isa

MALAYSIA

Towards an ISA-Free Malaysia in the New Millennium

Kua Kia Soong

(Ed. Note: The following is the keynote address by Dr Kua Kia Soong, Director of SUARAM at the forum on the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Malyasia on 26 September 1999)

It is an honour and pleasure for SUARAM to host this historic gathering of Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees and their families who represent a cross-section of Malaysian sectors, gender, religion, ethnicity as well as those from the various decades past. SUARAM itself was born out of the Operation Lallang detentions in 1987. Upon our release in 1989, several detainees and others in the Families Support Group got together to form SUARAM. Throughout these ten years of SUARAM's existence, the campaign against the ISA and other laws which allow detention without trial has been central to our human rights work. Other concerned NGOs and opposition parties have also been calling for the abolition of this most oppressive law. A notable recent example is the Women's Agenda for Change 1999.

The ISA could be repealed at the parliamentary sitting next month [October]. Another recent initiative has come from the Chinese organisations. Only a few days ago, Cabinet members told representatives of the Chinese organisations that their election demands could be met but did not give any time-frame for meeting these demands. Among their demands is "the repeal of the long-existing ISA in line with social development". We are familiar with the speed with which the BN Government passes bills in parliament when this serves their purpose. Some of the amendments to remove judicial review in the ISA were zipped through Parliament in this manner in 1988.

Thus, the ISA could actually be repealed very easily and swiftly if there is the political will to do so at the next parliamentary sitting in October 1999. After all, this is not the first time the Chinese organisations have made this demand. In 1985, the major Chinese organisations in Malaysia released their joint declaration, in which they demanded the repeal of the ISA together with other oppressive laws in Malaysia.

The Merdeka Constitution did not provide for detention without trial Treminding Malaysians about their version of the social contract of our he Barisan National Government is very fond of founding fathers. After 42 years of Independence, it is worth bearing in mind the fact that in 1957, even though there was a war against the Malayan Communist Party at the time, the Federal Constitution did not provide for detention without trial. There was no provision in the Independence Constitution for parliament to pass such a law allowing detention without trial by the government-of-the-day.

Then in 1960, the then ruling coalition of UMNO, MCA and MIC amended the Federal Constitution giving Parliament special powers to deal with subversion. The entire notorious career of the Internal Security Act since its introduction in 1960 has shown that it is more repressive and more unjustifiable than the colonial power's 'Emergency Regulations" enforced during the Emergency from 1948 to 1960.

The constitutional amendments in 1960 and 1970 further removed the safeguards for ISA detainees which were available after three months of detention and provided by the Advisory Board. The 1989 amendments to the ISA, Dangerous Drugs Act and Emergency (Public order and prevention of Crime) Ordinance declared that there would be no judicial review for those detained under these laws except on strictly technical grounds. These Constitutional amendments and laws which violate basic human rights have rendered our Constitution based on the principle of the "rule OF law" into one based on "rule BY law".

ISA more oppressive than South Africa's apartheid and the PTA in Northern Ireland

By contrast, the moment apartheid came to an end in South Africa and as soon as their new constitution was in place, their own law allowing detention without trial during the civil war was repealed forthwith. But even during the height of the war against apartheid, South Africa's version of our ISA still allowed opportunity for judicial review.

Again, if we compare the ISA to Northern Ireland's Prevention of Terrorism Act, we will see that theirs allows less than ten days of solitary confinement while the ISA in peaceful Malaysia allows up to sixty days of solitary confinement.

All torturers must be brought to account

When the ISA was introduced, the Government claimed that it was "not meant to be punitive, merely preventive". The experiences of detainees under the ISA show otherwise. In an age when aggressors and torturers have been forced by world opinion to apologise and pay reparations, there should indeed be a commission of enquiry into all allegations of torture and maltreatment of ISA detainees since Independence and the perpetrators of torture brought to book. Our nation must purge itself of this shame if we are to join the community of enlightened nations in the new millenium.

As recently as 1987-89 under Operation Lallang ( See Kua Kia Soong: 445 Days Behind The Wire, 1990 Huazi), there have been sworn affidavits by detainees who have been physically tortured under detention. Up to the present day, no action has been taken nor any enquiry instituted. The physical abuse of the former Deputy Prime Minister last year by the then Inspector General of Police has also shown that detention without trial under the ISA is not merely preventive but punitive and completely unjustifiable.

