Vincent Cheng Kim Chuan (钟金全) is a Singaporean Catholic social worker who was detained under the Internal Security Act during the 1987

Operation Spectrum Operation Spectrum, also known as the 1987 "Marxist Conspiracy", was the code name for a covert anti-communist security operation that took place in Singapore on 21 May 1987. Sixteen people were arrested and detained without trial under Singap ...

for three years. Cheng was a full-time Catholic Church worker in the Justice and Peace Commission.

Detention

In 1987, Cheng was one of the 22 Singaporeans branded as a "Marxist conspirator" and arrested under

. He was allegedly to use the

Catholic church in Singapore The Catholic Church in Singapore is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. In 2016, the Catholic Foundation of Singapore reported the Catholic population in Singapore to be over 373,000. Ac ...

as a "ready cover" to organise the infiltration of disparate groups of influence including the Law Society, the opposition

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

and various student bodies. These would allegedly become pressure groups that would eventually come into open confrontation with the government. With the exception of Cheng, all the detainees were released, on various dates, before the end of 1987. In 1989, Cheng's detention order was extended by one year. Cheng was conditionally released after three years in mid-June 1990. He had to abide by six restrictive conditions, one of which was not to engage or get involved in any activity that advocated a political cause. During Cheng's detention, of the detainees, four were re-arrested and were issued with one-year detention orders. As a result, they engaged two Queen's Counsels from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, to apply to the High Court for writs of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

'', a legal action that requires a person under arrest to be brought before a judge to challenge detention lacking sufficient cause or evidence. They were unsuccessful. They then appealed to the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

. In a landmark ruling, the Court of Appeal ordered the four detainees to be released but they were immediately re-arrested under new detention orders. The detainees filed fresh applications for writs of ''habeas corpus'', but – with the exception of Teo Soh Lung – later withdrew their applications and were released. Teo's application was dismissed by the High Court after the government amended the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and the Internal Security Act to reverse the Court of Appeal's earlier decision. The amendments were expressed to operate retroactively. The legality of these amendments was unsuccessfully challenged by Teo in ''Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs (1989–1990)'' and Cheng in ''Cheng Vincent v. Minister for Home Affairs (1990)''. On 1 January 1994,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

recognised him as a "

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

." The NGO Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD) wrote an official letter of inquiry to the Internal Security Department over the issue. Cheng and his fellow detainees related some of their experiences, including physical torture, in the book, ''That We May Dream Again'', published in 2009. Cheng has also recounted on his experiences in the blog ''Singaporerebel''.

Political career

On 19 February 2011, Cheng was introduced as a

Singapore Democratic Party The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) is a social liberal political party in Singapore. Founded in 1980 by Chiam See Tong, the party gained its first seat in 6th Parliament of Singapore, Parliament in 1984 Singaporean general election, 1984 when ...

(SDP) member during the SDP anniversary dinner. In late August after the 2011 general election, the SDP held a Central Executive Committee election and Cheng was elected to vice-chairman respectively.

Notes

External links

*Vincent Cheng speaks at a Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rally (video)
Part 1Part 2

"Vincent Cheng: What I did for Wah Piow"
10 June 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Vincent Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Singapore Dissidents Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean Roman Catholics Living people Singaporean prisoners and detainees Year of birth missing (living people) Singaporean social workers