by Alex Josey
The Judge said that Mr Suppiah had, in his address to the jury ‘rather lavishly’ sprinkled alternative verdicts for them to consider. One of them was culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The Judge said he could only repeat again, by what possible stretch of the imagination could it be said that those persons who struck those fearful blows did not mean to do it, did not intend to kill? Mr Suppiah had also suggested a possible alternative verdict was arson. The Judge reminded the jury that they were concerned with murder. The accused were not charged with destroying buildings. It would be quite improper for the jury to consider arson as an alternative verdict. He directed the jury that in this case arson was not an alternative verdict. The accused were charged with murder. Three verdicts were open to them. Firstly, that the accused were members of this unlawful assembly. Secondly, that the common objects of unlawful assembly were to cause the deaths of Dutton, Singham, Tan Kok Hian, Cartoon, Chia Teck Whee, and others, and to destroy Pulau Senang. Thirdly, that while these accused were members of this unlawful assembly, one or more of them in the persecution of the common object of that assembly murdered Dutton (the first charge), Singham (the second charge), Tan Kok Hian (the third charge) and fourthly, that murder was an offence which the accused knew to be likely to be committed in the prosecution of the common object. Those accused who were members of that unlawful assembly were guilty of murder and the jury must return a verdict accordingly. But if the jury was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused were members of that assembly but had a reasonable doubt as to whether some of them were still members at the time when Dutton, Singham and Tan Kok Hian were killed, then those in respect of whom the jury had a reasonable doubt would not be guilty of murder. An alternative verdict of rioting could be returned. Or, if the jury had any reasonable doubt about any of the accused being members of the unlawful assembly, they could return a verdict of ‘Not Guilty’, and that would be the end of the case. “If you are left in any reasonable doubt as to whether the accused, or any of them, committed these offences, you must give the accused the benefit of the doubt in every case. But if on the other hand, you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt, you are sure that some or more, or all of them, committed the crimes with which they had been charged, then of course you will do your duty and return a verdict against them.”
The Judge told them to take as long as the interests of justice required to reach their verdict.
The Court adjourned at 11:35 AM on 11 March 1964. The jury returned at 4:10 PM the following day.
The following prisoners were found not guilty and acquitted:
· Kwek Kok Wah
· Tay Teck Bok
· Leow Ah Chai
· Lim Kim Sian
· Soh Ah Kang
· Koh Ah Tiaw
· Tan Tian Lay
· Gan Kim Siong
· Ng Pang Leng
· Chia Tiong Guan
· Low Chai Kiat
The following were found guilty of rioting:
· Heng Lian Choon
· Tok Kok Peng
· Cheong Kim Seng
· Choy Peng Kwong
· Lim Heng Soon
· Lim Thiam Huat
· Sim Cheng Tee
· Ang Teck Kee
· Yong Ah Chew
· Teng Ah Kow
· Koh Teck Thow
The Judge said they could consider themselves the luckiest people alive ‘in that the evidence against them, apparently, failed in the eyes of the jury, to come up to the standard which the law requires before they could be convicted of the offences with which they were charged.’ There could be no possible doubt whatever that they were members of the unlawful assembly and were among the rioters taking part in the uprising. “The sentence I am about to impose upon each of you is, in my view, utterly inadequate to the occasion. My hands are tied. You will go to prison for two years—the maximum penalty prescribed by law for this offence.”
The following were found guilty of rioting with deadly weapons:
· Chin Kiong
· Yeow Yew Boon
· Lim Teck San
· Teo Han Teck
· Aziz bin Salim
· Tan Chin
· Neo Kim Leong
· Peh Guan Hock
· Teng Eng Tay
· Sia Ah Kow
· Ng Chuan Puay
· Chew Yam Mang
· Heng Boon Leng
· Chia Geok Choo
· Ong Aik Kwong
· Chua Hai Imm
· Tan Tian Soo
· Teo Lian Choon
Here again the Judge felt bound, he said, to tell the accused that they were ‘the luckiest people alive’, in that the evidence against them apparently failed in the eyes of the jury to come up to the standard which the law demanded before they could be convicted of ‘this charge, or these charges of murder’. Again in his opinion the sentence he was about to pass was inadequate. His hands were tied. The sentence of the Court was that they go to prison for three years.
