Resisting Coercion

　　It was this personal knowledge of Soh Lung’s character that was behind my sense of outrage and confusion when I first heard that she had been detained under the Internal Security Act. Surely, I thought, it was a bad mistake! But as the weeks passed with the government maintaining its allegation that this dear friend was part of a Marxist conspiracy to create social unrest through violent means, I felt I had to do something, however small. Together with Shelley Wright, a colleague of mine at Sydney University Law School, we produced a petition addressed to the Singapore Minister of Home Affairs, which was signed by more than 50 legal academics from the four law schools in Sydney. We also published letters in the Sydney Morning Herald informing the Australian public of what we strongly believed to be an abuse of political power contrary to the rule of law by the Singapore government at the time. Additionally, we persuaded the Australian section of the International Commission of Jurists to write a similar letter of protest to the Singapore government.

　　I would like to think that these efforts played a small part, when combined with the groundswell of protests from around many parts of the world, to secure the eventual release of Soh Lung and others in detention without trial through Operation Spectrum.

　　In 1990, when Soh Lung was still in detention, I decided to dedicate my first book, Compulsion in the Criminal Law (Law Book Co) to her. The dedication reads:

　　It still amuses me to this day that, shortly after it was published, my book managed to find its way to the shelves of law libraries in Singapore including the NUS library, and that no one thought to black-out the dedication. I was heartened when, many years later, in my first meeting over kopi and kaya toast with Soh Lung after her release, she told me that hearing of this dedication while in detention gave her strength and courage in adversity.

　　I returned to Singapore in 2007 to take up an appointment at NUS, and made it a priority soon after settling in to re-establish my friendship with Soh Lung. Over the past decade I have witnessed the same compassionate and gentle spirit in Soh Lung that I had observed and admired back in the 1980s. I have seen her devotion towards the sick and elderly, and the care, comfort and support she has rendered to them and others in need. Soh Lung, a Marxist conspirator seeking to create social unrest through violent means? God forbid! — She is rather, a true light of the world and and the salt of the earth. I challenge anyone to persuade me to believe otherwise.