During the trial the prosecution called Ong Pang Boon, later a PAP MP and Minsiter of Education as well as Ngiam Tong Dow as their witnesses. On the third day of trial Judge FA Chua threw out the case and acquitted the members of the Fajar 8 of all charges.
In May 1954, James and other members of the Fajar editorial board were arrested for publishing an allegedly seditious article titled “Aggression in Asia”. However, after three months of the trial, Fajar members were released 26 August 1954. English Queen’s Counsel D.N. Pritt acted as the lead counsel in the case as well as Lee Kuan Yew.
The arrests and the trial that followed were to mark a major turning point in the history of Singapore and Malaya. They invigorated the left-wing movement in Singapore, gave the University Socialist Club a greater ideological unity and led to the formation of the People’s Action Party.