The following 18 were sentenced to death:
· Tan Kheng Ann
· Chia Yeow Fatt
· Cheong Wai Sang
· Somasundram s/o Suptramaniam
· Lim Tee Kang
· Somasundarajoo s/o Vengdasalam
· Lim Kim Chuan
· Khoo Geok San
· Chan Wah
· Hoe Hock Hai
· Ponapalam s/o Govindasamy
· Chew Seng Hoe
· Chew Thiam Huat
· Sim Hoe Seng
· Ng Cheng Liong
· Tan Yin Chwee
· Sim Teck Beng
· Cheng Poh Kheng
The Judge said he could not see how the jury could possibly have arrived at any other verdict than guilty. “Each of you has been convicted of the murder of Dutton and his two assistants. The evidence was established that these murders were committed in circumstances of such utter brutality, ruthlessness and savagery as defies description. It has indeed shaken the whole of Malaysia as accused Hoe Hock Hai was alleged by Chong Sek Ling to have said it would. In addition to these three murders you destroyed Pulau Senang itself in little over half an hour, and you did so with a speed and ferocity well nigh impossible of belief. The time has now come for you to pay the penalty for your dreadful acts. If ever the punishment fitted the crime, this case may be said with fairness and, I think propriety, to provide the outstanding instance. The sentence of the Court upon you is that you be taken from this place to a lawful prison and thence to a place of execution and that you be hanged by the neck until you be dead and may the Lord have mercy on your souls.
The End
THE 18 MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH appealed to the Singapore Court of Appeal and to the Privy Council, but without success. They petitioned the President of the Republic (for Singapore by now had become an independent sovereign state), but this was rejected. Early on the morning of Friday, 29 October 1965 (27 months after Dutton’s murder), they were executed at Changi Jail in batches of three. Three by three, at 10-minute intervals, they took their last short walk from their cells to the death chamber, their faces hooded, their hands tied behind their backs. The first three to step up to the gallows were Tan Kheng Ann (alias Robert Black alias Ang Chuar), Chia Yeo Fatt (alias Botak), and Cheong Wai Sang. The previous evening they had all been served their $5 last meal in their cells. At 3:30 AM, a police car drove up with the warrant of execution for the Director of the Prison, Yeow Koon Poh. Fifteen minutes later, the State Executioner arrived under police escort, and was taken straight to the execution chamber. By this time a whole troop of the reserve unit had been deployed along the road fronting Changi Jail. At 4:30 AM the prison chaplain, the Rev Khoo Siaw Hia of the Methodist Church arrived to say final prayers for the 18 men. They had, he said, been converted to the faith during their last months in jail, and he later produced a letter signed by the 18 condemned men to prove this.
Written in English, this is wh
at the letter said:
Our Dear Rev Khoo Seow Wah.
We, Tan Kheng Ann, Chia Yeow Fatt, Chong Wai Sang, Somasundram, Lim Tee Kang, Lim Kim Chuan, Khoo Geok San, Chan Wah, Sumasundrarajoo, Chew Cheng Hoe, Ponapalam, Sim Hoe Seng, Sim Teck Beng, Tan Eng Chwee, Ng Cheng Leong, Hoe Hock Hai, Cheng Poh Kheng, Chew Thiam Huat, do thank you from the bottom of our hearts and the depth of our souls in this humble expression of our dying gratitude for all you have done for us. You were everything to us in our hour of need—friend, adviser, confidant, father, and our unfailing source of strength and inspiration. You were the beacon that guided us to the haven of Jesus Christ. You taught us to have unquestioning faith in God’s Word, and to pray to Him on humbly bended knees to ask for his forgiveness for all the sins and transgressions that we have committed against His Commandments. During these long agonising months of mental torture, of waiting, of hoping, of seeing each hope crumble away till now when we stand at the very brink of death, at the very edge of eternity, you, dear Rev, have given so much of yourself to us in selfless devotion, to receive in return—absolutely nothing! Nothing that is, but the knowledge that you are serving God to the best of your ability and the satisfaction that you derive there from. It is through you that we now look Death in the face with courage and equanimity, for we doubt not God’s promise of forgiveness for past iniquities by the simple act of belief and acceptance. We know that in three and a half hours’ time when we pass from this earth our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will be waiting with open arms to lead us to our new home in the house of our Father. If only every man in this world were like you, dear Rev, what a better place it would be. There would then be no wars, no murders, no covetings, no sins, no prisons, just peace and tranquillity everywhere. It is with a heavy heart that we must now bid thee goodbye, but we know that we shall see thee again one day—in a better place, a better time, a better day. With our dying breath we once again affirm to thee our undying gratitude—gratitude that will transcend even Death itself.
Fare thee well, our dear Rev,
Yours in Christ ... (18 signatures)
It is not known who actually composed this remarkable document, nor whose hand wrote it, but it is most unlikely that any of the 18 men themselves were responsible, though at the time they signed the letter it may indeed have reflected their feelings. Most officials doubted, however, that any of the condemned men had seriously embraced Christianity or expressed any sincere remorse for their actions.
