By Andrew Loh
In June this year, a rally to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the so-called “Marxist Conspiracy” arrests was held at Speakers’ Corner. Prior to the event, the Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Singapore, Nicholas Chia, had sent a letter – purportedly expressing the church’s support – to Function 8, the organisers of the event. Function 8 is a group made up of former detainees, which include those from the “Marxist Conspiracy” episode of 1987, of the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Shortly after having issued the letter, however, archbishop Chia sent a third letter to Function 8 asking for his first letter to be returned to him. [In the second letter, Chia had allegedly given his permission to Function 8 to make his letter known at the rally.]
Chia said, in a press statement to the media on 19 September, “I had earlier decided to withdraw my letter to this group as, on reflection, its contents did not accurately reflect my views on the subject, and if used in a manner that I did not intend, may inadvertently harm the social harmony in Singapore. The group had acknowledged my decision and returned the letter to me.”
The church’s withdrawal of the first letter to Function 8 came to light after Alex Au [http://yawningbread.word.press.com] wrote about it on his website.
In his article on 18 September, titled “Lunch menu a 4-point letter”, Au said, “In the warmly-worded letter, the archbishop expressed his support for the rally and, I am told, endorsed the call for the abolition of the law in question.” That law is the ISA, which abolition was called for by speakers at the rally in June.
Au goes on to say, “A few days later, government officers, believed to be from the Internal Security Department, paid a call to the archbishop. It was apparently suggested to him that the church might be being made use of by Function 8 — a rather strange way to see things when it was a totally unsolicited letter. How could Function 8 be trying to make use of the church when they didn’t even ask for such a letter?”
The archbishop’s decision to withdraw the original letter came, according to Au, after “the archbishop was summoned to lunch with Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean”. Teo is also the Minister for Home Affairs. Chia was “told to show up alone,” Au wrote.
The archbishop’s press statement accuses Au and Function 8 of “irresponsible” action. “Au's article confirmed my fear that the group would use my letter in a manner that I did not agree with, and make use of the Office of the Archbishop and the Catholic Church for their own ends.”
The statement added, “These irresponsible actions can easily cause serious misunderstanding between the Catholic Church and the Government, and damage the longstanding trust and cooperation between the two. It is most regrettable that Au and the group have acted in this manner.”
In a response on 20 September posted on his website, Au rebutted the archbishop, “He described as ‘irresponsible’ my publication of the chronology of events and his assumption that it was Function 8 which told me about it.”
Au continued, "On the contrary, I think it is the responsible thing to do to expose these hidden events to public scrutiny. They show Singaporeans the inner workings of how our country is governed, and transparency is essential to a healthier democracy. The very fact that powerful forces would want these goings-on to be kept from the public eye is itself suspicious."
"Do note that not only was the original letter supportive of the rally against detention without trial,” Au said, “his second letter said the organisers were free to tell the rally participants that the archbishop had sent a letter of support. What can he possibly mean when he now says that he was afraid of his first letter being used ‘in a manner that I did not intend’?"
Chia had, in his statement said that his decision to withdraw his original letter was “so as not to inadvertently embroil the Catholic Church and the office of the Archbishop in a political event which was being staged by the group.”
This is not the first time that the Catholic Church has backed away from expressing its support for the former detainees of 1987. Most of the 22 detained then were church workers, some of them doing so full-time and others on a volunteer basis. They were accused of being part of a “clandestine communist network” out to “topple” the government.
The former detainees, who were never charged or brought to trial in open court, have always maintained their innocence.
On 14 June 1987, less than a month after the initial wave of arrests, the Catholic Church had printed a pastoral letter from the then archbishop, Gregory Yong, in the Catholic News magazine. In that letter, the Church said, “We affirm our confidence in and continued support for all Catholic organisations mentioned in the Ministry’s statement.”
“To the best of our knowledge, the full-time workers have been fully committed to the work of the Catholic organisations in which they served,” it added.
“We hope and pray that justice will be done and be seen to be done. We also hope the detainees will be treated justly and humanely.”
Archbishop Yong, however, later ordered that the printed copies of the Catholic News which carried the letter “was not to be circulated.” His order came after he had had a meeting with the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew earlier, according to the then Associate Editor of the Catholic News, Edgar D'Souza, who was also the Press Liaison officer to the archbishop.
“Archbishop Gregory Yong was summoned to a meeting with Lee Kuan Yew,” D'Souza told publichouse.sg in May this year. “After that meeting, the Archbishop apparently did an about turn and withdrew his support for the church workers that had been detained.”
“Later, the Archbishop and his Vicar General (second in command in the Archdiocese) came to see me in the Catholic News office,” D'Souza explained. “The Archbishop appeared to be very distraught. He asked me if the next issue of the Catholic News had already been printed. When I told him it had, he asked to look at it. He looked at the front page that carried the full text of his pastoral letter and the photos of the four church workers who had been detained.
“Archbishop Yong then instructed me that this particular issue of the Catholic News was NOT to be circulated and he held me responsible for ensuring this was done.”
In his press statement, Chia said, “The Catholic Church has always maintained the position that it will not involve itself in political activities.”
This seems to be a change in the Church’s position from 1987. Then, Yong’s pastoral letter affirmed, “The Catholic Church, however, must continue its mission of spreading its teachings on matters pertaining to justice as they apply to social, economic and political issues.”