2nd

December

1974.

AWAKENING is a new bulletin published by USSU This publication. which will out as o f t e n as possible. aims to bring up-to-date news to the member of our Union. In addition to this, the contents will also include evaluations about happenings and conditions in our University, in Singapore and in the world. Why is this publication entitled A W A K E N I N G ? It is so named because we students are becoming more and more conscious o f our society and of the role we are playing in it. Our awakening includes the realisation that the world is full of contradictions. While rich countries compete among themselves in building deadlied weapons of war, poor nations and dying of starvation. While workers and farmers toil and slave to eke out a subsistence. capitalists, managers and middlemen live luxuriously on huge profits . While courageous men struggle to construct a more equal and more human society, they are being suppressed by politicians who cling unserupu lously to positions of power. We are aware that as students our role in society - a society full of these contradictions - is a significant one. We are young , and we have the vast capacity to learn. As University students - a very tiny and very privileged percentage of the population - we must be prepared to act, to fight the forces of oppression and exploitation in our society with the view of relieving the sufferings of the oppressed and exploited people. The time has come for us to unite and to rally under a common barrier, to uphold the worthy principles of justice, equality and d e mocracy. With growing knowledge and hardening conviction the students will overcome.

SUPPORT O R PERSECUTED STUDENTS! U

ATN T E D THEIR COURT HEARINGS TO GIVE VALUABLE MORAL

SUPPORT! FOLLOW LEGAL PROCEEDINGS CLOSELY TO GUARD JUSTICE AND RIGHTNESS!

3 - 5 D e c e m b e r a t 4th M a g i s t r a t e C o u r t s CHAN KUM SHEE & CHNG MENG KER 11 - 15 December at 1st District Courts TAN WAH Plow (USSU President), NG W A E LING & YAP KIM HONG (workers)

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JUSTICE NOW! SUPPORT CHAN KUM SHEE AND CHING MENG KER IN THEIR FIGHT AGAINST 'OBSTRUCTION' CHARGE! Chan K r l Shee and Ching Meng Ker's case will be heard in the 4th ui Magistrate's Court on 3rd, 4th, 5th December 1974. Their charge reads : ' You.., did use criminal force to one Arumugam, a public servant , to wit, you pushed him and prevented him from entering the premises, in the execution of his duty as such public servant, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under section 555 of the Penal Code Cap 105 Section,' According to the police report of Inspector Arumugam and we quotes 'On 1/6/74 at about 2220 hrs , together with a party of men, I raided Block 62, 157-N Commonwealth Close for controlled drugs. I identified myself. But entry to the premises was obstructed by two persons in the flat. They were violent and started to push me and prevented me from searching the premises. One of them, Chng Meng Ker, M/26 i/c 0124572/A of 18-C Henderson Crescent called me a "bastard". However both of them were subdued and placed under arrest. Nothing incriminating was found in the premises. The other person is one Chan Kum Shee, M/24, P.P. 005916.' Chan Kum Shee is a student and a former Councillor of the Students' Union while Ch ' Meng Ker was a final year student and a union member at ng the time of the alleged incident. They were doing their exercises in H.D.B. environments. So that they may be better acquainted witn the HDB environment, the owner of the flat had very kindly allowed them to live in his flat and had registered their names and particulars vrith the HDB authorities. This flat was also frequented by other student friends of Chan Kum Shee and Ch'ng Meng Ker. Prior to the alleged incident on 1st June 1974 when the flat was raided by the Central Narcotic Bureau for drugs, the HDB officials had visited the place on many occasions since December... On one occasion on 9th May 1974, police officials and HDB men led by a Inspector Lee Soon Koy, searched the flat and particulars of various students, namely Chong Meng Ker, Chia Yong Tai, Cecilia Lim, Chuah Chong Lai, Juliet Chin, Tsui Hon Kwong, Soh Weng Sing and Tan Wah Plow were recorded. They were then in the flat helping Ch 'ng Meng Ker with his academic presentation. One week later, on 15th May, the flat was again raided, this time by the Immigration Departmant, purportedly looking for "illegal immigrants" Though Juliet Chin, Chia Yong Tai, Chuah Chong Lai, Soh Weng Sing and Nooh Keng Gee could produce their passports which were in order, their passports were nevertheless confiscated. But, their passports were returned the day after intervention by their lawyers. These high-handed acts are to be deplored. The important question is ... are Chan Kum Shee and Chang Meng Ker innocent scapegoats? Were the Central Narcotic Bureau officers actually after some other people, as the HOB, Police and Immigration officers were on previous incidents. Remember, their arrests wore just towards the end of the Anti-Busfare Hike Campaign. Recent events like the June arrests of 31 persons on alleged Communist activities (including the famous lawyer T. T. Rajah) and the arrest of our President Tan Wah Plow and American Marine workers for the so-called rioting at PIEU continue to expose the suppressive nature of our society. Against such a background, it is very clear to us why wo need support Chan Kum Shoe and Ch'ng Meng Ker, Because ve want to uphold the moral rights of students as human beings to participate in alleviating the sufferings of the country's poorer majority. We will not be cowed by these intimidating and repressive measures that have been inflicted upon us. All the more, we have to stand steadfast on our rights. JUSTICE NOW! to CHAN KUM SHEE and CHUNG MENG KER. Attend all the court headings. Buses will be provided daily at 8.50 a.m. at the Union House to bring students to the Court.

