Once a Jolly Hangman (8 page)

With its sensational revelations, the trial made compulsive reading in newspapers all over Malaya, in Singapore's Straits Times and back in Britain. Readers followed the grim reports which were published under such garish headlines as 'Dutton Was In Flames When He Was Cut
Down'. At the trial the Public Prosecutor, Francis Seow said Dutton had died a terrible death having 'blundered' by underestimating the size of the uprising which he said was a 'quite sizeable section' of the 316 detainees on the island that day were involved in the rioting.

While the horrors of the trial were related in court and published in newspapers across Malaya and Singapore, there was one man who had a special interest in the outcome of the case. Darshan Singh, then aged 30, had been in the job as chief executioner for the British only four years. Although he was by then quite experienced having been taught the textbook way of hanging, he did not know exactly how many he would be obliged to execute. Most observers guessed that only the ringleaders would get the death sentence, about six in all. So it came as a surprise to everyone - especially to the young prison officer Darshan Singh who was present in court throughout the trial - when he heard Mr Justice Buttrose deliver the sentences. The news to the general public came on the morning of Friday 13 March 1964 just after he had carried out two more executions in Changi Prison where the Isle of Ease prisoners were also being held. The front page headline in The Straits Times screamed: 'Senang Revolt: 18 To Hang'.

Although he would be provided with a team of assistants to control the men, shackle arms behind backs and legs together, then help lead them to the gallows, it was still an awesome responsibility for Darshan Singh. He must, according to the English Table of Drops, carry out the executions as quickly and humanely as possible. To ensure this the prisoner was dropped an exact measured length according to his or her weight and height and modified if required to take account of their physique and muscularity, especially the neck. The force of the drop combined with the position of the knot below their left ear was designed to cause instant unconsciousness, then rapid death. The prisoner is weighed prior to execution and the weight in pounds - less an allowance of 14 pounds for the head - divided into 1,020 to arrive at a drop in feet. It takes between half and three quarters of a second for the prisoner to reach the bottom of the drop, once the trap is sprung. A heavy person would require a short drop and a light person a longer drop according each individual weight. This method was also Britain's legacy and Darshan Singh was quick to ... er ... 'learn the ropes' - as he often quips - from the rule book. He says Seymour was not always
careful enough when he carried out an execution and things often went wrong. He was the last British colonial hangman in Singapore and Singh hopes one day his name will appear in the Guinness Book of Records as the most prolific executioner of all time - with special mention of what he regards is his greatest accomplishment: the day he hanged those 18 men from the Isle of Ease whose trial and conviction for murder he had witnessed from start to finish. He told me that he had actually applied to the publishers for this recognition and when I enquired at their offices in London I was told his request had been denied. No reason was given. Perhaps such a record was considered too unsavoury for this revered and popular publication - or maybe he had to do the impossible - provide proof of this
'achievement' before it could be considered and accepted. Singapore would never allow such proof - given that these are their near-sacred secrets - to be published officially anywhere.

When all the appeals processes had been exhausted and an execution date fixed, the 18 were separated in individual cells early one Friday morning in 1964. A guard stood at each cell door. Each prisoner had already been weighed and measured. They were of varying weight, height and muscularity and Darshan Singh had to ensure he got his sums exactly right for each prisoner. He did not want anything to go wrong. 'If you get it wrong the head would go one way and the body the other', he told me. This was one of the biggest tests of his career. As a new day began Darshan Singh, helped by two assistants per prisoner, led them in single file three at a time into the execution chamber, their arms already secured tightly behind their backs. They were then made to stand on the twin traps doors where their legs were strapped together. Any last minute panic struggling and kicking out as they plunged downwards when the trapdoors opened may mean starting all over again. It was a spectacle none of the witnesses - the prison governor, doctor and other officials - wanted to see twice. It was nightmarish enough, even with their experience.

The prisoners died together three at a time instantaneously. But not before Singh 'kindly' uttered what he thought were comforting words: 'I am sending you to a better place than this'. According to execution policy the bodies had to remain hanging for at least ten minutes to ensure death had taken place or as soon as the prison doctor certified
death had taken place. Those waiting for their turn could hear the clunk of the trapdoors as they opened simultaneously and three dull thuds. They were already helpless with their arms pinioned behind their backs. Panic set in for many as they began wailing in sheer terror. It was important to get it over with as quickly as possible. Each batch took almost 40 minutes from the time they were prepared, put on the gallows, then left to hang for the prescribed time. The bodies were removed as soon as they were pronounced dead by the prison doctor. The gallows had to be checked to ensure the mechanism would work the next time. Even so, they were being executed at a fast rate. The entire gruesome process was all over well before lunchtime. Nothing had gone wrong. The 18 corpses were lined up in the prison morgue awaiting disposal. The unclaimed bodies were sent to a crematorium chosen by the prison; the others taken by grieving relatives for funeral services according to their religion.

Eighteen of the accused had been jailed for the maximum of three years for rioting while being armed with deadly weapons, 11 more for two years for rioting only. The remaining 11 were acquitted. They in particular were thanking their lucky stars they were not among their fellow inmates who were being hanged that morning. Two of the nine defence lawyers, Jiwat G. Advani and Chug Kiat Leng, described the trial as 'the biggest in Malaysian legal annals'. As the jury retired to consider the verdicts after Mr Justice Buttrose completed his five-day summing-up, he said: 'The unflagging interest you have given this case from start to finish is beyond all praise'. To the 18 sentence to three years for rioting with deadly weapons, after saying he concurred with the jury, he said: 'I am bound to tell them that they have to consider themselves among the most fortunate people alive in that the evidence apparently failed in the eyes of the jury to
come up to the standards which the law requires before they can be convicted of the charges of murder. Here again there can be no possibility whatsoever that they were not members of this unlawful assembly, who with a large number of armed prison detainees, took part in this armed uprising. Here again the sentence which I am about to impose is quite inadequate to the occasion, but as it represents the maximum that the law allows me to impose, my hands are tied'. Just imagine if the evidence had not failed by a whisker to bring about the death penalty in these cases, Darshan

Singh would have had 47 hangings on his hands. Earlier when the judge sentenced 11 accused to two years jail for rioting, he also told them it was utterly inadequate punishment but that was the maximum prescribed by the law for this offence.

The trial which was over by 8.00 p.m. ended a day of suspense reported The Straits Times. 'As the court waited anxiously hour by hour, strong parties of policemen patrolled the precincts', wrote one of its reporters.

Crowds gathered and left when there was no indication when the jury would give their verdict. At 2.30 p.m. came the first indication that the jury was in the last stages of their deliberations. Hastily, the nine defence counsel put on their robes and so did the prosecution, Senior Crown Counsel Francis T. Seow and his assistant Mr K.S. Rajah, Director of Public Prosecutions. The jury trooped in at 4.05 p.m. about five minutes after the court had assembled. All was still and deadly quiet. The foreman of the jury then stood up and read out in loud firm tones the verdicts again each accused individually in the numerical order in which they were arraigned before the court. The foreman then proceeded with the verdicts - verdicts of 'guilty of murder', 'guilty of rioting' not guilty', guilty of rioting', or 'guilty of rioting while armed with dangerous weapons'. The accused were referred only by their numbers - none by their names as charged.

After announcing the sentences Mr Justice Buttrose turned to the special jury and said: 'The Singapore government indeed owes you a debt of gratitude which will be difficult to pay'. The Court of Appeal and the Privy Council considered appeals against the death penalty to no avail. They appealed to the President of Singapore which by then had become a fully independent sovereign state - again in vain.

