SUHAKAM telah dinafikan untuk menemui mangsa tahanan ISA walaupun ia mempunyai kuasa di sisi undang-undang untuk mengetahui keadaan sebenar mereka.

Sebelum itu SUHAKAM telah mengeluarkan resolusi pada April 12 lepas agar semua tahanan dibebaskan tanpa syarat kerana penahanan mereka tanpa bicara adalah 'mencabul hak-hak asas kemanusiaan'.

Polis bagaimanapun menjamin keadaan tahanan adalah selamat. Tetapi rakyat masih ingat jika Anwar pun tidak selamat - jangan haraplah tahanan terkini itu akan selamat. Malah kisah 4 bekas tahanan ISA wanita yang didedahkan baru-baru ini menggambarkan wanita dan ibu yang tidak bersalah apa-apa pun sanggup didera - inikan pula aktivis reformasi.

Rencana AP juga menyebut pihak penjara mengadu begitu banyak wang terpaksa dibelanjakan untuk mengawal Anwar yang terlantar di hospital. Tetapi salah kerajaan juga kerana sengaja berdegil untuk membenarkan Anwar di rawat diluar negara sedangkan beliau sanggup mengngkosi semua belanja di sana. Tidak guna pihak penjara membebel tidak tentu pasal - lebih baik mengadu kepada Mahathir mengapa dibina satu taman buat burung bergembira di Putrajaya yang menelan belanja berpuloh-puloh juta kosnya. Itu lagi tidak berguna.

-Ringkasan/Ulasan Man Kubur-

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Report says Malaysia rights body denied access to detainees

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's statutory human rights body has been denied access to nine opposition activists and a rights campaigner detained under tough security laws allowing detention without trial, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

The New Sunday Times said Senior Federal Counsel Abdul Wahab Mohamed told a court hearing on two of the detainees that the Internal Security Act (ISA) stopped him saying why visits were denied.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM), which has legal powers to visit detainees, called on April 12 for the release of seven people arrested in a police swoop on supporters of jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

It said detention without trial was a "fundamental human rights violation" and has since sought access to the prisoners.

No one from SUHAKAM was immediately available for comment.

Police said they suspected those detained of planning violent street protests to overthrow the government, charges the opposition has denied.

They widened the net from Anwar supporters last week with the arrest of a human rights activist.

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 Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The prime minister denies the accusation, saying Anwar was immoral and unfit to rule.

The ISA arrests prompted protest from the opposition, local lawyers and rights campaigners, who demanded detainees' release and trials in open court with proof of any wrongdoing.

The act 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.

New Sunday Times quoted Deputy Inspector-General of Police Jamil Johari as saying detainees' families need not fear for the health of those arrested.

"We can assure the families they are in safe hands and good care of the police," the paper quoted him as saying.

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Malaysia Police Deny Abusing Antigovernment Activists

KUALA LUMPUR (AP)--Police have rejected fears that 10 opposition and human rights activists held under strict Malaysian security laws are being physically abused, despite criticism that most of the detainees haven't seen their families for nearly three weeks.

Jamil Johari, the deputy national police chief, claimed that authorities were taking good care of the men, many of whom were arrested under Malaysia's Internal Security Act on April 10-11, The Star and The Sun newspapers reported Sunday.

"What is safer than being in the hands of the police?" Jamil was quoted as telling reporters on Saturday. "When the time is right, we will let those detainees be visited by their families."

Jamil said that officials would also eventually allow visits by representatives of Malaysia's independent Human Rights Commission, which has criticized the arrests.

Authorities have accused nine of the 10 detainees of planning militant protests to overthrow Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. They are being held under a law dating from the British colonial era that allows for detention without trial.

Opposition leaders alleged earlier this week that witnesses have seen at least one of the detainees in bad physical shape. They claim that Mahathir ordered the arrests to stifle dissent.

The government has denied it, insisting that the move was needed to sustain peace in this Southeast Asian country, which Mahathir has led since 1981.

A High Court judge last week rejected an application to let attorneys and family members visit the detainees, saying that this might interfere with police investigations.

Lawyers are appealing against the decision with the Federal Court, Malaysia's highest court.

Most of those arrested are linked to the opposition National Justice Party, which was founded by the wife of ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim soon after Mahathir fired Anwar in 1998.

Anwar is serving prison sentences totaling 15 years on charges of corruption and s###my which he claims were trumped up to prevent him from defying his former mentor's rule.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires 29-04-01

0555GMT Copyright (c) 2001 , Dow Jones & Company Inc

Malaysia Officials Complain About Cost Of Anwar Treatment

KUALA LUMPUR (AP)--Federal prison officials have complained about the high cost of keeping jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim hospitalized for back injuries in a state-run facility, Malaysian media reported Sunday.

Omar Mohamed Dan, director-general of the Prisons Department, claimed that authorities have spent about 65,000 ringgit ($1=MYR3.799) on security and transportation since the former deputy premier was admitted to the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital Nov. 25.

"He has been in the hospital for a long time and the cost is great," Omar was quoted as saying by The Star and New Straits Times newspapers. "This is taxpayers' money."

He said prison guards have to travel 60 kilometers everyday from the federal Sungai Buloh Prison to watch over Anwar at the hospital where he is staying.

Omar's comments come two days after the government ordered Anwar to decide by Tuesday whether he would agree to spinal surgery performed by local doctors. Anwar has been hoping to get Dutch specialist Dr. Thomas Hoogland to operate on him.

Health officials warned they would send Anwar back to prison soon if he refused to let Malaysian doctors perform the surgery. They said earlier this week that the hospital had so far spent at least MYR60,000 to foot Anwar's medical expenses.

Anwar has been receiving treatment for a slipped disc which he claims was caused in part by a police beating he received in 1998. Hoogland, who examined him earlier this year, recommended a minimally invasive operation best performed at his clinic in Munich.

But government officials say Anwar can't travel overseas because he's serving prison sentences totaling 15 years for corruption and s###my.

Local doctors insist they have enough experience to operate on Anwar using a conventional method of surgery with a high success rate. They have warned that Anwar risks permanent disability if he postpones the operation for much longer.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fired Anwar in 1998 amid differences over how to handle the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis. Anwar claims Mahathir wanted him out of the government to short-circuit a political challenge. Mahathir has denied it.