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OPPRESSION OF OUR PRESIDENT CONTINUES The oppression of Tan Wah Plow does not end with his arrest and possible conviction. Wah Piow is continually under authoritarian intimidation now. For the past Few days he has been followed by suspicious characters in cars, some of whom, when confronted and questioned on Saturday, have produced police warrant cards and admitted that they were under orders from their higher-ups. Wah Piow's passport has also been confiscated. On 28th November he crossed over to Johore Bahru to visit some friends for a few hours. On the way back, at the Causeway. a man approached the car. He produced a police warrant card, addressed Wah Piow as 'Mr Tan' and demanded Wah Piow's passport, His ground was that Wah Piow had not got an exit permit from the Singapore authorities to go to Malaysia. Wah Piow was also instructed to present himself at the Immigration Dept. in 7 days' time to explain himself. However, a friend who was in the same car and who was under the same legal obligation to get an exit permit, did not have his passport confiscated. Why was Vah Piow singled out? The reason appears to bo that he and already made plans to visit the university Sains Malaysia and the Universiti Malaya that weekend to speak at rallies there. Somehow, the authorities got to know about those plans and took away Wah Piow's passport to prevent him from informing our fellow undergraduates in Malayaia about students' struggle for justice in Singapore.

THE SO-CALLED 'GUIDE FOR STUDENT ORGANISATIONS': ADMIN'S LATEST WEAPON AGAINST STUDENTS' The newest weapon revealed by the Administration in its moves against USSU and University societies and clubba is the so-called :Guide for Student Organisations', 'Guide ' in this context is a highly misleading term, used instead of 'Strict Rules and Regulations', a title which would be far more accurate considering tne contents of the booklet. Some of the more notorious sections. of the 'Guide' includes

section III. Banners and Posters Prior approval in writing must be obtained from the Public Relations Officer for the display of any documents, notices, posters o r banners in any part of the campuses and if approval is given, such display must be confined to the sites approved. Within the University campuses, posters and banners may be put on trees . Posters may also be put on existing notice boards marked Students ' Motive Boards, the premises of the Students' Union (in accordance with such rules as the Union may hove made) and the Halls of Residence (subject to the approval . of the Master or Principal of the Hall concerned. Posters and banners cannot be mounted on any University buildings and fencing, road or traffic signs , road curbs , water tanks and electrical installation boxes in the campuses . Further, no words or signs whatsoever may be written, painted or stencilled on roads or pathways in the campuses or on corridors in buildings, A person o r , i n the case of a soceity, the office bearers of the society, committing a breach of this rule will be liable to a fine of $50. Repeated offences will be dealt with by the Board of Discipline... section XI. Application for use of University Premises and Facilities a) Rallies Students who wish to hold rallies must obtain a written permission from the Public Relations Office to hold such rallies, A written application for permission must be made at least, throe working days before the date on which it is intended to hold the rallyc Sponsors and speakers at rallies which are held without permission will be dealt with by the Board of Discipline.

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b) Other Functions held at: i) Lecture Theatres and Nissen Huts Application forms are available from Mr. Chia Min Yen, Administrativr Assistant, Registrar's Office and should be submitted at least two weeks before the function. ii) Other parts of the University Application forms are available from the Public Relations Office and should be submitted at least two (2) weeks before the function. Prom the above sections it con be seen that the 'Guide' is a misnomer for it is no guide at all. The handbook consists of strictly enforceable rules and regulations 'with all the attendant disciplinary actions, as three students found out. The three students, Tsui Hon Kwong, Choo Poo Yoong and George Khng, took part in an HSSU Rally on 18th November 1974 at the Lower Quad. A few days later, each of them received a registered letter drawing their attention to the Rally, the so-called 'Guide' and disciplinary actions. USSU promptly wrote Mr Isaac, the Assistant Registrar, pointing out that the .'Guide' was a threat against Freedom of Speech, and that the three members concerned were part of an USSU Rally. Henceforth all contacts on the matter should be direct with USSU, To this letter Mr Isaac has not replied. At a meeting with Affiliates of the Union on 2 6th November, it was decided that a draft resolution on the 'Guide' be framed, to DO finalised soon. Also, Affiliates should discuss among themselves as the bureaucracy involved in the 'Guide' would hamper their activities tremendously. Affiliates who were not present at tha-t meeting should take note, and contact the Union. It is interesting to note that the so-called 'Guide' (supposed to . have been in existence since June '74) ^^^^ suddenly revised in November 1974... to make it more repressive?? Though it has been in existence since June '74, it has never been enforced till now. Why? We have always held election and other rallies since June. Obviously, it is because students are responding in their hundreds to USSU. Rallies nowadays are well attended compared to what we had been just 10 months back. Also, USSU is no longer clowning in the issues it takes up - like retrenched workers' plight etc. Students are also coming forward to their responsibility to their society. We are going to see more and more the unequal society we live in and the repressive machinery that perpetuates it... Whither University Autonomy? There never was, said our T.C. So it is hardly surprising that the University Admin is an extension of the long arm of that repressive machinery. It is more subtle in its supression. It has produced a so-called 'Guide' whilst Universiti Malaya is under a very antagonistic University and University Colleges Act and Nanyang University is bound hand and foot by its so-called 'Students Affairs Departments. Let us not be deceived by this apparently innocent 'Guide', for its implementation will cripple us in our service to society. Lei us reject this 'guide'. THE DECEMBER 11 TRIAL: QC ACCEPTS DEFENCE Mr John Plates Mill QC sent a telegram on 2ath Nov agreeing to conduct the defence of Tan Wah Piow, Ng Wah Ling and Yap Kim Hong. Mr Mill, who was requested by the USSU lawyer, Mr G. Raman, to take on our case, has got 46 years' practice as a lawyer and has some working experience in the Carribean. EPITAPH OF THE FIRST COURTCASE OF THE MONTH, By Chan Kum Shee If we were ever convicted, do not feel surprise, For there are countless innocents who were yet'found' guilty, Do not be afraid that student repression had again triumphed, For pessimism and fear will not destroy repression And if you don't see us again, do not feel mournful For there is nothing to mourn over, except the death of justice.