Cold Blooded Murders

by Alex Josey

  James was asked if he did not agree that the violence on the island was an outburst of human intolerance.

  He replied that the outburst was not personal hatred of Dutton, or revenge against Dutton. “Dutton had to be, had the misfortune to be, the living embodiment of a system affecting their lives on Pulau Senang. He represented the authority of the Singapore Government and in my opinion that holocaust was directly directed against the Singapore government and the system that detained them.” James repeated that Dutton represented a system, a better way of life to which these men—‘the scum of Singapore’— were antagonistic. They couldn’t stand a system which took them out of their unpleasant habits in Singapore.

  James’ explanation of the savage riot was that the detainees knew that prison accommodation in the State of Singapore was at an absolute premium: they knew that a prison designed for 2,000 (Outram Road Prison) was being pulled down. They knew that one man, and one man alone, in the State Prison Service could build Pulau Senang. They thought that if this man, Dutton, was done away with and the place destroyed, the Singapore Government would be in an extreme difficulty to contain them.

  James described the island before it became a settlement as being ‘completely virgin, with the exception of a retired lighthouse keeper who lived on the beach’.

  Dutton first landed on Pulau Senang with a group of detainees on 18 May 1960. They were ferried to and fro until 1st June when the working party, selected from Changi Jail by Dutton himself, slept there for the first time. They camped just off the beach for three months, and slowly cut their way back through the virgin jungle. Button lived in a hut with his second-in-command, Jenardaran, 100 yards from the detainees.

  Within four or five months, Dutton had brought over some hens and pigs.

  Major James explained that after the first working batch selected by Dutton, the rest sent over to Pulau Senang were selected by the Superintendent of Prisons at Changi Prison. They were selected entirely on the length of time they had been in Changi. They would have been in Changi at least 12 months. They were sent over in batches of 30.

  Nothing had been fixed as to how long they had to stay on the island. On an average, a man would be there for between 12–18 months before his name went to a Review Board to see whether his ‘conduct and industry’ were of a nature which would enable the Board to consider release. Major James was the chairman of the Board. The Board sat every month and Button had instructions to submit 30 names for consideration every month. Dutton would be present at the meeting and discuss the man’s record. The police had the final say on who would be released. Many names were put on the list eight or nine times before the Board would agree to let them go. This recommendation would then go to the Minister for Home Affairs. If he agreed, then the man would be sent to the Work Brigade Camp at Jalan Bamai (on Singapore Island) where he would work for six months, and then set free. But if he managed to get a job with an employer after three months, he could go without delay.

  If a detainee infringed the rules of conduct at Pulau Senang he would be sent back to Changi Jail, where he would serve six months, and forfeit the period of time he had spent on Pulau Senang.

  Pulau Senang was an open prison in the fullest sense of the word. Detainees were told if they went to Pulau Senang, they would have to work, it was not a picnic holiday camp. It they did not want to go they could stay in Changi where their chances of release were, as Major James told the Court, ‘negligible’. But, explained Major James, if a detainee at Pulau Senang ‘kept his nose clean and worked hard’, he had an almost certain chance of getting released.

  Mr Ball: Was it a fact that a prisoner did have the sure knowledge that he could, by his own efforts, obtain his release? Or could the police overrule that?

  Major James said he had no doubts about it, whatsoever. So long as a man behaved and worked hard, his chances of release from Pulau Senang were almost a certainty. But, he added, the police had to be watchful. If kidnapping was prevalent in Singapore (as it then was), the police could be most reluctant to allow a known kidnapper to be released at that time. He might be tempted to revert to his old ways again.

  Major James admitted that the Ministry of Education had been unable to send any teachers to Pulau Senang; there were no organised recreational facilities, and entertainers (a mixed troupe of men and women) had called at the island once. He said they got so seasick they never came back.

  At first, detainees were paid $0.10 a day, and then $0.30.

  In March 1961, Major James wrote to Dutton about the hours the men were working. He told him that the settlement had reached a stage of development where the pace would have to be slackened a bit. In April 1963, he wrote to him again and laid down the hours the detainees were to work.

  Dutton kept to this scheme for a time when he became very enthusiastic about certain buildings, when he increased them again. The first letter read (dated 6 March 1961):

  I feel the time has come for you to introduce a scale of work at Pulau Senang. I suggest 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM with your usual mid-morning break, and from 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM for weekdays and from 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM on Saturdays and Sundays, and thereafter the detainees are free for recreational and educational activities.

  The second letter was dated 22 April 1963 and was an instruction. It read:

  With effect from receipt of this order, the hours of work of detainees at Pulau Senang will be as follows:

  Weekdays

  7:30 AM to 11:00 AM

  12:30 PM to 4:00 PM

  Sundays

  7:30 AM to 11:30 AM

  Criminal law detainees will not work on Saturday afternoons or public holidays but will have normal maintenance tasks. It may be necessary for certain projects, such as the jetty, which depends upon tides, for them to work outside these hours. They will be given compensating time for extra hours worked. No detainee will exceed a 44-hour week without the written authority of the Director of Prisons.