Unless all allegations of torture and maltreatment of detainees are seriously investigated and the perpetrators of torture punished accordingly, Malaysia will find it difficult to wash away the taint of being a police state as described by our first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1988. And until the Malaysian Government ratifies the UN Convention Against Torture, we cannot claim to be a civilised society which wants to outlaw torture and other inhumane practices.

National Security or BN Insecurity?

The Barisan National Government continues to justify the existence of the ISA on the grounds that it is necessary for national security. When we look at every wave of ISA arrests and detentions since 1960, we can see a clear pattern of its use whenever the ruling coalition faces a crisis.

Beginning in the sixties, there was a clear pattern of the use of the ISA against the Socialist Front leaders before every general elections; then in the seventies, against students and intellectuals during the power struggle within UMNO (See S.Husin Ali: Two Faces); and in the eighties and nineties against dissidents of all kinds. (See Anne Munro Kua: Authoritarian Populism in Malaysia, 1996 Macmillan) The political intentions of the ruling coalition were also clearly seen in the "Emergencies" declared in Sarawak in 1965, nationally in 1969 and in Kelantan in 1977.

The latest crisis within the ruling party has seen the incarceration of a deputy Prime Minister and his supporters, again through the use of the ISA. Clearly the ISA remains a convenient tool of the ruling coalition to deal with any crisis it faces. Any ISA arrest and detention will be seen as arbitrary as long as the government is not specific in the way it defines "national security" and "subversion" and as long as there is detention without trial.

Freedom from fear of the ISA

Malaysia cannot claim to have free and fair elections as long as laws which allow detention without trial, tight media control and other restrictions on civil liberties exist. We therefore call on all voters at the next general elections to ensure that their candidates pledge to repeal the ISA in the first sitting of the new parliament.

The ISA has become synonymous with fear in the hearts and minds of Malaysians. It is the biggest impediment to intellectual and political growth of Malaysians. As long as it exists in the statutes, we will fail to build a brave new Malaysia, ready to face the challenges of the new millenium. The shameful history of the ISA these four decades past must not be allowed to carry on. It is no longer consistent with the times:

The ISA is inconsistent with the existence of the newly constituted National Human Rights Commission;
The ISA contravenes the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture. Malaysia must ratify these treaties if the National Human Rights Commission is to have any credibility at all;
The ISA is inconsistent with the need to create an information society as some of the members of the International Advisory Panel of the MSC have recently indicated;
The ISA is inconsistent with the "mature democratic society" espoused in Vision 2020.

Guilty-the Unanswered Questions
By Chandra Muzaffar

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20 September 1998
The mode and manner in which Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim's adopted brother, Sukma Dermawan, and his friend, Dr. Munawar Anees, were charged in Court with the offence of allowing Anwar to sodomise them has shocked the whole nation.

The charges against the two men raise a number of questions:

One: Since the two of them had reportedly alleged that they were sodomised by the former Deputy Prime Minister, why didn't the police interrogate the alleged sodomiser himself before producing Sukma and Munawar in Court? Isn't this the normal procedure? Isn't this required of a professional police force?

Two: Isn't it odd that both Sukma and Munawar were arrested and investigated by the police and charged in Court, after Dato Seri Anwar had already been sacked from the government and party for his 'low morals', notably his alleged homosexual activities? Isn't this a case of the police looking for evidence after the event, to justify the Prime Minister's condemnation of Anwar?

Three: Wasn't it wrong to keep Sukma in custody for 12 days without allowing him access to counsel? To make it worse, his family was not allowed to visit him. How can one defend conduct of this sort in a nation founded upon the rule of law?

Four: Likewise, how would one explain Munawar's arrest under Section 73 of the International Security Act (ISA) when he was, in the end, produced in court on a sodomy charge under the Penal Code? Doesn't this make a mockery of the legal process?

Five: Isn't it possible that detaining Munawar under the ISA, with the threat of indefinite incarceration, may have been used to coerce him to allege that he had been sodomised by Dato Seri Anwar? This is similar to Dato Nallakaruppan's arrest which carries the death penalty. The threat of death appears to have been used to force him to implicate Anwar in wrongdoings.

Six: If the guilty pleas entered by Sukma and Munawar were obtained under duress of one kind or other, how much credence can we attach to such pleas? Besides, obtaining pleas of guilt through subtle or stark coercion, intimidation or fear is not admissible in any civilised legal system.

Seven: How is it that both Sukma and Munawar were suddenly provided with counsel who entered pleas of guilt on their behalf when the services of these lawyers were not requested by their families? Isn't this yet another example of how basic rules and procedures have been violated with impunity?

