While you were all snoozing in bed, rumours about Francis Seow passing away suddenly appeared on social media momentarily late at night on Dec. 17, 2014.

Even as details remained vague with no real word of confirmation that the Singapore-born political dissident in exile in the United States had indeed passed on, it didn't stop the news from being spread around via Facebook, such as this post below.

This alleged breaking news remained up for more than an hour before it was abruptly taken down just after midnight, and not before making some insinuations.

Other rumour-mongers, such as this one below, continued to leave the fake news up on their own social media platform (Twitter post is still up as of Dec. 18, 2014, 12pm Singapore time):

Francis Seow had pass away. Request to bring back the body back to Singapore was denied. What kind of government... http://t.co/WcE4G7X0Ul

— Kelvin Ong (@kelkel5313) December 17, 2014

Here is a screen shot for posterity, in the event it gets taken down:

Based on our own verification by Mothership.sg, we can confirm that the 86-year-old Seow is alive and in the States, where he has been residing for the last two decades.

How did this rumour come about? If only we knew. You can contact us at [email protected] if you have an answer or a smidgen of a plausible-sounding theory.

Since we're on this topic of Francis Seow, why not let's put him back into popular circulation again by recounting his life? Here goes:

Goody two-shoes years

Francis Seow is a Singapore-born political dissident who is in exile in America, where he has taken up citizenship.

Before becoming a political firebrand, he joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1956. He rose through the ranks to become Solicitor-General in 1969 until 1971.

He served under the administration of then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and was appointed senior counsel to a Commission of Inquiry in the Secondary IV examination boycott by Chinese students in 1963 prior to Singapore's merger with Malaysia.

In 1972, Seow left public service after a 16-year career and entered into private law practice, but not before he was awarded the Public Administration (Gold) Medal.

Law Society agitator

He was elected a member of the Council of the Law Society in 1976 and eventually became its President in 1986.

Seow's new appointment led him to become embroiled in politics as he had envisaged a restoration of the role of the Law Society to comment on legislation that the government was passing without any meaningful parliamentary debate.

Many members of the legal profession took Seow up on his challenge and became active by taking the statutory duty of the Society seriously and started to comment on legislation.

One of the bills that was heavily criticised by the Society, and which generated much debate from members of the public, was the Newspaper and Printing Presses Amendment Bill 1986, which sought to restrict the sale of foreign publications.

PM Lee Kuan Yew took special exception to this role that the Law Society was supposed to play.

As a result, within a few months, PM Lee Kuan Yew caused special legislation to be passed, effectively depriving the Law Society of any powers to comment on any legislation, unless the government specifically asked the Law Society for its comments.

A law to gag the Law Society and to deprive Francis of his presidency was also introduced.

1987 Marxist conspiracy

Then in 1987, things were really coming to a head: Seow was the lawyer for 22 people arrested and detained for being part of a "Marxist conspiracy".

In 1988, he was himself arrested under the Internal Security Act and detained without trial for 72 days before the General Election that year. He was accused of having received political campaign funds from the United States to promote democracy in Singapore.

According to his account, he was subjected to some forms of torture, including sleep deprivation and intense cold air-conditioning.

Soon after his release, he ran for the Parliament of Singapore as part of the Workers' Party team that contested the Eunos Group Representation Constituency.

However, his team managed to secure 49.11% of valid votes, losing to the PAP stronghold by a slim margin of 0.9%.

Post-Singapore years

Later, while awaiting trial for alleged tax evasion, he left for United States for health treatment, where he also sought political asylum.

He was eventually convicted when he was absent from Singapore as he had disregarded numerous court summons to return for trial.

Despite his exile, he has spoken at events organised by Singapore student societies in universities outside of Singapore.

During his exile, Francis became a Visiting Fellow at Yale University and then at Harvard Law School.

He has written several books, such as To Catch a Tartar: A Dissident in Lee Kuan Yew’s Prison, The Media Enthralled and Beyond Suspicion? – The Singapore Judiciary.

He now resides in Massachusetts.

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