  On 9 July, 1963, 13 detainees, all carpenters, were sent by Dutton back to Changi Jail. Major James promptly summoned Dutton to his office and asked him why. Dutton explained that on the Saturday afternoon these men had refused to work on an urgent job at the end of the jetty.

  A defence counsel asked Major James whether it was true that men had been ordered to work in the rain without raincoats.

  Major James: I can only answer you by saying that at Pulau Senang I have seen men working in the rain practically nude, which would be their normal way of working in the rain outside Changi Prison. Working in the rain in these circumstances on a tropical island could on occasions be heavenly.

  Major James said that he told Dutton to select as the first batch ‘what you can find in the way of masons, brick-layers, tradesmen’. They were told that if they were selected they would have to work hard. There were more volunteers than room on the island.

  James admitted that prior to 6 March 1961, the detainees worked 12 hours a day. They were then paid $0.10 a day.

  Major James said that in April 1963, he sent Dutton a letter. This was because there had been trouble over working on a Saturday afternoon. An attendant, a former detainee, had been attacked by detainees with cangkuls, James said he had to call out the Reserve Unit. The row started when a settlement attendant warned a detainee about an offence. The detainees’ story was that they had been working all night, and they had asked the attendant for water which he had refused to give them. Major James said this story was untrue: they had not been working all night.

  James agreed that Dutton had worked the detainees, unauthorised, overtime, but he held that Dutton was not disobeying orders but, as the man on the top, he used his judgement in cases of emergency. James said that Dutton had satisfied him on 23 April that overtime had been necessary. A road was caving in and there were threats of rain. The road had to be repaired before the rains came.

  Under heavy cross-examination, James explained that certain construction projects depended on tide. When it was low tide at night, th
ey worked at night. If something collapsed in the middle of the night ‘we would put it right at night. Not wait until morning.”

  James said he had heard rumours of corruption at Pulau Senang and had reported the matter to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

  James told the Court that all detainees were returned to Singapore once a month to receive visits from relatives in prison.

  One of the defence counsel asked Major James what he thought was the real purpose of the island. Was it to produce a magnificent feat of engineering, like a jetty? Or was it to teach the detainees how to become good citizens, and respect law and order?

  James told him the short answer was that the idea of Pulau Senang was to show detainees that there was a better way of life than living as a secret society gangster. It was an essential ingredient of this better life that they could become proud of achieving something by their own efforts. They achieved that. “They built a magnificent establishment, the best prison establishment I have seen anywhere in the world. They built this with their own efforts under Dutton’s leadership.”

  James went on to say that work was the major factor of rehabilitation to men in whose vocabulary the word work did not exist—‘not unless you call extortion work’.

  Did Dutton have favourites? James said that would be out of character with a man like Dutton. He thought highly of some of the detainees: these would have been the ones he would have thought he could have relied on.

  Mr Braga: Do you know that he used a system of informers among those whom I call his favourites?

  Major James: I don’t doubt there were plenty of people who would run to him with information. That would be common in an establishment of that nature.

  James added that he thought some of the informers might be among the most shrewd and cunning performers he could think of anywhere.

  Mr Braga: Didn’t Dutton force detainees to become blood donors?

  Major James: They gave of their own free will.

  He said that the Blood Transfusion Unit came and prisoners gave blood—as they would anywhere—for the cake and cup of tea.

  Mr Braga: But I was told that if they did not do so they would be sent back to Changi.

  Major James: That is a diabolical untruth.

  He explained that twice the detainees won a prize for being the organisation with the greatest number of blood donors of the month. The money was paid into the General Amenities Fund which bought sports equipment for the detainees.

  James was questioned about corruption on the island. He said an officer had told him that a member of the staff was driving about Singapore in a car owned by the relatives of a detainee. “He told me that the same person was wearing a Rolex watch which had been given to him by the family of that detainee.” James said detainees were not allowed to receive money from relatives. He said that Settlement Attendant Low Ah Kow had often been accused of trafficking, bringing contraband—cigarettes and tobacco—from Singapore into Pulau Senang. Surprise searches were made but nothing was ever found.

  Former Chief Officer Jenardaran gave evidence that he had heard reports of corruption: there were complaints against Low Ah Kow but nothing was proved. He passed this information on to Dutton. He knew nothing of Low conveying messages from relatives to the detainees, or of him receiving money on consequence. He had made a complaint against Chia Teck Whee to Major James for receiving money from detainees to secure release. It had been alleged that Chia had been seen driving around in a detainee’s car, taking the detainee’s relatives for a ride.

  James told a defence counsel that instructions regarding tools at Pulau Senang were that they were kept in the guardroom: tools used at the worksite were kept in the workshop. At the luncheon break tools that were being used would be left at the worksite.

  Witness followed witness. Much of the evidence was repetitive. The patience of judge and jury, accused and witness, became sorely tried. A new note of interest was struck when one of the prosecution witnesses, a detainee, Chong Sek Ling (alias Low Ho Kia), revealed that he had held the rank of General Headman of the Group 18 Secret Society (also known as Chap Sar Yeow). This is one of the highest ranks in a secret society.

  On one occasion, the Judge asked Crown Counsel why he continued to cross-examine a witness. Mr Seow explained that he was trying to establish a recapitulation of what happened.

  Judge: It does not add any strength to your case. It only irritates me and the jury. You do yourself more harm than good.

  Chong Sek Ling said he had been lazy in Pulau Senang and twice had been sent back to Changi.

  In his evidence he told of a meeting in the dining hall. Chong said there were seven of them. It was a gathering of those who were high in positions in their respective secret societies.

  Mr Ball: I object to that answer being recorded.

  Judge: On what grounds?

  Mr Ball: On the grounds of attacking the character of the accused.

  Crown Counsel: I’m afraid I’m bereft of words. We must face facts. This island was set up for Criminal Law detainees. The witnesses are themselves members of various secret societies. Whether the Crown wishes it or not, directly or indirectly, the fact is that all our witnesses were former members of secret societies, and by any irresistible inference all the accused are themselves members and that is why they have been detained under the Criminal Law, and the sooner we face the facts of this case I think the better it would be.

  Mr Ball: I have nothing to say.

  Judge: Your objection is overruled.

  Chong said that he met Tan Kheng Ann after a visit to Singapore and Tan told him that Dutton was very cocky and the leaders of the secret societies had met and they had made the arrangement and trouble would start in the near future. Tan said they had made up a list of the persons they were going to liquidate. There were seven of them; Dutton headed the list. Chong said he told Dutton all about this. Dutton laughed. He said he was not afraid. Anyone who attacked him would land himself in hospital for a week. One punch would be enough.

  Witness: He took the names down in a booklet.

  Mr Francis Seow: Where did he get the booklet from?

  Witness: From his hip pocket.

  Judge: What does it matter whether he produced it from his shoe or his armpit? Why waste time? If Counsel does not like it, they can cross-examine on it.

  Chong said he did not join in the riot. Instead, he went to the kitchen to lay in some food and to have a good feed. Did he like the food at Pulau Senang? He said he considered the food at Changi better because he did not have to work hard for it. If he did any work at Changi it would be light work. He was 38 years old. There were no members of his society in Pulau Senang at the time among the detainees but a settlement attendant, Robert Choo, was. There were members of rival secret societies with whom he had gang-wars prior to his imprisonment at Changi. He admitted that the men he gave evidence against in Court were all members of rival secret societies.

  Why did the group of rival gangsters tell him the plot? Because, Chong said, they had affection for him. They warned him not to tell anyone. Crown Counsel asked him why he wanted to help Dutton. He said: “Because during my three years at Pulau Senang, I found Dutton was not corrupt. He was fair. He gave equal treatment to all.”

  Chong said that Tan Yin Chwee told him that the leaders of the secret societies had decided to kill Dutton, Chia, Tungku, Singham, Cartoon and SA527 (Tan). Tan Yin Chwee said he had been assigned to kill Dutton.

  On the night before the uprising there was a cinema show. There one of the ringleaders told Chong that the revolt would shake the whole of Malaysia.

  In an effort to discredit witness Liew Woon, Mr Abisheganaden asked if it was true that accused Chia Yeow Fatt had been associating with his wife, So Fah, for years?

  Witness: Rubbish.

  Counsel: Are you known as ‘Mighty Mouse’?

  Judge: Is this relevant? Is it relevant to this case whether he is called ‘The King of Siam’ or ‘Mighty Mouse’?
Please don’t waste any more time. I have given you excessive latitude and my patience is running out.

  Another counsel persisted: Are you known as ‘Mighty Mouse’, alias ‘The Pimp’?

  Braga: You came forward to give evidence because you were not happy about this incident?

  Witness: Out of righteousness I came forward to give evidence, Mr Braga. Out of righteousness.

  Braga: Why did you do that? Were you unhappy?

  Witness: They were too cruel.

  Quek Hai Cheng gave evidence that Corporal Choo fell while running away from a rioter with a parang. “While he was on the ground I threw my body over him.”

  “Why?“

  “To save his life. Corporal Choo was a very nice man. He is married with children. I was quite prepared to sacrifice my life for him. Robert withdrew his parang. Choo was carried to the office.”

  Quek Hai Cheng, a prosecution witness, was under cross-examination.

  Counsel: What were you?