Mavis was sacked from her job in the civil service in January 1963. She was served with a notice of dismissal from her post of Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Education for “security reasons”. This was prior to the Operation Cold Store and led James to believe he would be arrested soon.
On 9th February, Lee Kuan Yew requested Mavis’ presence at his office where he offered to re-instate her on compassionate grounds and because she was expecting a baby. He followed this meeting with a letter in which he stated:
“I will try and keep you on for as long as possible to tide you over what must be a difficult period for you personally. But it will not be possible for me to keep you on indefinitely. Otherwise it may be said that my personal friendship with James had influenced me in overriding a security objection to your continuance in any department of the Government.”
In typical fashion, there was no evidence of these alleged “leakages about security objections” provided nor an avenue to answer the specific issue regarding her employment. The basic right to presumption of innocence was not afforded.
She was re-employed and transferred to the National Library where she worked until November 1963. At that point she resigned to leave Singapore for Kuala Lumpur. James was released in December 1963 but banned from Singapore.