It is only too apparent that the pleas of guilt of Sukma and Munawar had one objective: to implicate Anwar, shame him through the media and prepare the ground for his own arrest, presumably under the same sodomy charge. The indecent and unethical way in which they were charged shows clearly that there is a larger political motive behind Saturday's Court episode. If anything , it offers confirmation of Anwar Ibrahim's opt-repeated claim that there is a high-level conspiracy to destroy his political career.

[Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is the president of International Movement for a Just World]

Tuesday April 10

Police nab reformasi 3, DPM denies under ISA
Leong Kar Yen, Ng Boon Hooi and Susan Loone

7:49pm, Tue: breaking news Three reformasi leaders involved in organising a gathering to mark the sentencing of jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim this Saturday were arrested by police today.

The arrests, believed to be under the Internal Security Act (ISA) began with reformasi activist and malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais who was detained at around 5pm at his office in Bangsar Utama, Kuala Lumpur.

He was taken away by plainclothes police officers in two vehicles.

Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua, also a key reformasi activist, was arrested at his office in Bangsar at 5.15pm.

Chairman of the Committee for the People’s Memorandum of April 14, Saari Sungib, was arrested at his residence in Ampang.

When contacted at around 5.30pm, Saari told malaysiakini that a few policemen were waiting for him downstairs while he was getting dressed in his room.

According to sources close to Saari and Tian, both the reformasi leaders were detained under the ISA and were believed to have been taken to federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman.

Under the Internal Security Act 1960, the Home Affairs Minister can order a person to be detained for a period not exceeding two years without trial as a preventive measure if the minister finds him to be a threat to national security.

Not signed

In an immediate reaction, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters in the Parliament lobby that he has not received any information about the arrests.

Abdullah, who is also Home Affairs Minister, said that he has not signed any orders for arrests under the ISA.

“Any recommendation for an ISA arrest must be approved by the Home Minister,” he said.

When asked whether the police could arrest the reformasi activists first and later request an ISA detention, Abdullah said “no”.

No warrant

Meanwhile, a source close to Tian said the Keadilan leader was detained at his office by a group of eight police officers.

“Tian asked for their warrant of arrest and was told by one DSP Lam that the police needed no warrant as the arrest was under the ISA,” said the source. He added that Tian was driven away in a white Proton Wira with the registration number WHP 862.

Saari’s wife Arliza Jaafar told malaysiakini that a nine-member police team arrived at their house at about 5.20pm looking for her husband.

“Saari was taking his bath upstairs and when he came down, an officer named Samsudin said they were arresting Saari under Section 8 of the ISA,” she said

She said that the police also searched the contents of Saari’s computer and the cabinets in the living room before taking away Saari in a white Proton Wira with the registration number WH 5331.

Start of a new crackdown

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DEMOCRATIC ACTION PARTY

Media Comment

by DAP National Chairman Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, April
10, 2001:

DAP deplores the use of ISA to detain Oppositionists, calls for the immediate release of all arrested today and urges Mahathir not to launch a new Operation Lalang crackdown against the political Opposition and civil society dissent
------------------------------------------------

DAP deplores the use of the Internal Security Act to detain Oppositionists, including Parti Keadilan Nasional Vice Chairman Tian Chua and opposition
activists Hishamuddin Rais and Saari Sungib this evening.

DAP calls for the immediate release of all persons detained under the infamous ISA with provides for indefinite detention without trial and if the authorities have evidence that they have committed any offences, they
should be charged in court where there could be an open trial.

DAP also calls on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir not to launch a new Operation Lalang crackdown against the political opposition and civil
society dissent to protest his own vested power interests.

Last Tuesday on April 3, 2001, when introducing the Third Outline Perspective Plan (OPP3) (2001-2010), Mahathir had made a most menacing speech, threatening to "break from so-called international norms" to
bring "the full force of Malaysian laws" against opposition parties he accused of inciting racial hatred and colluding with foreigners to topple his Government.

I had immediately criticised and deplored his speech, asking whether the OPP3 and the National Vision Policy was a prelude to a new Dark Age of
gross human rights violations in Malaysia. Now this has come to pass.

The use of the ISA to detain Oppositionists marked the sidelining of Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, as he had
staked his reputation so far on not using the notorious ISA to silence the opposition.

It is no coincidence that the greater assertion of power by Mahathir comes close on the heel of his statement in Gua Musang responding to Tengku Razaleigh’s call that he remain as Prime Minister and UMNO President until after the next general election that he is prepared to do a KSM - Kerja
Sampai Mati - and would remain as Prime Minister, scuttling earlier announcements of retirement from the office during mid-term to hand over the reins of power to Abdullah.

