Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen Expanding the Contact Network

We made up our minds to be nothing like the conformist, weak, opportunistic and self-seeking parties and gangs that were then in the Legislative Assembly and City Council.We therefore decided to invite Samad to join us in discussing the possibility of launching a constitutional struggle for independence without being sucked into the communist movement. … Samad asked if he could bring Devanna with him because Devanna could contribute.I don't like the idea.But friends and I agreed that if the inner core was only people we liked, it would never be possible to expand into a party, so Devanna came too.

After Chi and I obtained the qualifications as lawyers, Li Jue was going to sign a three-year contract with us and hire us as assistant lawyers, with a monthly salary of 1,000 yuan in the first year, 1,100 yuan in the second year, and 1,200 yuan in the third year. Six months of vacation with full pay.Given the circumstances at the time, such treatment was generous.After the postmen's strike ended, I went to work in Li Jue and Wang Lawyer's Office, and Zhi handled the transfer of property rights.During this period, I was allowed to practice in the Federation of Malaya. In September 1952, a lean Malay came to my desk.He is nearly fifty years old, looks like an Indian, and has a long and thin nose, which is different from ordinary Malays.My desk is in a corner of Li Jue and Lawyer Wang's offices, separated only by bookshelves.The Malay man spoke decent English, but hesitated and stuttered slightly.He introduced himself as Yusof Isa, the proprietor, editor-in-chief and managing director of Utusan Malay.His editorial director, Samad Ismail, was detained in January 1951 and was held in Qizhang Mountain with other subversive elements.Samad's case will be reviewed shortly and he asked me if I would like to represent Samad.

All the hopeless or almost hopeless cases at that time eventually came to me.However, Samad's case does not involve any legal issues. The best way to deal with it is to persuade the government to believe that this political detainee is mostly a nationalist. will become a competitor of the Communist Party. At that time, I felt that exerting pressure on the government was unlikely to be effective, so I decided to find the official of the Political Department in charge of the case to find out the real situation of the person involved and what evidence the Political Department had.Coincidentally, he met Superintendent Coryton.Coryton is in charge of the Indian and English-educated groups of the Political Department.He was an expert, having done similar work in British India, and could distinguish Indian communists from nationalists.

I met with Coryton.He has studied my files. One Sunday in 1952, he went to No. 38 Oceza Road early in the morning to chat with me.He said that he had read the records of my activities in London and wanted to meet me to learn more about Lim Hong Mei and other communists in London and their influence on Singaporean and Malaysian students.I told him what I thought of Lim Hong Mei, and also told him that the communists in London were unlikely to affect English-educated people in Singapore and Malaysia.At the same time, I also dispelled the suspicions of the Political Department about the youth festival in Budapest.I said that my younger brother Jin Yao attended Youth Day just to have a good vacation and that he was "as interested in politics as a tadpole".Years later, I found myself in the archives of the Political Department.

This time I met him at the office of Coleton, Political Department, Robinson Road.He is very frank.He said Samad was a smart Malay, very active, a first-rate activist.I asked him if Samad was a communist, and he replied "the smartest communist I've ever met".Naturally it sounded like the case was hopeless, but he went on: "But people grow and their minds change with experience. Influence him, he's worth saving." Go to Qizhang Mountain to meet with political prisoners The police provided a speedboat to take me to Qizhang Mountain.All lawyers representing detainees are given this facility.It was a weekday afternoon and the 20 minute sail was pleasant, followed by a 20 minute walk from the landing pier along paths and steps to the north of the island.Among the verdant old Tambusa trees, there are some government holiday floating feet scattered.Not far from the opium rehabilitation center surrounded by barbed wire fences like a barracks, there is a stilted building also surrounded by barbed wire fences, which is where the detained political prisoners live.The camp guards had placed a wooden table and two wooden chairs under a nearby Tambusa tree, and I waited there.An Indian guard came to the buoy to bring a Malay.This Malay is of medium height, slender, a little thin, especially his face, and he walks swiftly.With dark glasses, a trimmed mustache and a broken front tooth, he looked sinister.He couldn't leave his cigarette, and looked very excited.

