Snowden claims to have leaked top NSA secrets so that the American people can have a say in how they are governed and is satisfied that the mission was already accomplished. His unprecedented leaks caused a diplomatic furor worldwide and led to numerous internal reforms within the NSA.
In his own words, "I am not trying to bring down the NSA, I am working to improve the NSA."
It got us at The Unseen Singapore curious since civil servants and national servicemen alike are bounded by the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and are required to guard our nations' secrets stridently. Do we have a Singaporean version of Edward Snowden in our short but yet colourful history?
After much research, the most prominent and apt case study was that of Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood the current Chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).
SDP as Singaporeans know is the bastion of liberal democracy in Singapore and it was a startling revelation that its current Chairman was formerly from the infamous Internal Security Department (ISD).
However in 1979, Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood was charged under the the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for divulging ISD operational secrets. For his act, Mohamed Jufrie served 9 months jail and till today, nobody knows the contents supposedly divulged by Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood.
Whether it was a trumped up charge to discredit Jufrie who was openly critical of the Singapore Government or a genuine mis-step by Mohamed Jufrie, it is refreshing to know that brave whistle blowers in the mould of Edward Snowden exists in Singapore.
Mohamed Jufrie may not have gained the public's adoration for his brave resistance against Singapore's Secret Police but he has definitely proven his mettle and is most definitely a man ahead of his time, in fact 34 years ahead of Edward Snowden.
Mohamed Jufrie has spoken up on this issue. You can find it here.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/mohamed.j.mahmood/posts/10201184143346201
After all of Jufrie's heroism and pleas of innocence, he admits his guilt to the judge when it was an excellent chance to tell judge that he had been abused and unfairly treated! Now why is that so?
ReplyDeletehe was persecuted by the state and unless there is transparency it will never be proven otherwise. suggest PAP to come clean! stop pandering to old master lee.
ReplyDeleteJufrie's past employment with ISD is well-known with many opposition members. That is why when he joined Workers' Party and JBJ many warned them to be careful of Jufrie. This is old news, so I am quite surprised why Jufrie responded so strongly. Maybe like every old man, he is trying to correct his own history.
ReplyDeletemaybe he is the reason why vincent left sdp. better get off a sinking ship. keke
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