISA.
Dr Lim, a founding member of Singapore’s ruling PAP, was incarcerated for 19 years without trial from 1963 to 1982 on “suspicions” of being a “communist”. Singapore’s longest political prisoner is Mr Chia Thye Poh, who spent 32 years behind bars, longer than Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Syi.
When I first watched the following video, I was awestruck by this humble, gentle-looking elderly person – soft spoken and yet radiating a strength from his eyes and not by sheer force of personality. I had to turn up the volume of my speakers and at certain times was miffed by the sound of laughter that drowned the sincere voice of a giant called Dr. Lim.
The video was taken of Dr Lim during the book launch of the “Fajar Generation”, a book relating the history of the University Socialist Club and the politics of post-war Malaya and Singapore.
In the video, Dr Lim first described the ordeals he had been through as a political detainee, including being placed in solitary confinement in the most “hideous” prison in Singapore – the Central Police Station:
“That was a place not fit to keep animals let alone human beings. The place was so dark, so stinky and so ill-ventilated that you cannot stand inside for more than 24 hours but I was locked in there for 24 hours a day and the whole place was infested with bugs. I had a lot of bugs for company, no reading material and the light was so dim that I could hardly see the crease of my hand.”
