DUA PILIHAN: BEDAH DI SINI ATAU PENJARA

Kerajaan hari ini seperti sudah hilang sabar memberi ultimatum kepada Anwar. Anwar yang kini kesakitan saraf belakangnya disuruh memilih antara dua:

1. menyerah diri untuk dibedah secara biasa di hospital tempatan atau

2. kembali sahaja ke penjara.

Anwar telah terlantar di Hospital KL sejak November lagi kerana tergelincir cakera tulang belakangnya. Beliau enggan dibedah oleh doktor tempatan dan ingin ia dilakukan oleh Dr Hoogland dengan menggunakan teknik termoden yang tidak kedapatan di Malaysia.

Kerajaan tidak membenarkan beliau dirawat di Jerman untuk pembedahan mikro endoskopik saraf tunjang (endoscopic micro spinal surgery, atau EMS) itu.

Anwar dijangka akan muncul pada Sabtu ini di mahkamah untuk mendengar samada pertuduhan tambahan akan diteruskan terhadap beliau. Menurut peguam beliau, En Nair, "Anwar akan hadir tetapi beliau akan berkerusi roda".

RISIKO:

"Doktor memberi amaran Anwar akan menghadapi risiko kehilangan deria rasa sentuhan di tangan dan kaki, samada sementara atau kekal selamanya, dan juga risiko kerosakkan fungsi seksual dan membuang air jika beliau enggan dibedah segera. ", kata Nair, peguam Anwar.

MANGSA ISA TERBARU: SKOP TANGKAPAN MAKIN MELUAS

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, polis telah menangkap Pak Din, 56, seorang aktivis yang bergiat dalam Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM). Ini bermakna bukan pemimpin keADIlan sahaja dan aktivis reformasi menjadi mangsa, malah NGO juga.

Beliau ditangkap jam 9 pagi di rumahnya.

Anak perempuan Pak Din, Emilia mengatakan tiada sebab diberi polis untuk menangkap ayahnya. Polis juga enggan memberi sebarang komen.

"Pak Din (Badaruddin), adalah insan yang selalu mempamirkan integriti, telah ditangkap sebelumnya dan dipukul sebegitu teruk sehingga beliau hampir pengsan." kata Azman Ismail, adik kepada Pak Din.

Irene Xavier, bekas tahanan ISA menyatakan kebimbangan mangsa ISA akan didera kerana beliau sendiri, walaupun seorang wanita telah dianiaya. Kaki beliau telah dipukul selepas ditahan pada bulan Oktober 1987 yang lepas.

Rabu lepas, Mahkamah enggan membebaskan 5 dari 10 tahanan ISA tersebut bila dicabar oleh peguam penangkapan mereka. Hakim mahkamah, Augustine Paul, menyatakan polis berhak untuk menangkap tanpa bicara.

KOMEN

Nyatalah polis main tangkap muat sahaja mengikut arahan seseorang yang merasa tergugat oleh kesedaran rakyat marhain. Tangkapan terhadap ahli NGO selepas penyerahan lapuran SUHAKAM menggambarkan betapa kerajaan Mahathir telah memperlekehkan hak-hak kemanusiaan walaupun baru menghadiri sidang IPU (inter Parlimentary Union). Sudah tentu tangkapan sebegini akan membuat rakyat semakin membenci Umno dan akan mengajarnya satu masa nanti. Yang akan menderita nanti adalah Umno sendiri seperti yang terserlah di Lunas tempoh hari. Wang dan projek berjuta-juta sudah tidak mampu memujuk rakyat untuk kembali menyokong BN dan Umno. Mahathir sebenarnya sedang memusnahkan Umno sendiri dengan membiarkan tangkapan-tangkapan yang tidak bersandarkan bukti ini.

Anwar mungkin amat sakit tetapi Mahathirlah sebenarnya yang amat kesakitan sekarang. Jika tidak beliau tidak akan bertindak bukan-bukan sehingga mencederakan Umno sendiri dengan tangkapan yang menunjukkan betapa pengecutnya seorang 'wira dunia ketiga' berdepan dengan musuh politik yang sudah sakit, terlantar dan terpenjara. Mahathirlah yang sebenarnya telah terpenjara dan semakin resah menghadapi kebangkitan rakyat yang semakin mara.

Menangkap tidak akan menjamin apa-apa

Umno akan semakin tidak selamat dengan menangkap seorang NGO yang disegani ramai itu. Itulah Pak Din yang mempunyai kekuatan fizikal tetapi langsung tidak melawan ketika diserang di lebuhraya Kesas satu ketika dulu. Mendera Pak Din akan mendera Umno juga cuma sedikit berbeda kesannya. Luka Pak Din boleh sembuh kerana ada ubatnya tetapi luka di hati rakyat marhain tiada ubatnya walaupun dimanjakan dengan harta ataupun kemanisan kata. Bukankah itu sifat orang melayu yang diwarisi berkurun lamanya?

