[Apa yang sangat-sangat diperlukan oleh pihak polis bertopeng ISA adalah pengakuan sahaja - walaupun ia palsu semata. Di sinilah seseorang itu akan teruji dengan dahsyatnya. Walaupun begitu pihak polis bertopeng amat takut kepada satu perkara - anda mati ketika dalam tahanan mereka!

Ada dua sahaja kategori mangsa lulusan ISA - samada mereka nanti akan keluar bebas kerana tidak berjaya diperdaya atau menjadi hamba yang serba akur sahaja kehendak pihak berkuasa. Para pecinta keadilan perlu memberi sokongan moral kepada mereka agar dapat bertahan kerana tidak ramai yang berpeluang untuk membuktikan merekalah benar-benar seorang pejuang. Ramai yang tumpas kerana ada sesuatu yang tidak kena pada diri mereka. - Editor]

Terjemahan oleh: SPAR-03-025

http://www.malaysia.net/aliran/monthly/2001/3g.html

Kesyaitanan ISA: Humbankan ke Lipatan Sejarah

(The Evil of ISA: Banish it from our midst)

Oleh: Lim Guan Eng

Empat tahun yang lalu, saya pernah ditahan di bawah ISA kerana dianggap sebagai satu ancaman kepada keselamatan negara. Kalau adapun ancaman yang saya lihat ketika itu adalah unsur-unsur yang menggugat kedudukan Dr. Mahathir Mohamad sebagai presiden UMNO yang datangnya daripada Tengku Razaleigh.

Satu kenangan lama menjentik minda apabila ISA digunakan lagi untuk menahan reformis pihak parti pembangkang, yang terkini 10 wirawan sudah teraniaya dan kita telah diberi amaran bahawa tekanan itu tidak ada tepiannya. Seperti lazimnya, alasan haprak untuk ketenteraman awam, keselamatan dan kepentingan negara dijadikan pakaian harian tanpa hentinya. Tidak kiralah betapa dungunya perkara itu semua. Inilah taktik yang digunakan berulang kali selagi mereka yang sedang mabuk kuasa terus gilakan kedudukan mereka sambil negara semakin hancur dihurung korupsi.

Akal yang waras tidak dapat menerimanya apabila polis bersekongkol dengan kerajaan terus menyogokkan pembohongan betapa negara akan huruhara seandainya seorang insan dibebaskan. Mungkin juga mereka sedang mencuba-cuba satu amalan lama Menteri Propaganda rejim Adol Hitler yang bernama Joseph Goebbels yang pernah berkata dengan angkuhnya: 'Lancarkan secara bertubi-tubi satu pembohongan besar dan rakyat akan percaya bahawa itu adalah benar'. Apakah ini sasarannya apa yang mungkin terjadi seandainya rencana besar-besaran ISA itu dilaksanakan.

ISA adalah satu hukum perundangan yang amat zalim kerana ia membiakkan pembohongan dan penipuan. Mereka yang menggunakan ISA tidak perlu berpegang kepada tali kebenaran, menghormati keadilan ataupun mengambil-kira hak asasi individu yang menyangkuti martabat dan maruahnya. Keseluruhan matlamat penahanan untuk siasatan selama 60-hari itu adalah bertujuan memutar minda para tahanan untuk memudahkan kejituan penangkapan mereka tanpa perbicaraan oleh pihak yang berkuasa.

Ketika saya ditahan saya telah diminta bercakap bohong di depan kaca TV betapa Perdana Menteri telah bertindak tepat semasa menangkap saya. Saya telah memberitahu polis bahawa saya tidak ada bakat untuk berlakon. Jika bakat itu ada pada saya, sudah pasti saya sudah menjadi kaya raya sebagai seorang bintang filem dan bukannya sebagai seorang aktivis demokrat yang papa kedana yang dijadikan sasaran untuk didera.

SB (Polis cawangan khas) telah menganggap saya berkepala batu dan memulakan penderaan asas sebagai satu hukuman. Saya tidak dibernarkan tidur selama 48 jam. Saya telah diarahkan duduk di sebuah kerusi yang mempunyai bahagian belakangnya yang tinggi sambil sebuah lampu yang terang benderang dipasang menyuluh muka, sedangkan satu pasukan penyiasat bekerja bertukar giliran sepanjang 24 jam mendera saya dengan menjerit-jerit di telinga.