Lim Kit Siang

KUALA LUMPUR, Rabu 11 April – Sehingga berita ini ditulis pada jam 2.00 petang ini, tujuh orang aktivis reformasi dan juga pemimpin kanan Parti Keadilan Nasional (Keadilan) telah ditahan oleh pihak berkuasa berhubung rancangan untuk mengadakan perhimpunan memperingati hari penghukuman ke atas Anwar Ibrahim yang dijadualkan Sabtu ini.

Daripada tujuh yang ditahan itu, tiga disahkan dibawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) sebagaimana yang dinyatakan oleh Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Norian Mai kepada agensi berita nasional, BERNAMA, manakala yang lain-lain di bawah Akta Polis bagi membantu siasatan.

Senarai mereka yang ditahan di bawah ISA ialah;

Naib Presiden Keadilan, Tian Chua
Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Penganjur Perhimpunan, Saari Sungib
Aktivis hak asasi manusia dan reformasi, Hishamuddin Rais
Manakala senarai mereka yang ditahan berhubung perhimpunan itu ialah;

Ketua Pemuda Keadilan, Ezam M. Nor
Naib Ketua Pemuda Keadilan, N. Gobalakrishnan
Pengarah Kempen Bebaskan Anwar (FAC), Raja Petra Kamaruddin
Exco Pergerakan Pemuda Keadilan, Ghani Haron
Tian, Hishamuddin dan Saari ditahan lebih kurang serentak di tiga tempat berasingan pada lebih kurang jam lima petang semalam manakala Ezam ditahan ketika hendak menaiki kapalterbang di Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Subang pada kira-kira pukul 4.30 petang.

N. Gobalakrishnan ditahan di pulau Langkawi semalam manakala Raja Petra pula menurut rakan-rakan yang rapat dengannya, telah ditahan ketika dalam perjalanan pulang ke rumahnya di Sungei Buloh pada jam 9.30 pagi ini.

Ghani Haron, dari Kulim, Kedah yang berada di Sarawak kerana menghadiri satu ceramah di sana telah ditahan polis ketika hendak berlepas pulang ke Kuala Lumpur pada lebih kurang jam 10.30 pagi tadi. Beliau pernah bertanding pada pilihan raya umum lalu atas tiket Keadilan di Seberang Perai, Pulau Pinang.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ketika ditemui para pemberita di lobi Parlimen semalam mengatakan bahawa beliau tidak tahu menahu mengenai sebarang penangkapan di bawah ISA. Malah beliau berkata, sekiranya tangkapan tersebut di bawah ISA, sudah tentulah beliau perlu menandatangani dokumen penahanan. Bagaimanapun beliau mendakwa tidak berbuat demikian.

Hari ini, akhbar-akhbar tempatan bagaimanapun memetik polis sebagai berkata bahawa penahanan lima aktivis tersebut dibuat di bawah ISA. Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Norian Mai dalam satu kenyataan kepada agensi berita nasional. BERNAMA, bagaimanapun menjelaskan, hanya tiga daripada mereka sebenarnya ditahan di bawah akta tersebut. Mereka ialah Tian Chua, Hishamuddin dan Saari Sungib.

Polis akan mengeluarkan maklumat lanjut petang ini.

Perhimpunan memperingati 14 April itu dianjurkan oleh sebuah jawatankuasa bebas yang dipengerusikan oleh Saari Sungib. Sebahagian besar para anggota jawatankuasanya terdiri daripada aktivis reformasi.

Penghebahan mengenai program memperingati tarikh 14 April itu telah disiarkan oleh hampir kesemua laman web reformasi manakala poster-poster mengenai program tersebut telah mula ditampal di merata-rata tempat di sekitar ibu kota.

Salah satu program utamanya ialah untuk berhimpun secara aman di hadapan pejabat Suhakam di Menara Run Razak, Jalan Raja Laut untuk menyerahkan satu memorandum mengenai hak asasi kemanusiaan.

© 2001 AgendaMalaysia

Security law allows indefinite detention, leaves victims "helpless"

KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 (AFP) - Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA), a relic of the battle against communist guerrillas half a century ago, was once described by a critic as the "Indefensible Suppression Apparatus."
Rights groups and opposition politicians have campaigned vociferously for the repeal of the 1960 Act, which superseded pre-independence legislation, and of other laws which allow detention without trial.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his predecessors have used the act repeatedly to detain opposition supporters and others deemed to be a security threat, as well as suspected criminals.

