In May and June 1987, nine men and 13 women were arrested by the Internal Security Department (ISD).

They were arrested in two waves -- on May 21 and June 20 -- and detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) without trial.

Their crime?

Attempting to topple the government by establishing a Marxist state. This is done by subverting the social and political system in Singapore using communist front tactics.

Operation Spectrum was, according to the Singapore government, about the quashing of anti-government elements during the infancy of Singapore's nation-building.

The group of people arrested was a mix of theatre practitioners, social workers, activists, and Roman Catholic Church members.

These were the 22 people who were arrested:

1. Vincent Cheng Kim Chuan
2. Ng Bee Leng
3. Tang Lay Lee
4. Kevin Desmond de Souza
5. Mah Lee Lin
6. Teo Soh Lung
7. Kenneth Tsang
8. Jenny Chin Lai Ching
9. Tan Tee Seng
10. Low Yit Leng
11. Teresa Lim Li Kok
12. Chung Lai Mei
13. Wong Souk Yee
14. Chia Boon Tai
15. Tay Hong Seng
16. William Yap Hong Ngian
17. Tang Fong Har
18. Chew Kheng Chuan
19. Chng Suan Tse
20. Fan Wan Peng
21. Ronnie Ng
22. Nur Effendi Sahid

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Apart from this group of 22 individuals, another two lawyers, Francis Seow and Patrick Seong, were also arrested for colluding with United States diplomats and for providing information to foreign correspondents respectively.

After the first wave of arrests, the newspaper splashed the following headline on May 27, 1987: MARXIST PLOT UNCOVERED

According to author Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, one piece of evidence seized by the ISD was a copy of George Orwell's Animal Farm, an allegorical story about a group of farm animals that revolted against their human masters:

What the government said

According to a statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the mastermind behind the conspiracy was Tan Wah Piow, a then 35-year-old activist who cultivated a network of followers through the Roman Catholic Church and students at Singapore Polytechnic.

By the time of the arrests, Tan was already living in exile in London -- for a decade.

The government called them "new hybrid pro-communists", who drew their ideological inspiration from Maoism, Marxism, Leninism, and contemporary militant leftists in the West.

Bear in mind that this happened in 1987 -- the Soviet Union, while in its decline would not collapse for another four more years.

China had just emerged from the Cultural Revolution and its reform was progressing surely, but slowly.

Confessions and recantations

All the detained people eventually gave written or recorded confessions. Most were released by end-1987.

However, in 1988, nine of the detainees claimed that their confessions were extracted under duress.

One former activist claimed that he was slapped until his buccal cavity bled.

Another advertising executive claimed that he was punched, and that he was threatened with the safety of his wife.

Other detainees claimed that they were subjected to sleep deprivation and interrogation in a cold room.

All nine recanted their statements and eight of them were promptly re-arrested. They were only released after they reaffirmed their confessions.

By 1990, all of the detainees had been released.

Conspiracy?

To date, several ex-detainees still claim that the entire affair was a tool to squash political opponents, since there has been little evidence to suggest that there was a plot to overthrow the government.

A number of high-profile Singaporeans also expressed doubt at the veracity of the accusations:

What is the case against them? What evidence do you have? Although the Government has been saying, “Yes, we have evidence, otherwise we would not have arrested them.” What evidence? You tell me. There is no evidence. The only evidence is their own confession. That is all. Any court of law would throw out this kind of a confession.

Former Opposition MP Chiam See Tong, 1987, Parliament sitting

Although I had no access to state intelligence, from what I knew of them, most were social activists but not out to subvert the system

Tharman Shanmugaratnam,  The Straits Times, 2001

As far as I am concerned, the government’s case is still not proven. I would not say those fellows were Red, not from the stuff they presented... I think a lot of people have this scepticism.

Former Attorney-General Walter Woon, The Straits Times, 1991

In 2017, a book compiling the experiences of some ex-detainees was released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the arrests.

Further compounding the problem are the allegations of torture, abuse, and what Sudhir called the suspension of justice, rule of law, and transparency, which was executed under the ISA.

It has long been the basis for civil activists to call on the government to abolish the ISA and conduct an inquiry into what really happened in 1987.

To date, the government has neither abolished the ISA nor launched an inquiry except to repeat that all 22 suspects were detained for national security reasons.

Read about Operation Coldstore:

Top image via NewspaperSG and Peartrees.com