James Gomez asked Lee Kuan Yew whether he would abolish the ISA in 1990

In July 1990, then a year 3 undergraduate, Dr. James Gomez asked Lee Kuan Yew the following question: “with increasing stability in Singapore and easing of world tensions, do you foresee the disposal of the Internal Security Act (ISA) which empowers the government to detain people without trial?”

This question was posed at a forum held at the National University of Singapore. This question was asked against the backdrop of the arrest of 16 individuals under the ISA for being involved in a Marxist conspiracy against the state in 1987, with 2 individuals only being released from detention orders in June 1990.

25 years later in 2015, Dr. James Gomez nominated Singapore’s longest serving ISA detainee Chia Thye Poh for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Credit: a7aa7 (   / @a7aa7  )

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