Chia Thye Poh

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Chia Thye Poh bigraphy, stories - Singaporean activist and prisoner

Chia Thye Poh : biography

1941 –

Chia Thye Poh (born 1941) is a Singaporean former political prisoner.

Detained under the Internal Security Act of Singapore for allegedly conducting pro-communist activities against the government, he was imprisoned for 23 years without charge or trial and subsequently placed under conditions of house arrest for another nine years – in which he was first confined to the island of Sentosa and then subject to restrictions on his place of abode, employment, travel, and exercise of political rights.

Prior to his detention, he had been a teacher, a physics lecturer, a socialist political activist and a member of the Parliament of Singapore. Subsequent to it, he has been a doctoral student and an interpreter.

He travelled to Germany in 1997, and to the Netherlands at least as recently as 2000. The supervision of his PhD thesis in development economics was completed in 2006.

Political activism

As a member of the Barisan Sosialis he was elected member of Parliament for Jurong Constituency in 1963, being nominated as the candidate in replacement of a colleague who had been arrested by the government of Singapore. Concurrent with his holding of parliamentary office, he worked as a university physics professor.

He was banned permanently from entering Malaysia in the wake of a political speech he delivered to the Perak division of the Labour Party of Malaysia on 24 April 1966.

In July 1966, he was convicted for publishing a "seditious article" in the Barisan’s Chinese-language newspaper . In the same month, he was arrested with 25 others and charged with unlawful assembly for his participation in a demonstration against United States involvement in the Vietnam War that resulted in open confrontation with police.Straits Times; 26 October 1966 (as cited in Mutalib) It has been noted that he was active among peace campaigners calling for an end to the US bombing of Indochina during the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

In early October 1966, he and eight other Barisan Sosialis MPs boycotted the Parliament over the decision by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) to split from Malaysia. This was part of the Barisan’s strategy to protest "undemocratic acts" of the Government, by carrying their struggle against the PAP outside of Parliament. He declared that the means of the struggle would be "street demonstrations, protest meetings, strikes".Plebian (newspaper of the Barisan Socialis), 8 October 1966

On 8 October 1966, he led an illegal protest march of 30 supporters to Parliament House and handed a letter to the Clerk of the House demanding a general election be held under eight named conditions, with the release of all political detainees and the revocation of all "undemocratic" laws.

Final release

In 1990, there was some relaxation of the restrictions applying to him. Chia has stated his belief that representations by Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany in the mid-1980s played some part in the Singaporean government’s decision to soften its stance in regard to him.

In 1992, he was allowed to return to the mainland and visit the home of his parents, but was still placed under restrictions on travel, activities and associations.

In November 1997, restrictions were further relaxed to an extent that allowed him to accept a fellowship from the Hamburg Foundation of the German government for politically persecuted persons. He subsequently spent a year in Hamburg studying economics, politics, and German language. He was also permitted to change his address and to seek employment without prior permission of the director of Singapore’s Internal Security Department.

In August 1998, he underwent a prostate operation in Singapore.

In November 1998, it was reported that the source of his income was the work that he performed as a freelance translator.

On 27 November 1998, all remaining restrictions were nullified. He thus formally regained rights to make public statements, address public meetings, and participate in political activity. He immediately called upon the Government to repeal the Internal Security Act and expressed his interest in becoming involved in political activity.