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for propaganda exploitation and at the same time necessitate re-arrest
action if they are not to be allowed to flaunt Government's authority.
In these circumstances it is considered there is no advantage to be
gained in imposing conditions of this nature.
17.
The release within the Colony of a small number of the less
important persons would present a means of judging communist reaction
and that of the general public. Should this reaction be acceptable
then a phased release programme could be planned taking into account,
of course, the political climate and the level of communist activity
generally. Should the reaction be unfavourable the vast majority
of the detainees, including the more important ones, will
still be in custody.
18.
Factors to be taken into account then selecting prisoners
for release should be:-
(a) their relative importance in their respective spheres
of communist activity and the threat they pose to security;
(b) the extent to which the communists are likely to give
publicity to their release in view of (a) above;
(c) the date of their arrest and subsequent length of
detention; and
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(a) the date of expiry of their detention order (in many
cases this is not linked to the date of arrest).
It is suggested that the general principle upon which selection should
be based is early release of the lesser important communists and,
where possible, those who have been detained the longest. However,
this latter factor should also be allied to the date of expiry of
the detention orders to avoid the need, if possible, of applying for
new orders.
19.
If selective release within the principles set out above is
to be considered some further advantage could, perhaps, be obtained
by endeavouring to suggest that one or more of the released detainees
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