Penyiksaan ini hanya dikendurkan apabila kesihatan saya menjadi terganggu kerana deraan yang bertalu-talu, sehinggakan saya diserang demam panas ketika bersendirian di bilik deraan. Mungkin kerana timbul rasa takut yang saya akan mati, para pendera itu telah mengurangkan siasatan yang bertubi-tubi.

Saya yakin kaedah yang sama untuk memutar minda sedang dilaksanakan ke atas para tahanan ISA. Hati saya merintih mengenangkan penderitaan mereka semua. Kita terpaksa menunggu untuk mengetahui kalau-kalau mereka tidak dizalimi seperti yang dijanjikan oleh Timbalan Perdana menteri Abdullah Badawi.

Janji-janji seperti ini, walaupun disebut oleh pihak yang paling tinggi seperti Abdullah Badawi tidak semudah itu boleh dipercayai. Tetapi, kalau para tahanan tidak dihenyak sehingga lebam matanya adalah disebabkan kemarahan rakyat marhaen dan reaksi masyarakat antarabangsa yang memandang jijik akan beberapa peristiwa penderaan, seperti yang pernah dialami oleh mantan timbalan perdana menteri Anwar Ibrahim, yang telah membuatkan pihak polis lebih berhati-hati terhadap aktivis yang mereka tahan.

Namun, segala penderaan fizikal dan mental itu sudah menjadi satu igauan kepada tahanan ISA yang masih hidup. Mengikut pengalaman sendiri, saya boleh katakan adalah amat sukar untuk seorang tahanan itu melawan bukan sahaja para pendera tetapi keadaan kesepian yang ditanggunginya itu yang mencetuskan perasaan dia hidup dalam buangan, yang disaluti ketakutan dan kerisauan terhadap insan-insan yang dikasihinya. Para tahanan sengaja ditempatkan secara bersendirian sebagai mendera mereka untuk satu waktu yang lama dan sengaja disisihkan daripada dunia luar dan sebarang hubungan untuk berfikiran waras.

ISA ialah lambang kesyaitanan yang amat bertentangan dengan Kebenaran, Keagamaan dan Ketamadunan. Senjata ketahanan para tahanan adalah kepercayaan mereka, kecekalan dan keyakinan betapa mereka sedang berjuang untuk menegakkan kebenaran, kebebasan dan keadilan. Yang lebih penting lagi, perjuangan mereka itu adalah satu keyakinan betapa Tuhan memelihara mereka yang berjuang ke arah perjuangan yang diredhaiNya.

Keyakinan yang sungguh bersahaja inilah yang akan membantu ketahanan mereka untuk meniduri malam yang panjang, menghayati keazaban hidup kesepian yang sungguh dahsyat kerana tidak adanya perbicaraan. Dari penyiksaan itu akan lahir satu semangat ketahanan yang akan membantu mereka memerangi para pendera walaupun mereka bertugas secara berpasukan tanpa henti-henti mencuba dan berusaha memecahkan benteng ketahanan mangsa mereka. Berkat restu yang maha Berkuasa akan menyelamatkan mereka daripada bencana bahaya jaringan berbisa yang dipasang-siap oleh kumpulan bajingan yang sudah tidak berhati manusia di kalangan SB itu semua.

Usaha menafikan para pendera yang mempunyai matlamat utama 'untuk mendapatkan satu pengakuan yang memperakukan penangkapan para tahanan' adalah merupakan satu kemenangan besar, manis dan sungguh bermakna.

Izinkan saya mengucapkan sepatah kata kepada ahli keluarga para tahanan ISA: Saya tabik hormat keberanian anda sekelian dan kesetian yang anda lalui di waktu yang sungguh cemas ini. Saya sentiasa mendoakan yang terbaik untuk kalian dan sentiasa menyokong pejuangan anda semua. Saya yakin, suami anda, anak-anak anda dan adik-abang dan bapa-bapa anda akan pulang dengan selamat ke pangkuan kalian dengan kemenangan terpancar di wajah mereka, dan dengan semangat juang dan kehormatan mereka semakin kukuh dan teguh.