By 6:15 AM, as the sun was coming up, the last man was hanged. The State Coroner made the formal identification of the bodies before they were removed to the General Hospital mortuary to be claimed by relatives. At 8:55 AM, the first nine bodies were brought out in a van marked ‘Prison Industries’. The area around the mortuary was sealed off and remained closed until all the bodies were claimed by the relatives. All 18 men were buried on Sunday afternoon, some in Christian cemeteries. Among those to receive a Christian burial was the gangster believed to have been the ring-leader of the riot—Tan Kheng Ann, alias Robert Black. On his grave his brother, Eddie Tan, erected a magnificent headstone.
For the next five years, Pulau Senang was out of bounds. Then, in August 1968, the Government decided to convert it into a bombing range for the Singapore Armed Forces. Plans to develop the island for economic purposes, as the Prime Minister hoped in 1965, were abandoned.
Though in 1980 secret societies in Singapore were no longer the menace they had been, they still existed. There were still gang murders, gang fights, extortion, stabbings, robberies. It was no secret that prostitutes, small traders, taxi-drivers, amahs, hawkers, could still be threatened to pay for protection. But, as in the past, Europeans were still exempt from their attention. Secret societies and their operations remained essentially an Asian affair.
Why do Orientals join secret societies?
No one seems to know. There have been secret societies in Singapore for more than 150 years but there has never been an authoritative inquiry. In the early days, the societies served a useful purpose in that they protected the new immigrant, helped to find him a job, saw that he was properly buried. Modern secret societies are different: they are gangs, and have been for many years. In the 1970s, the University of Singapore Law Faculty interviewed 100 detainees, and made the astonishing discovery that they were all employed at the time of their arrest. Detainees said they had joined the gangs for a wide variety of reasons including revenge, status, greed for money, excitement, companionship and protection. Their average age was 17.
What sort of human beings were the guilty men of Pulau Senang?
· Heng Lian Choon, 30-year-old bachelor. He had four years of English education. He was a vegetable seller. He was found guilty of rioting.
· Toh Kok Peng, 24-year-old bachelor bachelor and vegetable farmer. He had five years of Chinese education. His father was dead. No previous conviction. Guilty of murder.
· Ang Teck Kee, 24-year-old bachelor. He had worked in a pineapple factory, studied up to Standard Six. Guilty of rioting.
· Cheong Kim Seng, 23 years old. Unmarried. Chinese-educated. Worked as a goldsmith, then in a foundry. Guilty of rioting.
· Yong Ah Chew, 25-year-old bachelor. Worked in a weaving factory, then in printing works. No previous conviction. Guilty of rioting.
· Choy Peng Kwong, 23-year-old bachelor. Worked as a labourer for the Singapore Harbour Board.
· Teng Ah Kow, 25-year-old bachelor. Father dead, mother without means of support. Worked at a food stall, later in a laundry. No previous conviction. Guilty of rioting.
· Lim Heng Soon, 24-year-old bachelor with four years of Chinese education. Helped parents in farm work. No previous conviction. Guilty of rioting.
· Lim Thiam Huat, 19 years old. Unmarried, orphan. Five years of Chinese education. A mechanic. Guilty of rioting.
· Chin Kiong, 24 years old. Four years of Chinese education. Delivery boy. Father a clerk. Mother in mental home. No previous conviction. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Peh Guan Hock, 28 years old bachelor. Unmarried. Chinese-educated. Cement worker. Father dead. No previous conviction. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Chia Geok Chee, 21-year-old bachelor with widowed mother. Left school at seventeen. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Yeo Yew Boon, 22-year-old bachelor. Chinese educated. No previous convictions. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Teng Eng Tay, 23-year-old bachelor. Five years’ English education. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Ong Aik Kwong, 22-year-old bachelor. Three years’ Chinese education. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons. Odd-job labourer. No previous conviction.
· Lim Teck San, 23-year-old bachelor. Two years’ Chinese education. Mee (noodles) salesman. No previous conviction. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Sia Ah Kow, 22 years old. Father dead. Two and a half years of Chinese education. Odd-job labourer. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Chew Yam Meng. 24 years old. Unmarried. Steel worker. Mother very old. Father unable to work. Two years’ Chinese education. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Teo Lian Choon, 27-year-old bachelor. Father dead. Six years’ Chinese education. Factory worker. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Tan Chin, 23-year-old bachelor. Father dead. Born in China, came to Singapore at the age of 12. Paint sprayer. No previous conviction. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Heng Boon Leng, 21 years old. Unmarried. Parents dead. Grandmother in hospital. Six years English education, odd-job man. No previous conviction. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.
· Neo Kim Leong, 30 years old, married with three daughters. No education. Helped grandmother on poultry farm. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.