----- Original Message -----
From: Dr. Munawar A. Anees
To: Bala Pillai
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 9:11 AM
Subject: ISA - terror incarnate
Dear Editor:
The recent arrest of several people under the draconian Internal
Security Act (ISA) of Malaysia has rekindled the memory of my own
brutal kidnapping by the Malaysian police and the ongoing suffering
of our family.
It was September 14, 1998, when 10-12 plain-clothes policemen raided
my house. In front of my wailing, weeping, wife those savages
kidnapped me to keep me as a shackled hostage in their unknown and
known dungeons for the next 126 days. The world came to know of my
disappearance, under the conspiracy orchestrated by Mahathir, only
after Amnesty International declared me a prisoner of conscience.
Later, International PEN adopted me as a writer in prison.
The subservient Malaysian media either stayed mum or they spread
ingrained disinformation on my whereabouts. My wife, Nadia, was
constantly misled with threats and harassment and her attempts to
engage a lawyer on my behalf were frustrated by the police. They had
one Yaqub Karim ready to forego professional legal ethics in exchange
for some crumbs from the Malaysian police.
The assault that took place on that Monday morning was after direct
orders issued by Mahathir in his capacity as Home Minister. I,
therefore, continue to hold him personally responsible for that
heinous crime against me and my family. No camouflage under any
constitutional, legal or journalistic parlance will ever exonerate
him of inflicting the trauma that my family and I continue to endure
consequent to his deliberate crime that led to my abduction.
My prolonged detention by Mahathir’s hoodlums taught me how it feels
to be forcibly separated from one’s wife and children. How it feels
to be searched and seized, disallowed to make phone calls,
handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped naked, driven in an animal cage,
shaven bald, endlessly interrogated, humiliated, drugged, deprived of
sleep, physically abused. What it’s like to be threatened,
blackmailed, tormented by police lawyers, brutalized to make a
totally false confession, hospitalized for a consequent heart
ailment, and treated as a
psychiatric patient with symptoms of Stockholm syndrome.
Barely surviving on a meager diet of rancid rice and chicken along
with 12 medicines a day, I spent nearly four months handcuffed around
the clock to my hospital bed, under the watchful eyes of the prison
guards.
Thereafter, my ability to speak, read, and write took a considerable
time to show signs of recovery. Short-term memory lapses were
frequent. I existed in a fluid state in which suicidal tendencies,
depression and despair were punctuated by fits of rage and
indignation. In spite of more than two years since I regained my
freedom, I continue to suffer from psychiatric difficulties. Not of
to speak of my two young children whose innocence was so brutally
robbed by Mahathir.
Nadia and I are deeply distressed to know that Mahathir has once
again unleashed the terror of ISA against his political foes. That is
yet another evidence of moral bankruptcy where the state apparatus is
made to serve the cause of a corrupt political clan. That the
Malaysian police, the judiciary and the media are touching new
heights in legitimizing injustice and suppression of dissent is a
given. More so when Mahathir himself has made a declaration defying
norms of civilized behavior.
At the same time, and in keeping with his immoral and un-Islamic
behavior, he has made specific allegations against the current ISA
detainees without an iota of evidence. This reminds me of the totally
false and slanderous statements he made about me after ordering my
kidnapping. Just like in my case, it is a foregone conclusion that
the Malaysian police, in cohort with the judiciary, will shamelessly
fabricate "evidence" to implicate these new ISA detainees. However,
Mahathir's dotage remains an obstacle in realizing that any statement
extracted under torture and coercion is patently invalid. Mahathir is
under moral and legal obligations to make public
the "incontrovertible evidence" against me that he boasted of two
years ago. He has none. But does he care?
In spite of the crushing weight of oppression in Malaysia, the public
mood appears to be changing. There seems to be a greater resolve for
the assertion of individual rights. Nadia narrated to me how, as a
devastated and penniless woman with two small children in a foreign
land, she spent those 126 days where erstwhile "friends" had
overnight turned into impassive onlookers. It was not easy for her to
live with constant police surveillance and the dreadful thought of an
impending disaster to any member of our small family. She braved many
a danger to her person including a physical assault by a police
culprit who used to trail her. She suffered several cuts and bruises
on her arms and legs. She displayed incredible courage, wisdom, and
self-affirmation in that totally hostile environment that gripped her
in a sudden misfortune. A month before my return to the real world,
she sent Aisha and Omran to Paris with her elder brother, who came
from France to see us. For one month she lived all alone, forcibly
deprived of the company of her husband and young children.
It is, therefore, some comfort to know that the wives of the new ISA
detainees are acting in unison to secure the release of their loved
ones. It is encouraging to see that they have established an
effective network not only among themselves but with the several NGOs
active for the cause of human rights in Malaysia. Nadia,
unfortunately, had none of these advantages. And unlike these new
detainees, I had no prior knowledge of or experience with my
tormentors. My legal appeal against the so-called "conviction"
and "sentence" continues to be ignored by the symbiotic police and
judiciary in Kuala Lumpur.
The media reports that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia
(Suhakam) has condemned the latest ISA arrests and demanded for an
immediate release of the detainees come to me as a cruel joke. Having
duly acknowledged to my legal counsel, Mr Manjeet Singh Dhillon, the
receipt of my complaint (dated July 28, 2000) against my abduction,
detention, torture and the ensuing brutality, the Commission has
neither made any public statement nor advised of their stand on the
issues raised. My complaint to the Commission was accompnied by a
copy of my Statutory Declaration, the first of its kind in Malaysian
history, fully documenting the sequence of events. I am, therefore,
inclined to believe that Suhakam's recent statement is nothing more
than a PR gimmick for the benefit of the Mahathir government. Mr
Abdallah Badawi, Mahathir's deputy, unwittingly confirmed that
marriage of convenience when he stated that he was expecting this
sort of statement from the Commission.
In the face of dark clouds over Malaysia where violation of human
rights is a daily occurrence, we are still hoping for a change. A
change towards individual liberty, freedom of speech, and freedom of
peaceful assembly. We are more than ever convinced that people of
Malaysia will soon join the community of nations where justice is not
only respected but jealously guarded.
Dr Munawar A. Anees
Former Prisoner of Conscience - Malaysia (Amnesty International)
Former Writer in Prison - Malaysia (PEN International)
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny upon the mind of man. Thomas Jefferson
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