Meeting with Tang Fong Har

On 29 Jan 2009, I posted an article written by Tang Fong Har, one of the 22 who were held under the ISA in 1987 for the "Marxist conspiracy to overthrow the Singapore government." In April that year, she issued a declaration of innocence along with eight other former detainees. All were immediately rearrested except Ms Tang, who was out of the country.

To date, she was not able to return to Singapore, the country she belongs to.

This year is the 22nd year after the arrests.

During my trip to Hong Kong on 14 May 2009, I had a chance to meet up with Ms Tang. When I met her at the hotel lobby, my first impression of her was that of a typical, soft housewife who did not appear threatening. How did she end up labelled as a Marxist?

While relating her experience with me over dinner, Ms Tang looked cheerful. However, I feel she must have taken a very long time to recover from this nightmare.

She told me that after the episode, she had nightmares almost every night for years. She dreamt of being taken to a door with a flight of steps to the basement where she was interrogated in the rooms in the basement. Her recurring dream or nightmare throughout her stay in the UK and for many years in Hong Kong was that she fells headlong into complete darkness and she would wake up with this image. She has analysed this dream and her view was that it showed her fear and utter helplessness.

I asked her whether she desires to come back to Singapore. She replied that she should be given a choice to come back to Singapore, as this is her country.

The Singapore immigration office in HK refused to renew her passport. Therefore, her passport lapsed. The ISD via immigration informed that they would issue a one way visa for her to return to Singapore where ISD would interview (that means interrogate) her in Singapore. She did not accept this condition for 2 reasons, namely she did not want to be coerced into giving information about her life from 1988 to 2000 (for which the ISD may manufacture and create new stories), thereby giving the ISD an excuse to harrass, intimidate or threaten her friends in Singapore. 2nd, for the sake of her children in Hong Kong, she did not wish to be subject to indefinite detention again.

Ms Tang said she often dreamt that the government would one day apologise to her and let her return to Singapore unconditionally. But she joked that if this day were to happen, her friends and her might need walking sticks to come together to celebrate this day.

I felt sad after hearing this from her. I can see that she missed her family and friends very much but what can she do? She can only meet her family and friends in Malaysia, Hong Kong or other countries but this kind of meetings are short and are unsustainable, as when they grow older, they might not be able to travel due to health conditions.

After 22 years, this incident is now history. She does not want to give up her citizenship but yet was forced to give it up. She wishes to be reunited with her family and friends in Singapore soonest. Hopefully, her dream comes true.