Singapore's Edward Snowden: Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood Opens Up On His Harrowing Experience

After our latest article where The Unseen Singapore likened Mr Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood to be Singapore's version of Edward Snowden, the article was extremely well received by our online readers and readership has shot through the roof!

It was also a pleasant surprise when our friends at The Real Singapore informed us that Mohamed Jufrie had come out to give further clarity on what transpired. Unfortunately, Mr Jufrie may have misunderstood our intentions. Perhaps he thought we were painting him as an Opposition mole as he took a harsh tone against our writing and argued for his innocence. Jangan sensitive uncle!

On the contrary, Mr Jufrie's past actions showcased his valiant struggle for democracy and firm defiance against the lack of free speech in Singapore, both qualities befitting of whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and himself.

Also, since Mr Jufrie himself said that his previous employment with ISD was well-known within the opposition circles, he should have confidence that his friends would not see him with a different light. Evermore so when he is a seasoned opposition warhorse who after being removed from ISD/CID joined JBJ's Workers' Party and ran for three elections (1984, 1988, 1991) before eventually switching his allegiance to SDP in 1997.

Having clarified our position, it was heartening when Mr Jufrie mentioned that "many friends and party comrades were surprised to learn ... that he had at one time worked in ISD". It truly validated the existence of The Unseen Singapore where we bring out such little known facts into the public spotlight. Despite this little success, we at The Unseen Singapore will continue to unearth such little gems and we look forward to the continuous support from all Singaporeans.

Moving on to Mr Jufrie's revelations, we were genuinely appalled at the treatment he endured and we urge him to sue the Singapore government for this outrage. Mr Jufrie must have his reasons for taking a long 34 years before coming out into the open on these outrageous series of events but justice delayed is justice denied.

If Jufrie argued that he was wrongly jailed for speaking up against the government, coerced to lie under oath in court and was physically abused during his detention, then Jufrie should hire prominent human rights lawyer like M Ravi or Choo Zheng Xi to represent him and fight against his wrongful arrest and punishment.

Given M Ravi and Choo Zheng Xi's track record (SMRT bus drivers & Little India rioters) in taking up cases involving police brutality, they are best positioned to help Mohamed Jufrie in this legal endeavour.

There are however a few issues which may work against Mr Mohamed Jufrie if he were to sue the Singapore Government. Once these issues are comprehensively explained, Mr Mohamed Jufrie will have a rock solid case at undoing the injustice done to him 34 years ago.

In his FB post, Mr Jufrie admitted to phishing for information (detainee whereabouts) from his ISD colleagues after being approached by the relatives of ISD detainees. Depending on how the learned judge interprets or twists this, it could be easily perceived as spying and that could be problematic.

Next, Mr Mohamed Jufrie also mentioned that ISD found translated documents which he was not supposed to have under lock and key at his CID office. We are not certain of the exact terms and conditions of the Official Secrets Act, but having unauthorised documents under one's possession could be an another technicality used by the prosecutor to do him in. Perhaps Mr Jufrie should reveal the nature and ownership (CID or ISD) of these documents and debunk these baseless accusations of unauthorised document ownership against him.

The Unseen Singapore wishes Mr Jufrie good health and a better showing in the coming general elections. Hopefully, Mr Jufrie will finally get the justice that he so deserves!      

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The Unseen Singapore #17 Whistle Blower Series: Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood aka Singapore's Edward Snowden

On Christmas day, Edward Snowden the now infamous ex-NSA contractor came out of the shadows and declared "mission accomplish"!

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.

The Unseen Singapore #11 Conspiracy Series: What If The Government Was Part Of Anonymous?

When news broke that Anonymous was going to take on the Singapore Government, I did a victory dance around the house! Finally someone had the gumption and the balls to get in the ring with the big bag dog and engage in smack down with them. 

Judging from my instinctive response and the responses from almost every single netter online with exception of a few party poopers, we all know whose side we are on in this David vs. Goliath match up. Anonymous is like an insurgency, engaged in hit and run tactics, doing damage at will. It is time for the government to have a taste of their own oppressive medicine just like how the Vietcong dished it to the technologically superior American forces. 

Feeling elated with Anonymous, I went to do some reading on them and to put things simply, they are a collective of individuals who will band together over specific issues, engage in massive hacking action and disappear into the night. This sounds like a recipe for success doesn't it? Being able to harness the strength of the collective but yet being able to remain elusive and outside the long arms of the law. 

Then this silly thought suddenly struck me, being this loosely formed group, wouldn't that also make Anonymous susceptible to infiltration by government forces? Why do I say this? We all know that government worldwide recruit hackers into their rungs and the Singapore government is no different! So what is stopping these "white" or government dog hackers from joining up with Anonymous to advance the government's agenda? Given the unprecedented anonymity of Anonymous, there is no name list, there are no leaders and so anything goes. How do we know the Anonymous hackers are real vigilantes that we support and not the lap dog hackers from the government? Anonymous' greatest strength is also its weakness!

With this inkling in mind, I began to question who stands to gain out of this entire debacle. On the surface, the government stands to lose the most when their pristine reputation is tarnished. Imagine a crazy scenario where an international hacker group hacks into CPF and siphons out the money and redistributes it to Singaporeans, the Singapore government would lose all credibility and be overthrow in an overnight rebellion. But that has not happened yet has it? 

Let's take stock of what Anonymous has done up till now. They made verbal threats about taking down the Singapore government but honestly with nothing concrete or significant to show for it. They have done hacking some may say but if you look closely they are some lousy sites that belong to the incumbent which is inconsequential to the running of the government. If Anonymous truly wanted to hack, why not hack CPF or the SPF? That would throw a brickbat at the government's face and shatter people's confidence in this undemocratic government.  Sad to say, the hackings till now have been low level and does not do any tangible damage to the government except for a pinch in the arm.  

This is where my wild imagination comes in. What if, all these attacks were orchestrated by the government themselves under the guise of being Anonymous. It is possible isn't it? Till now, attacks have been mild and more bark than bite. Who stands to gain from this? If the government manages to repel this Anonymous attack, the MSM would have a field day praising the government's preparedness to the high heavens. And even if Anonymous manages to take down a couple of other low level sites, the government can use this to merit the pumping in of more money into cyber security, on top of the already huge defence budget. If we recall, the government just announced a $130 million dollar cyber security package to boost our cyber defences. What coincidental timing don't you think? The beauty of this is nobody knows who these members of Anonymous are and there is no way to ascertain if these are government lackeys masquerading as Anonymous freedom fighters. And the Singapore government is well positioned to make the most out of it. 

But then again, all these are just my speculation but my senses tell me that something is fishy indeed. The low level attacks and the anonymity of the attackers makes for a good bogey man for the government to attack no?

Call this a conspiracy theory but for the sake of Singapore, I hope these Anons are for real. If they are here to do a mega wayang to push through another government agenda of increasing the defence budget down Singaporean's throats, I will be pissed as hell. In a weird way, I hope that the government will catch Messiah so that it can dispel my conspiracy theory of being a government plot. Otherwise, it smells smelly, fishy and convenient. Alternatively, to prove that Anonymous is the real deal, do some serious damage and if Anonymous is capable, take down the secret police ISD.