Di Iran beratus-ratus ulamak mereka ditangkap tetapi rakyat tetap bangkit juga dengan sendirinya bila disentuh oleh tulisan Khomeini dan ulamak terkenalnya yang tersebar di mana-mana. Malah ramai pejuang termasuk ulamak mereka mati didera oleh polis rahsia SAVAK tetapi semangat dan cetusan pena mereka tidak pernah mati hingga ke hari ini. Malaysia mungkin tidak punya ulamak yang begitu ramai seperti mereka tetapi kita mempunyai sesuatu yang tidak tercium oleh Mahathir selama ini. Ia bukan roket dan bukan bom grenade yang mudah dikesan. Malah ia bukan tersimpan di dalam pejuang yang telah tertahan itu. Sebaliknya ia telah menusup jauh ke dalam sanubari rakyat untuk menghukum Mahathir dan Umno bila tiba waktunya. Kini ia sudah berada di dalam dan di luar Umno dan sudah mula menunjukkan tanda-tandanya. Jika ia bersatu - Mahathir akan kecundang jua kerana pada saat itu tiada sesiapapun lagi akan mahu dan mampu menolongnya. Malah senjata pun mungkin tidak akan terpetik di hari itu kerana terlalu bisanya sakti itu. Bukankah itu yang berlaku di hari Gelita 14 yang lalu?

-Terjemahan Ringkas Kapal Berita-

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Malaysia's ailing Anwar given a choice: local surgeons or jail

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian doctors have told former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, crippled by back pain, to submit to surgery by them or return to prison, his lawyer said on Thursday.

Anwar, laid up under guard at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital since November for a slipped disc, has refused to let local doctors treat him, insisting instead that a Dutch spinal surgeon operate, using a sophisticated technique not available in Malaysia.

But the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has refused to let Anwar travel to the surgeon's clinic in Germany for the endoscopic micro spinal surgery, or EMS, he prefers.

Dutch surgeon Thomas Hoogland, who initially agreed to operate on Anwar in Malaysia, now refuses to treat him in Kuala Lumpur, citing criticism by local doctors and the authorities.

"The Kuala Lumpur Hospital has now given Anwar an ultimatum, saying he has to submit to surgery under a method called open microsurgery, which is risky compared to the EMS method we are seeking," Anwar's lawyer Sankara Nair told Reuters.

"The hospital said it will absolve itself of all risks should anything happen to Anwar later," the lawyer added.

Anwar, described by Nair as using a wheelchair and a neck brace to ease his pain, was also warned of the danger of delaying surgery.

"They warned him he could risk losing sensation in his hands and legs, temporarily or permanently, and also risk damaging sexual and urinal functions if he continued to resist surgery."

Nair said Anwar had scribbled his reply on the same letter, asking for a few days to confer with his family and lawyers.

The government has accused Anwar of looking down on the country's medical profession by refusing local expertise. Mahathir says Anwar is using his back pain for political gain.

Once prime-minister-in-waiting, Anwar is serving a 15-year prison sentence for sex and graft offences he says were made up to stop a challenge to Mahathir. The prime minister denies this, saying Anwar was immoral and unfit to rule.

Anwar is to reappear in court on Saturday for prosecutors to decide whether to try him on more s###my and corruption charges. "He will be in court but in a wheelchair," Nair said.

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Malaysia widens security dragnet with 10th arrest

By Baranee Krishnan

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police arrested a human rights activist under the country's internal security laws on Thursday, widening a dragnet limited so far to supporters of jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Opposition leaders said Badaruddin Ismail, a member of the Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) or Voice of Malaysia human rights group, was the 10th person to be arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since detentions began this month.

The ISA allows police to arrest without charge anyone deemed a threat to national security and to hold them for 60 days. The period of detention can be extended to two years if authorities think the person still poses a security risk.

Nine supporters of Anwar, the jailed rival of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, have been arrested under the ISA since April 10 for allegedly planning violent street protests to overthrow the government.

Once a prime-minister-in-waiting, Anwar is serving a 15-year prison sentence for sex and graft offences he says were made up to stop a challenge against Mahathir. The prime minister denies the accusation, saying Anwar was immoral and unfit to rule.

Women who were jailed under the ISA during a 1987 crackdown against journalists and civil society activists held a news conference on Thursday to against protest the current detentions.

"After looking at my own experience, having looked at the affidavits of others... I have to say that I fear for the safety of the nine who are currently detained," said Irene Xavier before news of the 10th arrest.

Xavier said she was beaten on the legs and feet after being arrested in October 1987.

A younger brother of Badaruddin condemned his detention in a letter published by online news portal malaysiakini.com.

"Pak Din (Badaruddin), who has always been a man of integrity, was arrested before and beaten to such an extent that he nearly fainted," Azman Ismail said of his brother.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has said he had told police not to harm the detainees.

"I do not want to see another black eye," Abdullah said this month in reference to the widely reported facial injury suffered by Anwar during his detention under the ISA in 1998.

Badaruddin, 56, was picked up at his home at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT), an official of the opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) told Reuters.

Malaysiakini quoted his daughter Emilia as saying no reasons were given for his arrest. Police declined to comment.

The ISA detentions have provoked widespread protests from the opposition and human rights groups, which have demanded the immediate release of all those arrested and trials in open court using proof of any wrongdoing.

"Today's detention of Pak Din is a clear indication that there is an ongoing crackdown on political dissent orchestrated by the Mahathir regime, no longer confined to opposition political activists," said SUARAM, the human rights group represented by Badarudddin.

Earlier this week, activists in northern Penang state formed the Penang Anti-ISA Network to link political parties and NGOs opposing the law, co-ordinator B.K. Ong told Reuters.