Late Tuesday and Wednesday at least seven opposition supporters were detained under the ISA in advance of planned weekend protest meetings in support of Mahathir's jailed former deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

Police can detain and interrogate suspects for 60 days. After this the home affairs minister must sign an order authorising the detention and stating reasons for it.

The order is issued for a two-year period but can be renewed indefinitely.

"Security authorities sometimes wait several days after detention before informing an ISA detainee's family," said the US State Department's human rights report issued February.

The total number currently held under the ISA is not known. The State Department cited a local human rights group as saying that as of November 30, there had been 76 detentions under the ISA during last year.

Veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, now chairman of the Democratic Action Party, was detained under ISA for 17 months in 1969 and for 18 months in 1987, when Mahathir launched "Ops Lalang" (Operation Tall Grass).

About 120 people, including opposition supporters, were detained under Lalang. A period of racial tension was cited as justification.

ISA was also used in 1990 during a period of strained relations between Kuala Lumpur and the-then Sabah state government. Later in the 1990s members of the Darul Arqam religious movement were held.

On September 20, 1998, police broke down Anwar's front door and detained him for three weeks under ISA before filing criminal charges. Some 27 supporters were also held.

Lim said this week's use of the ISA was "completely unwarranted," saying opposition supporters were planning a peaceful gathering Saturday to mark the second anniversary of Anwar's sentencing to six years for abuse of power.

He told AFP that authorities "seem to be looking for an excuse for a crackdown ... there is a sense that he (Mahathir) is losing control and unable to regain support."

Lim speculated that Mahathir's deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also home minister in charge of police, had opposed the use of the act.

Lim said for the first 60 days detainees could be denied lawyers.

"For the first two or three weeks they (police) see if they can break you," he said. "There was no physical abuse in my case but sometimes there have been serious cases of torture.

"You are helpless, of course."

Lim said Malaysia's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman justified the 1960 act to deal with the aftermath of the 1948-60 communist "Emergency."

"Now there is no need for it. If they have proved offences have been committed or are likely to be committed, they should act under the laws of the land rather than the infamous ISA."

He said the use of open-ended allegations gave authorities "carte blanche to detain anyone they like. They don't have to prove anything."

Lim said detainees were held in solitary for the first 60 days, then in a detention centre. "You never know when you will be released."

From: Dr. Munawar A. Anees
To: Bala Pillai
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 9:11 AM
Subject:
ISA - terror incarnate

Dear Editor:

The recent arrest of several people under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) of Malaysia has rekindled the memory of my own brutal kidnapping by the Malaysian police and the ongoing suffering of our family.

It was September 14, 1998, when 10-12 plain-clothes policemen raided my house. In front of my wailing, weeping, wife those savages kidnapped me to keep me as a shackled hostage in their unknown and known dungeons for the next 126 days. The world came to know of my disappearance, under the
conspiracy orchestrated by Mahathir, only after Amnesty International declared me a prisoner of conscience. Later, International PEN adopted me
as a writer in prison.

The subservient Malaysian media either stayed mum or they spread ingrained disinformation on my whereabouts. My wife, Nadia, was constantly misled with threats and harassment and her attempts to engage a lawyer on my behalf were frustrated by the police. They had one Yaqub Karim ready to forego professional legal ethics in exchange for some crumbs from the Malaysian police.

The assault that took place on that Monday morning was after direct orders issued by Mahathir in his capacity as Home Minister. I, therefore, continue to hold him personally responsible for that heinous crime against me and my
family. No camouflage under any constitutional, legal or journalistic
parlance will ever exonerate him of inflicting the trauma that my family and I continue to endure consequent to his deliberate crime that led to my abduction.

My prolonged detention by Mahathir's hoodlums taught me how it feels to be forcibly separated from one's wife and children. How it feels to be
searched and seized, disallowed to make phone calls, handcuffed,
blindfolded, stripped naked, driven in an animal cage, shaven bald,
endlessly interrogated, humiliated, drugged, deprived of sleep, physically abused. What it's like to be threatened, blackmailed, tormented by police
lawyers, brutalized to make a totally false confession, hospitalized for a consequent heart ailment, and treated as a
psychiatric patient with symptoms of Stockholm syndrome.

Barely surviving on a meager diet of rancid rice and chicken along with 12 medicines a day, I spent nearly four months handcuffed around the clock to my hospital bed, under the watchful eyes of the prison guards.

