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BBC: Malaysia's Fearsome Security Law By Simon Ingram 5/7/2001 4:49 pm Thu |
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[Bahirah, isteri Ezam, sekali lagi menjadi buruan pemberita. Dan
seperti biasa kata-kata beliau melekat dalam setiap berita. Dengan
kerajaan tidak dapat tampil dengan sebarang bukti mendakwa Ezam,
Bahirah akan semakin menang dan Mahathir semakin tergoncang. Apa
yang penting di sini ialah kempen anti ISA melalui Bahirah akan
mengaibkan Mahathir di mata dunia. Kita meramalkan Mahathir akan
jarang memberi ucapan di luar negara nanti..... kerana malu yang
sudah tidak terkira. Pipinya tidaklah setebal mana.....
- Editor] Malaysia's fearsome security law
By Simon Ingram in Kuala Lumpur The open front door of Bahirah Tajul Ariff's Kuala Lumpur home
frames a poster bearing the image of the jailed opposition leader,
Anwar Ibrahim. The former deputy prime minister is depicted in
familiarly defiant pose, with clenched fist raised.
On the living room wall inside hang photographs of another imprisoned
opposition icon: Bahirah's husband, Ezam Mohamed Noor.
Ezam - a senior figure in the opposition Keadilan (National Justice)
party - was arrested in April, along with nine other leading
politicians under the Internal Security Act (ISA). The government of
prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said the men had been plotting a
violent rebellion against the state. After being held for weeks without charge and without access to
lawyers or family, Ezam was ordered detained for up to two years at
a remote detention centre in northern Malaysia.
"To me, this shows that Mahathir is in crisis," Bahirah told the
BBC in an interview. "He is very weak and he is taking this action
just to isolate my husband from the public."
International support Believing only outside pressure can win the release of Ezam and the
other five politicians held with him (four were ordered released by
the courts), Bahirah has joined a growing campaign to abolish the ISA.
Signature campaigns and petitions are being organised, along with
political rallies condemning the government's use of the law.
The campaign has international support. The US State Department said
the recent ISA detentions "seemed intended to prevent the detainees,
against whom there are no criminal charges, from exercising
internationally recognised rights of free speech, political expression
and assembly." The European Parliament has voiced similar concerns.
Personal courage Bahirah and the wives of the other detainees made their personal
mark on the anti-ISA campaign at last month's general assembly of
the ruling Umno party in Kuala Lumpur, at which she managed to
present Dr Mahathir with a letter urging Ezam's release.
It was an act of some personal courage, but it cut little ice with
Malaysia's autocratic leader. At a news conference the same day,
Dr Mahathir said he'd no regrets about using the ISA against his
critics. "There are people in this country who would like to see Malaysia
plunge into the kind of turmoil that they see in other countries,"
Dr Mahathir said. "These people create problems for people, then they will have to
be detained under the laws of this country."
Colonial origin This is not the first time the Malaysian Government has resorted to
a draconian law that originated in British colonial times. In 1987, an
even more extensive crackdown against the opposition produced
110 arrests under the ISA. The ISA allows the authorities an initial 60 days during which a
detainee is kept in solitary confinement and denied access to lawyers
or relatives. According to Gobalakrishnan Nagapan, another Keadilan party leader
who was jailed for 51 days, the police use these powers to brutal
effect. Mr Gobalakrishnan says he was isolated in a tiny windowless cell,
and brought out only to face long interrogation sessions.
He says the questioning had nothing to do with the offences he was
alleged to have committed. Instead, the interrogators' apparent aim
was to turn him against his political allies. "When I did not take their interrogation very seriously, they knew
that I could not be brainwashed, they tried to force me to confess
to having had sexual relationships with other women,"
Gobalakrishnan told the BBC. "When I declined to confess, they assaulted me and they threatened
me, saying they had many years of experience in getting people to
talk what they want to." Troubled times The anti-ISA campaigners thought they had gained a significant ally
in April when the government's own Human Rights Commission
strongly criticised the detention of Ezam Noor, Gobalakrishnan and
their colleagues, and urged the authorities either to release the men
or bring them to trial in an open court.
Two months on, the commission vice-chairman, Maruun Hasidim,
takes a more qualified view of the ISA.
He argues that given the political turmoil in neighbouring countries
like Indonesia and the Philippines, a law enabling the authorities to
act swiftly whenever trouble threatens makes good sense.
"You need something in store just in case something happens and
that is the Internal Security Act. But I think even the government
agrees that the law should be reviewed, or certain aspects should be
reviewed." No-one expects the authorities to give ground on the ISA readily.
At the recent Umno meeting, Dr Mahathir lashed out at opposition
activists, dismissing them as "idiots".
With the prime minister in such a mood, observers say further ISA
arrests are a distinct possibility. Nor is much hope held out for the appeal hearing for Ezam Noor
and the other detainees, scheduled for 9 July.
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