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Why Coldstore is a hot topic
Operation Coldstore is in anything but cold storage. The arrest of over 100 people one morning in 1963 by the Special Branch happened over 55 years ago. Yet, in recent years - and weeks - these detentions have come under intense scrutiny. Insight looks at why.
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Elgin Toh
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It was an event that happened before many Singaporeans were even born. One morning 55 years ago, over 100 suspected leftists were arrested by Special Branch police and held without trial on accusations that they posed a serious security threat to Singapore.
Yet, Operation Coldstore - the name given to the police operation on Feb 2, 1963 - has never fully disappeared off the radar. And now, its ripples are being felt again. In March, a Select Committee hearing on deliberate online falsehoods was rocked by a heated discussion on those mass arrests that occurred several months before Singapore became part of Malaysia.
