Home / News / Urgent Appeals / UPDATE (MALAYSIA): U.N. Letter-Writing Campaign for the Release of ISA Detainees
 

UPDATE (MALAYSIA): U.N. Letter-Writing Campaign for the Release of ISA Detainees

June 20, 2001

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE URGENT APPEAL <br>
<br>
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM <br>
<br>
Update on Urgent Appeal 20 June 2001 <br>
---------------------------------------------------------------------- <br>
UP-16-2001 (RE: FA02/01): Activists and Political Leaders Detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Malaysia <br>
<br>
UPDATE (MALAYSIA): U.N. Letter-Writing Campaign for the Release of ISA Detainees <br>
---------------------------------------------------------------------- <br>
<br>
Dear Friends, <br>
<br>
Because of concerns with the use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Malaysia to deny the Malaysian people their human rights, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to promote a U.N. letter-writing campaign for the release of detainees being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the abolition of the ISA, a campaign which was originally launched by the Malaysian human rights group, SUARAM. <br>
<br>
This letter-writing campaign seeks the intervention of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson with the Malaysian government. <br>
<br>
You can join this campaign by writing your own personal letter or by signing the on-line petition at http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/malaysia/isa/petition.htm between June 20 and Aug. 20, 2001. <br>
<br>
We urge you to join this campaign to release ISA detainees and abolish the ISA in Malaysia. <br>
<br>
Thank you. <br>
<br>
<br>
Urgent Appeals Desk <br>
Asian Human Rights Commission <br>
<br>
============================= <br>
<br>
SAMPLE LETTER (for example only!) <br>
<br>
Dear <br>
<br>
I would like to bring to your attention the manner in which the Malaysian government is using the draconian Internal Security Act to control public life and civil society and to undermine and suppress dissent and open debate among its people. <br>
<br>
Since 1960 when the act was passed, thousands of people, including trade unionists, student leaders, labour activists, political activists, religious groups, academicians and NGO activists, have been arrested under the ISA. <br>
<br>
The ISA provides for \&quot;preventive detention\&quot; without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time, violating the right of a person to defend himself in an open and fair trial. In the initial 60-day \&quot;interrogation\&quot; period, the detainee is usually kept in solitary confinement and denied access to lawyers and family visits. This violates people's fundamental rights, contradicts all principles of justice and undermines the rule of law. <br>
<br>
Former detainees have testified to being subjected to physical and psychological torture during this interrogation period. This may include one or more of the following forms of abuse: physical assault, sleep deprivation, round-the-clock interrogation and threats of bodily harm to family members, including the detainee's children. Prolonged torture and deprivation have led to detainees signing state-manufactured \&quot;confessions\&quot; under severe duress. <br>
<br>
In June 2001, six political and social activists were served orders for two years of detention without trial under the ISA after their initial 60-day period of inhumane solitary confinement expired. They are: <br>
<br>
1. Tian Chua, vice president of the National Justice Party and a labour activist; detained on April 10; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 2, 2001. <br>
<br>
2. Mohd. Ezam Mohd. Nor, national youth chief of the National Justice Party; detained on April 10; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 2, 2001. <br>
<br>
3. Hishamuddin Rais, journalist, columnist and social activist; detained on April 10; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 2, 2001. <br>
<br>
4. Saari Sungib, national leader of the National Justice Party; detained on April 10; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 2, 2001. <br>
<br>
5. Dr. Badrul Amin, national leader of the National Justice Party; detained on April 20; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 13, 2001. <br>
<br>
6. Lokman Adam, youth leader of the National Justice Party; detained on April 24; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 13, 2001. <br>
<br>
Under the ISA, the home minister can renew the detention order every two years for an indefinite length of time. <br>
<br>
The six detainees were among 10 activists detained at various times in April 2001, just days before the second anniversary of the conviction of the former deputy prime minister and an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, Anwar Ibrahim, on April 14, 2001. The 10 men, together with pro-reform activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and political parties, were preparing an event to forward a formal complaint and memorandum to the National Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) on April 14, 2001, on the state of human rights in Malaysia. <br>
<br>
The police released two detainees voluntarily while the Shah Alam High Court ordered the release of two others on May 30. <br>
<br>
I appeal to you, as the two highest U.N. officials for the defence of human rights, to take the following action: <br>
<br>
1. Intervene in the detention without trial under the ISA of these six activists and to request that the Malaysian government immediately release them; <br>
<br>
2. Send the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, the special rapporteur on freedom of expression and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to Malaysia to investigate the use of the ISA and the condition of the detainees; <br>
<br>
3. Follow up on the recommendations made to the Malaysian government by the special rapporteur on freedom of expression during his visit to Malaysia in 1997; <br>
<br>
4. Query the Malaysian government in U.N. meetings about their accountability for the gross violation of human rights in Malaysia; and <br>
<br>
5. Strongly and unequivocally recommend to the Malaysian government that it abolish the ISA. <br>
<br>
Sincerely yours, <br>
<br>
---------------- <br>
<br>
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO: <br>
<br>
Mr. Kofi Annan <br>
Secretary-General <br>
United Nations Room S-3800 <br>
New York NY 10017 <br>
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA <br>
Fax: 1-212-963 4879/2155 <br>
E-mail: ecu@un.org <br>
<br>
Mrs. Mary Robinson <br>
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights <br>
Palais des Nations <br>
8-14 Avenue de la Paix <br>
CH 1211 Geneve <br>
Switzerland <br>
Fax: (41) 229170213 <br>
E-mail: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch <br>
Please mark \&quot;ATTENTION MR. KOFI ANNAN and MRS. MARY ROBINSON\&quot; <br>
<br>
<br>
* Please send copies of your letter to: wkpeng@pc.jaring.my and ua@ahrchk.org. <br>
<br>

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-16-2001
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.