Thereafter, my ability to speak, read, and write took a considerable time to show signs of recovery. Short-term memory lapses were frequent. I existed in a fluid state in which suicidal tendencies, depression and
despair were punctuated by fits of rage and indignation. In spite of more than two years since I regained my freedom, I continue to suffer from psychiatric difficulties. Not of to speak of my two young children whose
innocence was so brutally robbed by Mahathir.

Nadia and I are deeply distressed to know that Mahathir has once again unleashed the terror of ISA against his political foes. That is yet another evidence of moral bankruptcy where the state apparatus is made to serve the
cause of a corrupt political clan. That the Malaysian police, the judiciary and the media are touching new heights in legitimizing injustice and
suppression of dissent is a given. More so when Mahathir himself has made a declaration defying norms of civilized behavior.

At the same time, and in keeping with his immoral and un-Islamic behavior, he has made specific allegations against the current ISA detainees without an iota of evidence. This reminds me of the totally false and slanderous
statements he made about me after ordering my kidnapping. Just like in my case, it is a foregone conclusion that the Malaysian police, in cohort with
the judiciary, will shamelessly fabricate "evidence" to implicate these new ISA detainees. However, Mahathir's dotage remains an obstacle in realizing
that any statement extracted under torture and coercion is patently invalid. Mahathir is under moral and legal obligations to make public the "incontrovertible evidence" against me that he boasted of two years ago. He
has none. But does he care?

In spite of the crushing weight of oppression in Malaysia, the public mood appears to be changing. There seems to be a greater resolve for the assertion of individual rights. Nadia narrated to me how, as a devastated and penniless woman with two small children in a foreign land, she spent those 126 days where erstwhile "friends" had overnight turned into impassive onlookers. It was not easy for her to live with
constant police surveillance and the dreadful thought of an impending disaster to any member of our small family. She braved many a danger to her
person including a physical assault by a police culprit who used to trail her. She suffered several cuts and bruises on her arms and legs. She displayed incredible courage, wisdom, and self-affirmation in that totally
hostile environment that gripped her in a sudden misfortune. A month before my return to the real world, she sent Aisha and Omran to Paris with her elder brother, who came from France to see us. For one month she lived all alone, forcibly deprived of the company of her husband and young children.

It is, therefore, some comfort to know that the wives of the new ISA detainees are acting in unison to secure the release of their loved ones. It is encouraging to see that they have established an effective network not only among themselves but with the several NGOs active for the cause of
human rights in Malaysia. Nadia, unfortunately, had none of these
advantages. And unlike these new detainees, I had no prior knowledge of or experience with my tormentors. My legal appeal against the so-called
"conviction" and "sentence" continues to be ignored by the symbiotic police and judiciary in Kuala Lumpur.

The media reports that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has condemned the latest ISA arrests and demanded for an immediate release
of the detainees come to me as a cruel joke. Having duly acknowledged to my legal counsel, Mr Manjeet Singh Dhillon, the receipt of my complaint (dated July 28, 2000) against my abduction, detention, torture and the ensuing brutality, the Commission has neither made any public statement nor advised of their stand on the issues raised. My complaint to the Commission was accompnied by a copy of my Statutory Declaration, the first of its kind in Malaysian history, fully documenting the sequence of events. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that Suhakam's recent statement is nothing more than a PR gimmick for the benefit of the Mahathir government. Mr Abdallah Badawi, Mahathir's deputy, unwittingly confirmed that marriage of convenience when he stated that he was expecting this sort of statement from the Commission.

In the face of dark clouds over Malaysia where violation of human rights is a daily occurrence, we are still hoping for a change. A change towards
individual liberty, freedom of speech, and freedom of peaceful assembly. We are more than ever convinced that people of Malaysia will soon join the community of nations where justice is not only respected but jealously
guarded.

Dr Munawar A. Anees
Former Prisoner of Conscience - Malaysia (Amnesty International)
Former Writer in Prison - Malaysia (PEN International)

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny upon the mind of man. Thomas Jefferson

FAC News - 16 April 2001

Concern grows over well being of ISA detainees

Internal Security Act of Malaysia is infamous for its brutality and cruelty. In the past, many political prisoners have been subjected to various means of physical and mental torture to break them.

Two of the most high ranking officials detained in the history of ISA - Dato' Abdullah Ahmad (once a Deputy Minister) and Tan Sri Samad (Group Editor of one of the local dailies) once related the kind of ordeals they had to endure during their detention.

Similar experiences were documented by Dr. Syed Hussin, president of People's Party in his book 'Dua Wajah - Tahanan Tanpa Bicara' (Two Faces - Detention Without Trial).

