The Experiment that Failed

In 1965, 18 convicted criminals were sentenced to death for murder – a haunting testimony to the failure of a bold experiment to reform seasoned criminals in a gaol without bars. Right to the end, Daniel Dutton, director of the model penal settlement, could not believe that the men he had befriended and worked so hard to rehabilitate would want to destroy him. Too late he realised the extraordinary hold secret society leaders had over their men. Pulau Senang reconstructs the events that led to the tragedy and the trial, and throws light on a question that has never been answered satisfactorily – Why did the experiment fail?

Alex Josey (1910–1986) was a British journalist, political writer and commentator, and biographer, best known for his biographies on Singapore’s former Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. He wrote over twenty political novels and many political articles on Singapore and Malaysia for various Singapore and international newspapers and journals. He was the first foreign correspondent to be kicked out of Singapore (then part of Malaysia) by the Malaysian government, but returned to Singapore after its independence from Malaysia and became Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's Press Secretary for ten years. He died in 1986 in Singapore, aged 76. His published books include Lee Kuan Yew: The Crucial Years (1959–1970), Lee Kuan Yew: The Critical Years (1971–1978), The David Marshall Trials, Bloodlust, Cold-Blooded Murders.