神秘的姚俊威案件

THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF DICKSON YEO

Teo Soh Lung

I retract my earlier suggestion that charging Dickson Yeo in open court will end all speculations. See https://www.facebook.com/function8ltd/posts/1885040208339611?__cft__[0]=AZV6-6v9CvtFcwHOnsNU0aKeayHasgxaYngUCfiZWZFf3aNaQkAW9AYGZR3G6-H1xYo1tz7DWhjD09a9X_VN9O7U26lsmpDnRuQwMy5O2cUHGLrULuIlaGdo0GjL2-hkv52aPwOijap0Z1mhQPvKs4Za50TpHlyoeqLjEG7o3VJxtK3HgBmWoc7Gp2ipHWNvWYU&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

No, charging him at this late stage will not stop speculations. It is too late. He has been in prison for six months without trial. This is a long time. He should have been charged within 48 hours of his arrival in Changi Airport on 30 December 2020. The authorities chose to detain him for the customary 30 days under the ISA and then serve him with a two year detention order before the end of that period.

It is too late to charge him now because in all probability, if he is charged, he will plead guilty. And no one will be the wiser. Many of the alleged Muslim terrorists in the past were detained under the ISA and subsequently charged under the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act. They all pleaded guilty, one for contributing a very petty sum of $200 to a foreign organisation deemed a terrorist organisation by the ISD. Another person was charged for false declaration under the Passport Act and sentenced to six weeks' jail. They served their prison terms and were deported. Therefore, it made good and practical sense to plead guilty to offences rather than be detained under the ISA for an indefinite period of time. As we all know, such period may extend senselessly to 26 years as had happened to Dr Chia Thye Poh. He was also subjected to severe restrictions on his movement for another six years.

The Singapore government is fond of conspiracy theories. In 1977, it cooked up the theory of European Communists (or Euro Communists as coined by the PAP government) influencing English educated professionals. That alleged conspiracy forced the PAP to resign from Socialist International or be expelled from the organisation. So lawyers like G Raman, Tan Jing Quee and journalists like A Mahadeva and Ngoh Teck Nam etc were arrested under the ISA.

In 1987, the government cooked up the theory of a bunch of English educated “Marxists” fell under the influence and spell of exiled Singaporean student Tan Wah Piow and attempted to overthrow the PAP government using communist united front tactics. All these theories are absolute nonsense.

Let me therefore put forward a conspiracy theory. Is it possible that the United States and Singapore had conspired to damage the good name of China by arresting Dickson Yeo and convicting him of being a spy for China?

The facts revealed in the Agreed Statement of the Public Prosecutor are rather interesting. It stated that Dickson Yeo made about 45 trips to China. The Singapore government must know that Dickson Yeo made these 45 trips or about 15 trips per year to China. He was just a PhD student who had registered a Singapore company for the purpose of obtaining resumes of people. Surely, having the best spy equipment in this region it would be aware of his activities. Why did the government choose not to take any action against him and allow him to go to the US to register another company there?

If Dickson Yeo is working for the US and Singapore, would China be incensed that its name is damaged? Would China take this incident lightly? If it does not, Dickson Yeo may face some unforeseen consequences. Allowing Dickson Yeo to be a free person after his return to Singapore may be bad for him as well as Singapore. What if he disappears from Singapore? Would it be safer for Dickson Yeo to be kept under 24 hours surveillance either in Changi Prison or in one of the black and white bungalows of top ISD officers?

Anything is possible. The case of Dickson Yeo may be the first of a string of such cases that will leave us wondering if Singapore's national security is under threat. And we will continue to speculate as long as Dickson Yeo remains silent behind the walls..