Rumours are now rife in Kuala Lumpur that the detainees of the recent clampdown on reformasi and keADILan leaders are also subjected to physical and mental torture.

It was rumoured that Ezam Mohd. Noor, keADILan Youth Head has been confined to a room fully painted in red since his arrest - for reasons only known to the police.

Judging on how previous detainees have been treated, concern grows that the police top brass - receiving instruction directly from those in the corridors of power - is determined to break these leaders once and for all.

In 1998, Dato' Seri Anwar was beaten to near death on the night he was detained under ISA. He was handcuffed and blindfolded - and denied medical attention for weeks after the incident. An inquiry later found the Inspector General of Police responsible for the assault, for which he received a two-month suspended jail sentence.

Malaysians still cannot forget that incidence and it tarnished the police image forever. In this latest clampdown on reformasi and keADILan leaders, people on the street whom FAC News spoke to expressed their fear that the seven detainees would receive similar fate.

Though Home Minister, Abdullah Badawi had stressed he 'does not want to see more black eyes'; it is clear he is not really in charge. After all, Dato' Seri Anwar was delivered that near fatal karate chop even as ministers and police top brass went on television reaffirming his safety.

Who in their right mind would ever believe the very same people who once lied to the nation?

The public must take more pro-active stand to urge the authority to release the detainees unconditionally. Failure to do so - or to maintain the well being of those detained - will only prompt fresh protest.

Malaysian Prisoners & the Internal Security Act
by Richard S. Ehrlich
Asia Correspondent
This story is an on-the-record interview with a Malay former prisoner who served time in jail alongside Anwar Ibrahim under the dreaded Internal Security Act (ISA), and who reveals the ISA's secretive punishments, interrogations and endless detention.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- You can be seized and imprisoned for years, without trial, behind barbed wire or in solitary confinement, under a law so dreaded that the sound of its initials, "ISA," are enough to provoke fear and silence even among the brave.

"It is both psychological as well as physical torture," Syed Husin Ali told The City Times reflecting on his six years of detention under the Internal Security Act.

"The techniques can be described in three ways. First, coercion, using physical force to make you submit and confess to false things.

"Second is persuasion. There will be two faces of the interrogators, one soft and kind, and the other a brutal one.

"Third is deception. For example, 'If you tell us what you have, or confess, you can be released'."

But often, after agreeing to "confess," you will simply be tossed back in jail with your coerced confession now used against you, he added.

British Legacy
Malaysia's interrogation techniques date back to British colonial times, Syed Husin said. "They were trained by the British, and I think the British trained them good."

When Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad arranged for his heir apparent, former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, to be arrested for alleged homosexual sodomy and corruption in September, many Malaysians and foreign leaders expressed outrage.

Anwar was Syed Husin's former student and prison cell-mate.

And Anwar is now languishing in jail, after being arrested under the ISA -- for the second time in his life.

On Wednesday, October 14, authorities relented, however, and transferred Anwar to a prison where he will be held on normal remand instead of continuing to cage him under the ISA, police said.

His remand confinement is at Sungai Buloh, Malaysia's newest prison, where Anwar will be guarded by high-tech security including closed-circuit video monitors, electric fences and computerized gates and doors.

Anwar was apparently freed because of local and international protests over Malaysia's use of the ISA against him.

Anwar earlier claimed police beat him until blood oozed from his nose and he fell unconscious.

The ISA, meanwhile, continues to haunt Anwar and others in this Southeast Asian nation.

His wife has been threatened with "sedition" under the ISA if she calls into question the justice system, or speaks too harshly about other aspects of Mahathir's government.

Anwar was jailed once before under the ISA, for 22 months, in the mid-1970s.

With him for one year of that imprisonment was Syed Husin, who was also Anwar's teacher at school, and comrade on the front lines of rallies and demonstrations during those turbulent years.

Malaysia's system of indefinite "detention without trial" is hated and feared by many, and has been used since British colonial times to crush all opposition to whoever is in power.

Thousands of Malaysians have suffered imprisonment under the ISA.

But its inner workings, tribunals, and resulting forms of punishment are known only by people such as Syed Husin, 62, who experienced its relentless, steel-trap grip.

Student and Teacher Busted
"Anwar was detained for 22 months, while I was detained for six years," Syed Husin said. "There were periods when we were put together. I spent over a year with him" in jail.

Their bust occurred in 1974.

"There was a peasant hunger march in the northern part of Malaysia, and it brought to the streets 25,000 people, mostly peasants protesting the fall in the price of rubber, and the decision of parliament to increase the monthly allowance of its members.

