It was an event that happened before many Singaporeans were even born. One morning 55 years ago, over 100 suspected leftists were arrested by Special Branch police and held without trial on accusations that they posed a serious security threat to Singapore.

Yet, Operation Coldstore - the name given to the police operation on Feb 2, 1963 - has never fully disappeared off the radar. And now, its ripples are being felt again. In March, a Select Committee hearing on deliberate online falsehoods was rocked by a heated discussion on those mass arrests that occurred several months before Singapore became part of Malaysia.