The Nobel committee traditionally doesn’t reveal the names of the nominees.
However, there was speculation that this 12 months’s award – to be announced on 9 October – could go to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her leadership throughout the refugee crisis in Europe.
Chia, then 74, was arrested for anti-state activities in 1966, when the People’s Action Party (PAP) was in power under Lee, who imprisoned political opponents during his 31-year rule until 1990.
Chia was imprisoned for 23 years under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention without trial. According to media reports, he was in isolation for more often than not.
Former physics teacher Chia was fired in 1989 and placed under house arrest on the island of Sentosa off the mainland for one more nine years until all restrictions imposed on him were lifted in 1998.
Activists note that Chia’s 32 years in prison were longer than the 27 years in prison of Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Lee, who died in March this 12 months on the age of 91, accused Chia and other dissidents of being communists and attempting to overthrow the federal government.
Chia, who has never been charged, was not present on the announcement of his appointment.
In his memoirs, Lee described Chia as a “determined man of stubborn, if mistaken, beliefs” who didn’t surrender even after the autumn of communism around the globe.
“His detention, despite Western media pressure, discouraged other communist cadres from pursuing their cause under the pretext of exercising their democratic rights. They were formidable opponents. We needed to be equally resolute and unyielding on this duel of wills,” Lee wrote.
Activists say the nomination is filled with symbolism.
As University Professor Gomez said in his nomination letter, Chia “has been a source of inspiration over the years for those who have undertaken the difficult path of standing up for political and other freedoms in Singapore – a path that continues to be fraught with difficulties and challenges.”
Tan Jee Say, an opposition politician who first floated the thought for the nomination, said he hoped it will shed latest light on a chapter in Singapore’s history that he felt had been disregarded of the national narrative.
“We look forward to the day when a balanced history is written about our past, and we hope that the nomination of Dr. Chia Thye Poh for the Nobel Peace Prize will pave the way,” he said.
