http://www.theage.com.au/news/state/2001/08/10/FFXHVQBF5QC.html

Malaysia, the police state

By MARK BAKER
ASIA EDITOR
Friday 10 August 2001

It was a simple occasion, a casual dinner on a balmy Sunday evening at an open-air restaurant in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. The wives and children of six opposition activists who had spent four months imprisoned without trial under Malaysia's Internal Security Act were joined by a few dozen friends keen to share their anguish and show solidarity.

But as the guests arrived they were met by a legion of gatecrashers. More than 80 riot police armed with shields, batons and tear gas guns encircled the building as two water cannon trucks were moved into position opposite the entrance. While senior officers stood by directing road blocks and talking on two-way radios, plainclothes special branch officers moved among the arriving diners taking photographs.

As Nagapan Gobalakrishnan, a senior member of the opposition Keadilan Party and a former security act detainee, rose to welcome guests after the first dishes of curry and rice were served, the helmeted riot police moved in and seized the portable public address system. Officers threatened to fire water cannon and arrest everyone if the group refused to disperse. After a tense standoff, the party broke up.

Later that night the riot squads moved on to the home of another opposition official who was addressing a small group in his front garden. This time water cannon were fired, arrests made and people milling in the street beaten and chased away. The scene has been repeated daily in suburbs, towns and villages across Malaysia over recent weeks.

Welcome to the brave new world of Malaysia, where even peaceful political meetings are now banned, where those who dare challenge the ruling order can be sent without trial to solitary confinement for two years on an administrative whim, where anyone who does not support the ruling party can be branded a subversive and where even eating can be a crime. Welcome to Asia's new police state.

Facing perhaps the greatest threat to his 20-year rule, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has responded with a fierce crackdown on his political opponents that is testing the boundaries of Malaysia's democracy. Over the past few months, the Internal Security Act a law enacted by the colonial British administration to fight communist insurgents has been dusted down to lock up the brightest and most outspoken young opposition leaders, tougher media restrictions have been imposed and a purge of campus activism has seen students arrested and expelled.

Last month the government arbitrarily banned all political gatherings, including those held indoors and on private property, launching police on nationwide raids that have seen dozens of people detained and hundreds more harassed and threatened. In Malacca, a meeting last weekend attended by Hadi Awang, chief minister of the opposition-ruled state of Terengganu, was broken up 20 minutes into his speech.

Last week 10 people associated with the biggest opposition party, the moderate Islamic-based Parti Islam Semalaysia (Pas) including the son of the chief minister of the Pas government in Kelantan state, Nik Aziz Nik Mat were rounded up under the security act and accused of plotting the violent overthrow of the government after receiving terrorist training from Afghanistan's Taliban militia.

In response to an opposition outcry that the arrests were baseless and politically motivated, Dr Mahathir warned ominously that he could also have ordered the arrest of the leaders of the opposition parties: "They can say what they like. If we are politically motivated we will arrest the real leaders such as Nik Aziz, Hadi Awang and (Democratic Action Party leader) Lim Kit Siang, but we did not."

Malaysia's worsening political crisis began with the sacking almost three years ago of Dr Mahathir's deputy and annointed successor, Anwar Ibrahim. Later jailed for 15 years on charges of corruption and s###my charges discredited by international legal observers and the United States Government Anwar's real crime was to challenge the increasingly autocractic leadership of Dr Mahathir and endemic corruption within the ruling United Malays National Organisation.

The harsh treatment of the popular Anwar triggered street protests and an electoral backlash that has severely eroded UMNO's once monolithic support in the Malay community. The last general election, two years ago, saw big swings away from UMNO to Pas and other opposition parties, a trend underscored in subsequent byelections.

Now the government is facing a serious judicial challenge to its use of the police and public security apparatus in an increasingly desperate attempt to fight the political groundswell a shift that some analysts believe could unseat UMNO for the first time since independence at the next elections.

A full bench of the Federal Court, Malaysia's highest court, this week began hearing an appeal by the six opposition activists still held since the Internal Security Act arrests in April, a case shaping as a landmark test of both the use of the act and the independence of the Malaysian legal system, which has long been subjected to intense political pressure.

In a sign of growing alarm within the judiciary at abuses under the act, High Court judge Hishamudin Mohamad freed two detainees in April, denouncing police for failing to substantiate claims that they were part of a plot to topple the government. "Those police officers responsible for the detention of the applicants must wake up to the fact that the supreme law of this country is the constitution and not the ISA," the judge warned. "To deny the detainees and their families access to one another and to their lawyers for such a long period is cruel, inhuman and oppressive."

There is now speculation that the new reformist Chief Justice, Mohamad Dzaiddin Abdullah whose appointment last year was opposed by Dr Mahathir will deliver a judgment that will severely curtail use of the security act and ensure greater protection of detainees an outcome that could provoke a showdown.

Before adjourning the hearing to early next month, the court dealt an initial blow to the government by admitting affidavits by the six detainees. In doing so, a rare window was opened on the often brutal and degrading methods employed by Malaysia's police and security forces against political prisoners.

All of the six detailed physical and psychological torture in solitary confinement, where they were refused contact with their families and legal counsel. All said they were interrogated intensively about their political activities and connections, and abused and threatened for failing to support the Mahathir Government. All insist they were never asked about their supposed involvement in a violent plot against the government the reason both Police Chief Norian Mai and Dr Mahathir gave publicly for their arrests.

Saari bin Sungib, who was arrested after being dragged from a car in front of his distraught wife and children, was subjected to daily interrogation over many weeks: "I was questioned continuously for 38 hours without sleep. The police used five to six investigating officers taking turns among themselves to interrogate me and did not allow me to lie down, or put my head on the table or stand resting on my back and head to the wall."

The abuse of the security act alarms Human Rights Commissioner Mehrun Siraj, former dean of the law school at the National University of Malaysia. "They are using it against any sector of society that looks like it is going to oppose the government and in none of these arrests have the police shown that these people were a threat to national security," she says. "If they have evidence, they can charge these people under the penal code."

Bar Council president Mah Weng Kwai agrees: "There is real cause for concern at what is happening. The frequency of the use of the ISA is getting too close for comfort. This is an oppressive piece of legislation and it should be repealed as soon as possible."

Late last week, the government-appointed Human Rights Commission, known as Suhakam, published a report warning of a serious erosion of civil liberties, accusing police of using high-handed and violent tactics against protesters. "In the past three years, Malaysian civil society has strengthened and the demand for civil and political rights has become louder," the report said. "This has meant that government action that infringes the fundamental rights of its citizens no longer remains unchallenged. It is imperative for the government to respond to the changing political climate and the changing aspirations of Malaysian civil society."

But it is a warning Dr Mahathir Mohamad appears to have no intention of heeding.