Operation Spectrum - TV Confessions

TV Confessions

During their time in prison, all the detainees eventually signed confessions of their involvement in the Marxist plot. Most of them also made their confessions on television as it had become customary for the government to televise confessions of those held without trial under the ISA. An interview with Vincent Cheng was broadcast on 9 June, some 19 days after his arrest. For two hours, Cheng answered questions from four journalists about his role in the Marxist plot. Over the next few days, the Singapore press published lengthy extracts from the interview.

In a two-part television documentary titled Tracing The Conspiracy, broadcast on 28 June, other detainees spoke of the purported roles they played in the conspiracy. Tang and Teo said that they targeted the Law Society as a pressure group to oppose the government. Wong spoke of how the drama group, Third Stage, used plays as a tool to portray Singapore's social and political system in an unfavourable light. Low, Chung and Tan Tee Seng talked about their student activist days. The detainees said Tan Wah Piow had insisted that they infiltrate the Workers' Party, which was why they helped to print and distribute Workers' Party pamphlets during the 1984 General Elections. After the elections, Tsang and Tan Tee Seng moved into positions of influence within the party. They later took control of the party's publication, The Hammer, and used it as a channel to propagate anti-government sentiments and influence public opinion against the government.