Darshan Singh had undertaken most arduous and most macabre task of his life. Perhaps it was the biggest, most arduous and most macabre task in the life of any executioner in history. These are the men he hanged: Tan Kheng Ann, alias Robert Black, alias Ang Chua; Chia Yeow Fatt, alias Botak; Cheong Wai Sang, alias Genii; Subramaniam Somasundram; Bobby Lim Tee Kang; Vengadasalam Somasundarjoo; Lim Kim Chuan, alias Tua Tai; Khoo Geok San, alias Kapalu Batu; Chan Wah; Hoe Hock Hai; Govindasamy Ponnapalam; Chew Seng Hoe; Chew Thiam Huat, alias Baby Chai; Sim Hoe Seng; Ng Cheng

Liong; Tan Yin Chwee; Sim Teck Beng; and Cheng Poh Kheng.

One of the most surprising aspects of this case I discovered while thumbing through disjointed archived records of what took place during that period was that all of the above prisoners who were hanged claimed they had converted to Christianity while waiting to be executed. Just before Darshan Singh went to work, the Reverend Khoo Siaw Hia, the prison's Methodist minister, arrived to give his final blessings. Later he
produced a letter which was released to the media and signed by all of the above-named prisoners. 'Our Dear Rev. Khoo Siaw Hia, it began.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and the depth of our souls in this humble expression of our undying gratitude for all you have done for us. You were everything to us in our hour of need - friend, adviser, confidant, father, and our unfailing source of strength and inspiration. You were our beacon that guided us to the Haven of Jesus Christ. You taught us to have unquestioning faith in God's Word, and to pray to him on humbly bended knees to ask for his forgiveness for all the sins and transgressions that we have committed against His Commandments. During these long agonising months of mental torture, of waiting, of hoping, of seeing each hope crumble away till now when we stand at the very brink of death, at the very edge of eternity, you, dear Rev., have given so much of yourself to us in selfless devotion to receive in return - absolutely nothing! Nothing but the knowledge that you are serving God to the best of your ability and satisfaction that you derive there-from. It is through you that we now look death in the face with courage and equanimity, for we doubt not God's promise of forgiveness for past iniquities by the simple act of belief and acceptance. We know that in three and a half hours' time when we pass from this Earth to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will be waiting with open arms to lead us to our new home in the house of our Father. If only every man in this world were like you, dear Rev. what a better place it would be. There would be no wars, no murders, no coveting, no sins, no prisons, just peace and tranquillity everywhere. It is with heavy heart that we must now bid thee farewell, but we know that we will meet again one day ... in a better place, a better place, a better time, a better day. With our dying breath we once again affirm to you our undying gratitude ... gratitude that will transcend even Death itself. Fare thee well, our dear Rev. Yours, in Christ.

No one knows who actually composed this letter and it is not unusual for people in such a dire situation to suddenly find Jesus after a lifetime of sinning. But the ordeal was not over for all those who helped send the 18 convicted killers to their deaths or put the others behind bars for many years. It was feared that the prosecution team and Judge Buttrose himself would now be targeted by the secret societies to get revenge. Buttrose was guarded round the clock until he was repatriated to Britain. Francis T. Seow, Senior Crown Counsel and his assistant K.S. Rajah, Director of Public Prosecutions, were also given police protection until it was deemed that any possible threat to their lives no longer existed, Darshan Singh told me. But he said he was never given any protection himself! Perhaps it was because they thought he was safe working in Changi Prison surrounded by armed fellow officers. But perhaps that could have been the most dangerous place for Darshan Singh to be at that time.

6

Gallows Humour

If chief executioners like Darshan Singh have a macabre sense of humour it should surprise no one. Making jokes in the face of nightmarish situations is a part of human nature, an inborn defence mechanism, psychologists will tell you. The hangman's lot, in particular, cannot be a happy one. Unless, of course, he is heartless, sadistic and really enjoys what he does. Even if they have such perverted natures - as perverted perhaps as some of those they execute - it must be a heavy burden to bear, despite their outward show of bravado and self- righteousness. Although he would not admit it, Darshan Singh's burden must be particularly heavy - he has hanged nigh on 1,000 men and women in his 50-year career as Singapore's chief executioner.