"Anwar gave a speech at that rally. He was a youth leader then. He had been my student in 1968 and 1969. I taught him rural sociology.

"I was an associate professor at the University of Malaya, teaching rural sociology and social anthropology. I gave a speech which was considered rabble-rousing.

"The allegation was that I was supporting the communist party in overthrowing the Malaysian regime. But I wasn't even a member of the communist party," Syed Husin added.

"I was jailed from 1974 to 1980. During that time, I was put in solitary for more than six months. I was spat on, slapped and boxed.

Today, Syed Husin is president of the small Malaysian Peoples Party, and describes himself as a "socialist." In 1990, he quit his job as professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of Malaya to focus on politics.

In 1996, he wrote a book of his ISA experience, titled, "Two Faces, Detention Without Trial."

ISA allows for indefinite imprisonment, despite no trial ever being held.

According to the law's text, the ISA is "an act to provide for the internal security of Malaysia, preventive detention, the prevention of subversion, (and) the suppression of organized violence against persons and property."

The ISA states a person can "be detained for any period not exceeding two years."

But the ISA also allows "any detention order, or restriction order, be extended for such further period, not exceeding two years, as (the government) may specify, and thereafter for such further periods, not exceeding two years at a time."

In other words, a person's imprisonment can be extended every two years, for another two years, forever if need be.

"It is a Catch 22," Syed Husin added, referring to the ISA's potentially endless cycle of incarceration, which is difficult to break.

Though Anwar later served as the prime minister's powerful number two man for many years in the government, Anwar didn't publicly fight to end the ISA, even though he earlier suffered under it.

"There is an irony," Syed Husin said. "He failed to voice strongly his opposition to a Draconian law which was used on him before. Probably he wanted to make sure his position was safe with Mahathir," and not get tossed out of power.

"Anwar even defended the use of the ISA to detain people in 1987," Syed Husin said.

"That was the last big crackdown against NGOs (non-government organizations), opposition politicians and educationalists, mainly Chinese educationalists."

According to a translation of one of Anwar's last speeches before he was arrested in September, Anwar told his followers, "I may be detained and...coerced, threatened and beaten.

"I am not frightened by all that. I have gone through such torture before and, God willing, I will bear it.

"But I felt it was important for me to speak to you now, because there is a possibility, during my detention, that I may be injected with some kind of drug to sedate me, or to disorient me, or to somehow make me unaware of what I am saying. So I declare my innocence now.

"I know the capabilities of our police officers. Some employ Gestapo methods, some use the style of police in the Apartheid regime, and some use the Israeli Mossad style," Anwar reportedly said.

The ISA also includes secretive, Kafka-style tribunals.

Inmates are brought before a three-man Advisory Board for review at least every two years, but are often sent back to their cells under additional indefinite extensions of their imprisonment.

"Normally, the Advisory Board asks you if you regret, and if so, you have to sign all these confessions and conditions," said Syed Husin, who experienced repeated tribunal interrogations.

"But there are cases where detainees said, 'Yes,' and signed all these things and weren't released, because the Special Branch thought they were dangerous people, or that they were not repenting really.

"One person I know, Wai Saing, was detained for 15 years" under ISA without trial.

"The Advisory Board sends a report to the Interior Ministry, and it is up to the minister to decide, along with a recommendation from the police."

Mahathir, in addition to being prime minister, is also minister of the interior, and thus presides over Anwar's appeals for freedom.

About 200 people are currently held under the ISA, though the number fluctuates widely, Syed Husin added.

Three Little Letters
Satirical Malaysian author Kam Raslan recently wrote, "The ISA. Three little letters that sends shivers down our middle-class spines -- assuming the middle-class have spines to send shivers down.

"It is our duty to live nice, quiet, boring little lives, led in quaking terror under the shadow of the ISA."

On October 10, more than 2,000 lawyers of the Malaysian Bar Council condemned the ISA as "an obnoxious piece of legislation undermining fundamental human rights, basic democratic principles and the rule of law" which must be scrapped.

While the Bar Council met, more than 10,000 people marched through downtown Kuala Lumpur on October 10 in protest of the ISA, Anwar's detention and Mahathir's government in one of the biggest street demonstrations since Anwar's arrest.

London-based Amnesty International said, "Anwar's treatment at the hands of the police shows the government's blatant disregard for basic human rights.

"By misusing Malaysia's laws to detain his political opponents, Prime Minister Mahathir is contravening international legal standards on freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial and the treatment of detainees."