Sebagai rakyat Malaysia, kita harus memperkuatkan keazamaan untuk sama-sama menggembleng tenaga dan turut berdoa dan menyokong setiap tahanan ISA. Kita harus sampaikan pesan kepada kerajaan Barisan Nasional dengan jelas, sejelas-jelasnya bahawa semua tahanan ISA itu mesti dibebaskan dengan segera dan ISA mesti dinyahkan untuk selamanya. Marilah kita berganding bahu dengan semua kumpulan hak asasi manusia, parti-parti politik dan orang persendirian untuk membebaskan negara ini dan generasi yang akan datang daripada cengkaman bahaya undang-undang yang zalim ini.

Tamat

Lim Guan Eng ialah Timbalan Pengerusi DAP dan bekas Ahli Parlimen. Dia adalah antara yang terawal ditahan dalam Operasi lalang pada 1987 dan yang terakhir dibebaskan.

Terjemahan oleh: SPAR-03-025

Asal:

The Evil of ISA

Banish it from our midst

by Lim Guan Eng

Fourteen years ago, I was detained under the ISA for being a threat to national security. The only threat I could see then was the threat to Dr Mahathir Mohamad?s position as UMNO President that came from Tengku Razaleigh.

There is a sense of deja vu with the current ISA arrests of reformist opposition politicians, the latest count being 10 and, we are warned, not ended yet. As always, the flimsy excuse of maintaining public order, security and ?national interest? at all costs is trotted out. Never mind how ridiculous it is. It is used over and over again for as long as those in power unscrupulously cling to their positions while corruption runs riot in the country.

It is preposterous that the government and the police would have us believe that the country would descend into chaos if even one individual is allowed to remain free. Maybe they want to put into practice what Hitler?s Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, once boasted: ?Tell a big enough lie often enough and people will believe it?s true.? Can this be the aim of what might unfold as another the ?full application? of the ISA.

The ISA is a pernicious piece of legislation that celebrates falsehoods and lies. Those who use the ISA make no effort to establish truth, uphold justice or observe an individual?s inherent right to dignity and respect. The whole purpose of the 60-day interrogation period is ?turning over? the detainees to justify their own arrests without trial by the authorities.

While I was in detention, I was asked to lie over the television that the Prime Minister had acted correctly in arresting me. I told the police that I had no acting skills. If I had, I could have been a rich and famous movie star instead of being a persecuted, penniless democratic activist.

To repay my recalcitrance, the Special Branch inflict upon me some preliminary punishment. I was denied sleep for 48 hours. I was placed in a high-backed chair with a bright light shining in my face, while my interrogators who worked 24-hours shifts endlessly shouted into my ears.

This torment was only reduced when my health broke down from such physical stress, and I endured high fever alone in my cell. Perhaps fearful that I would die in detention, my interrogators lessened the intensity of interrogation.

I believe that similar attempts at ?turning over? are being conducted on the present ISA detainees. My heart reaches out to them for what they have to endure. We will have to wait to find out if indeed they are not brutalised, as promised by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Such promises, even when they come from as high up as the Minister of Home Affairs, cannot be taken at face value. But if the detainees are actually spared brutal treatment and ?black eyes? it will be because public outrage and adverse international reactions to high-profile cases of beatings, such as the brutal assault on former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, may cause the police to be more cautious towards detained activists.

Nevertheless, the physical and mental abuses have become a fact of life for ISA detainees. From experience I can say that it is difficult for a detainee to fight not only just the interrogators but also his or her overwhelming sense of loneliness, abandonment, fear, and worry for loved ones. Detainees are so often cruelly placed in solitary confinement for long periods and cut off from civilization and all contact with normalcy.

The ISA is Evil, and contrary to Truth, Religion and Morality. The weapons detainees have are their faith, resilience, and conviction that theirs is a struggle for truth, freedom and justice. Above all, theirs is the faith that God looks after those who strive for His cause.

It is simply this faith that will allow them to prevail, to pass the long lonely nights, and the terrible solitude of life in detention without trial. From this springs a resilience that will allow them to outlast their interrogators even if the latter work round the clock to break their spirit. It is the strength from the Divine Being that will save them from being entrapped in any web of deceit woven by the Special Branch.

To deny the oppressors their main purpose - which is to extract confessions to justify their oppression of the detainees - is the final and sweetest victory.

Let me say to the families of the ISA detainees: I salute your courage and loyalty in these trying times. You have my prayers and support. I believe that your husbands, sons and brothers will return safely to your arms with their heads held high, and with their honour and dignity intact.

