Cold Blooded Murders (36 page)

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 what 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.

·
        
Teo Han Teck, 23-year-old seaman. Single.
Orphan. Guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.

·
        
Tan Yim Chwee, 20 years old. Single. Father died
when he was seven. Mother mad. Left school when he was 10. Guilty of murder.

·
        
Teo Han Teck, 23 years old, a seaman, was guilty
of rioting with deadly weapons.

·
        
Aziz bin Salim, 23 years old, was English-educated.
His father, until his death 10 years earlier, had been a cinema manager. Aziz’s
relatives were all in good positions. Aziz was educated up to Senior Cambridge
level. He was guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.

·
        
Chua Hai Imm was a cobbler. His mother was a
schizophrenic. He was guilty of rioting with deadly weapons.

Why did this magnificent experiment
fail? Is there a simple explanation? Here was a thoughtful, sincere,
well-planned attempt to help unfortunates, a scheme to help young men from
broken homes, most of them, persons without the comfort, the restraining
influence, of family life, to turn away from crime and to re-enter decent
society. Were the ‘scum of Singapore’, as Major James contemptuously described
them, utterly beyond help? Were they, for their own reasons, character flaws
perhaps, outside the scope of rescue? Could they never be brought back into
normal society? Must they forever remain outside? Was the destruction of Pulau
Senang evidence of a common intent to demonstrate to the authorities the
gangsters’ rejection of this attempt to help them? Or was it, as defence
counsel suggested, a terrible example of what could happen when men,
justifiably or otherwise, feel that they have been goaded too far? Had they
reached the limit of human tolerance? Some witnesses said that the gangsters
had been disgusted with allegations of corruption among officials on the
island. But this had not been proven, and in any case, corruption, even if
true, could hardly be considered a primary reason for gangsters to riot.
Might it have been a contributory factor? After all, it is said that even
gangsters expect a certain code to be observed. Is there honour among gangsters
as there is supposed to be among thieves?

Sociologists and others have written a great
deal about mob behaviour, but many important questions still remain unanswered.
For example, it is generally accepted that mob hysteria is usually without
logic, yet some mob activity clearly has definite purpose, as apparently the
riot on Pulau Senang had a common purpose. This was to destroy all that had
been built on the island, and to kill Dutton and others. Why did they want to
do this? That is the question which has no satisfactory answer. Some mob
activity seems to be without common purpose, except to destroy. What, for
instance, except a senseless urgent desire to destroy, transforms an excited
group of football fans into a howling mob of wanton destroyers determined to
smash everything useful or beautiful within reach—to break chairs, mutilate
mirrors, trample on paintings, tear material, rip out telephones, overturn
cars, kick in doors, set fire to homes ... to scream and destroy? What
underlying motive releases this mad, dark passion, this frantic wish to destroy,
which the experts tell us, is hidden somewhere deep inside every human being?
What is this urge which, suddenly released, swiftly changes even normal decent
people into raging beasts capable of the most hideous of crimes? Within seconds
an ordinary person can become a rioter, a hooligan, a murderous barbarian. In a
flash the stark truth is revealed that nothing but a thin veneer separates
civilized man from raging beast.