I told him that whether he would be released would depend on whether the Political Department believed that he would continue to be a Communist.If so, most of them will be detained forever.But if he shows himself to be a nationalist after his release, he may be ignored in the future.He let out a wild laugh.This was the first time I faced a detained communist member.They were determined to prove to themselves and the world that they had faith, strength, and could endure poverty for their cause. I didn't know what psychology, mentality, and motivation made them do this. The review of Samad's case was conducted in the judge's office and publicity was not allowed.The main reason for his detention was that he was a member of the Malayan Communist Party and one of the leaders of the Singapore People's Anti-British League organized under the Malayan Communist Party.I stated that he was basically an anti-colonialist and Malay nationalist; as a Malay, he could not accept the chauvinistic call of the Chinese-led Malayan Communist Party.I don't know if I impressed the judge and the two jurors.The judge said nothing, and the review was over in less than 20 minutes.

Samad returned to Qizhang Mountain. In April 1953, he was released along with several other detainees, including Devanner.The first time I saw Devan through the wire fence, he was wearing a pair of horn glasses, shorts and Japanese gum slippers, and he was not at all pleasant.He was short and stout, quarrelsome and cynical.When Samad found out that I was paying attention to Devan, he told me that Devan was his good friend and a staff member of the Singapore Teachers' Association.Samad said: "During the detention period, you can quickly tell who is weak and who is strong." Devan is strong and reliable.I was like, maybe, but I don't like his aggressiveness.Not long afterward, the Singapore Teachers' Association came to the Lawyer Li Jue and Wang Office to find me and asked me to represent Devanna.I couldn't refuse, but I wasn't eager to try to win him over.The next time I met Curryton, he introduced Devanner to me and confirmed that he was cynical, committed to communism, and determined.

During this period, a small group of us, Wu Qingrui, Du Jincai, Rajaratnam, Bain and I, had been meeting in the dining room on the ground floor of my house on Oxley Road to discuss the possibility of forming a political party.The dining room is exposed to the west, so it is hot and uncomfortable. Even if the three windows and two doors are all open, and there is a strong fan spinning on the ceiling, it is still uncomfortably hot.If the air makes us drowsy, we are refreshed.We made up our minds to be nothing like the conformist, weak, opportunistic and self-seeking parties and gangs that were then in the Legislative Assembly and City Council.We therefore decided to invite Samad to join us in discussing the possibility of launching a constitutional struggle for independence without being sucked into the communist movement.We also need him to participate because he will allow us to communicate with the Malay-speaking world and convey our views to the Malay masses through Utusan Malay.

After two meetings, Samad asked if he could bring Devannay with him because Devannay could contribute.I don't like the idea.But friends and I agreed that it would never be possible to expand into a party if the inner core was just people we liked, so Devanna came along.We meet every week, at least every other week, to discuss the situation and the political actions that can be taken. The British are not standing still, they understand that the pressure is building. In 1953, the Governor-General appointed the former British ambassador to Belgium, Sir Lynde, to chair a committee to review Singapore's constitutional system and make recommendations for further reform of the constitutional system.In a report published on 22 February 1954, Lind proposed that all British citizens born in Singapore be automatically registered as eligible voters, which would quadruple the electorate.The new executive council will be the Council of Ministers, made up of nine ministers, six of whom are elected MPs who will be nominated by the majority leader.But the most important departments are still in the hands of the three ex officio members of the Colonial Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General.Except in the two areas of foreign relations and defence, including internal security, decisions of the Council of Ministers must be accepted by the Governor.The Council of Ministers is responsible only to the Legislative Assembly.The Legislative Assembly has 25 elected seats, 6 appointed seats and 3 ex officio seats.The Governor accepted the report's recommendations, which were scheduled to be implemented when the next election was held in April 1955.

My friends and I must immediately decide whether to run in the elections under the new constitution, or to wait and see.Rajaratnam strongly advocated participation based on the lessons learned from the mistakes made by the MLD, and Bain and Keng Swee also held the same view.I believe that if we do not participate, we will be excluded from the constitutional sphere and will end up in the same fate as the MLD, otherwise we will have to go underground.So we started preparing to organize the party by the end of 1954, giving us six months before voting.