As Malaysians, we should do more than pray and offer support to the ISA detainees. We must let the Barisan Nasional government know in clear and uncertain terms that all ISA detainees must be set free immediately and the ISA must be abolished. Let us join efforts with all concerned human rights groups, political parties and individuals to free our country and future generations of Malaysians from this evil in our midst.ourteen years ago, I was detained under the ISA for being a threat to national security. The only threat I could see then was the threat to Dr Mahathir Mohamad?s position as UMNO President that came from Tengku Razaleigh.

There is a sense of deja vu with the current ISA arrests of reformist opposition politicians, the latest count being 10 and, we are warned, not ended yet. As always, the flimsy excuse of maintaining public order, security and ?national interest? at all costs is trotted out. Never mind how ridiculous it is. It is used over and over again for as long as those in power unscrupulously cling to their positions while corruption runs riot in the country.

It is preposterous that the government and the police would have us believe that the country would descend into chaos if even one individual is allowed to remain free. Maybe they want to put into practice what Hitler?s Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, once boasted: ?Tell a big enough lie often enough and people will believe it?s true.? Can this be the aim of what might unfold as another the ?full application? of the ISA.

The ISA is a pernicious piece of legislation that celebrates falsehoods and lies. Those who use the ISA make no effort to establish truth, uphold justice or observe an individual?s inherent right to dignity and respect. The whole purpose of the 60-day interrogation period is ?turning over? the detainees to justify their own arrests without trial by the authorities.

While I was in detention, I was asked to lie over the television that the Prime Minister had acted correctly in arresting me. I told the police that I had no acting skills. If I had, I could have been a rich and famous movie star instead of being a persecuted, penniless democratic activist.

To repay my recalcitrance, the Special Branch inflict upon me some preliminary punishment. I was denied sleep for 48 hours. I was placed in a high-backed chair with a bright light shining in my face, while my interrogators who worked 24-hours shifts endlessly shouted into my ears.

This torment was only reduced when my health broke down from such physical stress, and I endured high fever alone in my cell. Perhaps fearful that I would die in detention, my interrogators lessened the intensity of interrogation.

I believe that similar attempts at ?turning over? are being conducted on the present ISA detainees. My heart reaches out to them for what they have to endure. We will have to wait to find out if indeed they are not brutalised, as promised by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Such promises, even when they come from as high up as the Minister of Home Affairs, cannot be taken at face value. But if the detainees are actually spared brutal treatment and ?black eyes? it will be because public outrage and adverse international reactions to high-profile cases of beatings, such as the brutal assault on former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, may cause the police to be more cautious towards detained activists.

Nevertheless, the physical and mental abuses have become a fact of life for ISA detainees. From experience I can say that it is difficult for a detainee to fight not only just the interrogators but also his or her overwhelming sense of loneliness, abandonment, fear, and worry for loved ones. Detainees are so often cruelly placed in solitary confinement for long periods and cut off from civilization and all contact with normalcy.

The ISA is Evil, and contrary to Truth, Religion and Morality. The weapons detainees have are their faith, resilience, and conviction that theirs is a struggle for truth, freedom and justice. Above all, theirs is the faith that God looks after those who strive for His cause.

It is simply this faith that will allow them to prevail, to pass the long lonely nights, and the terrible solitude of life in detention without trial. From this springs a resilience that will allow them to outlast their interrogators even if the latter work round the clock to break their spirit. It is the strength from the Divine Being that will save them from being entrapped in any web of deceit woven by the Special Branch.

To deny the oppressors their main purpose - which is to extract confessions to justify their oppression of the detainees - is the final and sweetest victory.

Let me say to the families of the ISA detainees: I salute your courage and loyalty in these trying times. You have my prayers and support. I believe that your husbands, sons and brothers will return safely to your arms with their heads held high, and with their honour and dignity intact.

As Malaysians, we should do more than pray and offer support to the ISA detainees. We must let the Barisan Nasional government know in clear and uncertain terms that all ISA detainees must be set free immediately and the ISA must be abolished. Let us join efforts with all concerned human rights groups, political parties and individuals to free our country and future generations of Malaysians from this evil in our midst.

Lim Guan Eng is Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and former Member of Parliament. He was among the first to be detained under Operasi Lalang in 1987 and the last to be released.