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SINGAPORE : Former Internal Security Department (ISD) chief Yoong Siew Wah has requested a correction with regards to an "unflattering mention" of him in the book "Men In White", which chronicles the untold stories of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP).
The book's publisher, the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has agreed to the request.
The fourth edition of the book, due out later this month, will omit a sentence stating that Yoong was asked to quit as director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in 1971, because of his supposed hand in the sacking of four officers who had conducted a raid on the home of a woman friend of Mr Francis Seow.
Seow was then Singapore's solicitor-general and is now a political dissident living in the United States.
A paragraph on page 441 of the book's current edition reads: "But in 1971, after a police raid on his (Mr Seow's) woman friend's apartment, he used his influence and friendship with the then-director of the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau, Yoong Siew Wah, to have the four officers who had conducted the raid sacked. The attorney-general Tan Boon Teik intervened to reinstate the four officers. Seow was allowed to resign rather than have his actions investigated because of his track record in the Legal Service. Yoong was also asked to quit."
Yoong had wrote in his blog that he was "baffled" by the description.
Richard Lim, one of Men In White's authors, said the final sentence in the paragraph would be removed.
He said: "The mistake stemmed from a Straits Times report on Oct 10, 1986, but we have verified that (Mr Yoong) was not asked to quit."
"We make corrections, if any, to each new printing. This is standard practice in book publishing," he added.
The book - authored by SPH journalists Sonny Yap, Richard Lim and Leong Weng Kam - was launched last month, and tells the ruling party's history over the last 50 years through stalwarts, activists and adversaries.
After his CPIB appointment, Yoong went on to become director of the ISD that same year - a post he kept until 1974.
Now 82, Yoong had been alerted to the paragraph in "Men In White" by a former ISD subordinate. - CNA /ls
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