The six ISA reformasi activists should reconsider their boycott of the Harun Hashim Suhakam public  inquiry with  two of them  having  their say on their ISA detention


Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling Jaya,  Thursday) The six Internal Security Act (ISA) reformasi activists, namely Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Nor, Hishamuddin Rais, Chua Tian Chang, Saari Sungib, Badrulamin Bahron and Lokman Noor Adam, should reconsider their boycott of the Harun Hashim Suhakam public inquiry and two of them  should appear at the inquiry to have their say on their ISA detention.  

The six ISA reformasi activists have boycotted the Harun Hashim public inquiry on two main grounds: the scope of the inquiry and limitation to their appearance by two representatives instead of by all the six.  

Their grave reservations about the scope of the Harun Hashim public inquiry is valid, and I had repeatedly asked Suhakam to clarify whether the inquiry is the  beginning of a  wide-ranging Suhakam review of the Internal Security Act (ISA) including whether it should be repealed  or whether it is strictly limited to inquiry into the detention conditions of the ISA detainees, including their medical and visitation rights. 

In the first two days of the public inquiry at the Taiping Prisons Club, although Suhakam commissioners had publicly stated that the inquiry would be  limited to the detention conditions of the ISA detainees, the testimony went well beyond purely about the detention conditions to the extent that the first-day proceedings were given extensive  international media coverage, including the Asian Wall Street Journal  front-page report and headline: “Detainees in Malaysia Admit Afghan Training – Islamic Militant Suspects Tell of Arms Instruction”.  

Local media, radio and television  also gave extensive coverage to the first-day proceedings which was not about ISA detention conditions but about “admissions” by two ISA detainees about their involvement with Kumpulan Militant Malaysia (KMM) and  past military training in Afghanistan while studying in Pakistan while another two denied involvement with KMM although admitting being members of Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia (JIM).

This led to strong protests at the second day of the inquiry yesterday, with a few ISA detainees accusing the press of twisting the facts and wrongfully implicating them in the so-called terrorist KMM.

One ISA detainee told the inquiry that local TV station TV3 had wrongfully reported statements from witnesses on the first day  by stating that suspected KMM members had gone for military training in Afghanistan for five years when in actual fact they were only in Afghanistan for a few months.  

The ISA detainee, Zainon Ismail, 46, said the  KMM was only a fictional name created by the police to justify their detentions.  

He said: “The KMM is the product of the police, the real leader of the KMM is police chief Norian Mai. I am just a victim.  

“I admit I am a member of the KMM but it stands for Kumpulan Mangsa Mata-Mata (victims of the police group). ” (Malaysiakini 19.6.02)  

In my short visit to the Harun Hashim public inquiry on Tuesday, I had misgivings about the lines of questioning some of which led the detainees to make unconscious and even unintended self-incriminating statements without benefit of counsel. 

Be that as it may, it would appear that despite the announced narrow scope of the Harun Hashim public inquiry, there is  room for the six ISA reformasi activists to have their say on their ISA detention, although they have to do it through two representatives and not by all six of them.  

The statement by Harun yesterday that the public inquiry is being held to give the commission, the public and the world “a clear picture of the Internal Security Act and whether it is truly a violation of human rights” has added further confusion about the scope and purpose of the inquiry  - for if its  purpose is to conduct a public inquiry into whether the ISA is a fundamental  violation of human rights, then its proceedings should be structured very differently from one limited to detention conditions. 

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that, “in a surprise move”, Harun closed the public session a day short of the scheduled three days but he held  out the possibility of continuing the public inquiry later.  

In the circumstances, the six ISA reformasi activists should reconsider their boycott of the Harun Hashim public inquiry and ask for two of their representatives to appear at the resumption of the public inquiry to have their say on ISA and  their detention.

(20/6/2002)


*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman