FAC News - Saturday, February 23, 2002 11:34 AM

ISA Detainees file a Writ against Malaysian government

On Monday, 25 February 2002, four of the Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees and one ex-detainee will have their case heard in the Kuala Lumpur Federal Court.

The five – National Justice Party Youth Leader Ezam Mohd Nor, Tian Chua, Saari Sungib, Hishamuddin Rais and Raja Petra Kamarudin – have filed a Writ of Habeas Corpus to get their arrest and detention declared illegal.

Ezam, Tian, Saari and Hishamuddin were arrested on 10 April 2001 and are now being detained indefinitely in the Kamunting Detention Centre. Raja Petra, the Director of the Free Anwar Campaign, who was arrested the following day after leading the 15 or so arresting Special Branch officers on a night of merry-go-round, was released on 2 June 2001 after 52 days of daily marathon interrogation sessions.

Though already free, Raja Petra is still seeking to get his detention declared illegal in a test case that may determine whether, in future, the ISA can be enforced in cases where the government is not able to provide evidence to justify the detention.

Raja Petra sent shock waves through the police force when he embarked on a total hunger strike the day they detained him. By the fourth day of detention he had lost three kilograms and his blood sugar had dropped to dangerous levels while his blood pressure shot up.

A doctor was summoned to examine Raja Petra and to try and coax him to end his hunger strike. Raja Petra, however, continued his hunger strike and the doctor reported that if the hunger strike continues he would be dead by the seventh or eighth day of detention.

The authorities eventually gave in and offered Raja Petra a mattress, pillow and a pair of slippers to persuade him to end his hunger strike. Before that he was barefooted and had to sleep on a dirty cement floor with no bedding. His meals were also changed to Western food and mineral water from the packed rice and pungent tap water.

On the fiftieth day of detention, Raja Petra got wind that the authorities were about to pack them all off to the Kamunting Detention Center – which they would normally do between the fifty-second to fifty-ninth day. On the fifty-first day, Raja Petra re-launched his hunger strike and told the authorities he was not prepared to be sent to Kamunting. On the fifty-second day, they decided they had had enough of him and sent him home on condition he first of all end his hunger strike.

According to Dr Badrulamin Bahron, who was recently re-arrested under the ISA after just three months of freedom, "The police complained that Raja Petra was giving them a headache. His food bill alone was costing them thousands. And every time he was not happy he would stop eating until they gave him what he wanted."

"The police said they had never detained a member of the royal family before this," added Dr Badrulamin. "They did not know how to handle Raja Petra. He would go into his moods and refuse to eat or drink. The police were dancing to his tune. Normally detainees would have to do what the police say. But, in Raja Petra’s case, they had to follow his whims. And he was always changing his moods so they never knew what to expect of him."

Six of the ten detainees arrested in April 2001 are still in Kamunting. Now they too are fighting against this detention and, on 4 February 2002, they launched a "soft" hunger strike by boycotting all food supplied by the authorities.

They have since lost more than 10 kilograms and are passing out blood in their urine. If the government ignores their demand to be released from ISA detention and be charged in an open court, the soft hunger strike may escalate into a total hunger strike. Friends and families of the detainees are planning to join them in the total hunger strike if it is launched in about 2 or 3 weeks time.