merger, and Lee was keen on ensuring his political survival through the arrests. Lim's meeting with A. M. Azahari on 6 December 1962 would change the British's minds. Azahari was a leading Bruneian leftist who would eventually be accused of masterminding a rebellion in Brunei two days later. After that meeting, the British approved the swoop, and within a day the Internal Security Council approved a round of arrests. The operation was given the codename "Coldstore". However, the operation was delayed by almost two months as Lee and the Tunku negotiated over the list of people to be arrested. A list of 169 people was eventually finalised, with Lim's name at the top of the list. In the early hours of 2 February 1963, Operation Coldstore was carried out. In the end, 113 detainees were arrested, with the rest managing to escape. Lee offered Lim permission to leave Singapore if he wanted to, but he chose to stay to face another incarceration without trial. Lim never personally recounted in detail his detention experience. The detention lasted six years, even longer than his previous term when he was arrested under Lim Yew Hock's government. It was clear, however, that this detention broke him mentally: The detainees were treated badly. Initially, men were kept in solitary confinement, had no access to the toilet, and were forced to stay in a barren cell except for a small lightbulb on the ceiling and a chamber pot. Detainees were only allowed access to a lawyer more than a month after they were arrested. David Marshall, who conducted an investigation into the conditions of the detention, said that conditions were "radically worse than conditions imposed in the past" by the British colonial government or any previous Singaporean government". Under such conditions, Lim's health deteriorated. He suffered from depression and high blood pressure. The doctor prescribed medication to keep his blood pressure under control, but it seemed to make him more depressed. Eventually, he had to be moved to the Singapore General Hospital, where he attempted suicide. Eventually, Lim gave up the struggle in prison and requested to be released. On 21 July 1969, Lim wrote two letters: one addressed to Lee Kuan Yew, and one to Lee Siew Choh. In those letters, Lim stated that he had "completely lost confidence in the international communist movement", and that "communism is not as ideal as what we think