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UPDATE: MALAYSIA: Request for Solidarity Messages

October 22, 2001

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

Update on Urgent Appeal, 23 October 2001
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UP-42-2001 (RE: UA25/01: National day greetings to the people and the government of Malaysia)

UPDATE (MALAYSIA): Abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) Campaign
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Dear Friends,

We are requesting you to send solidarity messages to the six ISA detainees who are boycotting prison food in protest of the harsh treatment they are facing. The messages will be read out to the prisoners at a protest rally which is being organised in Malaysia at Kamintang Detention Centre on 27th October. A sample solidarity letter is included here, as well as a sample protest letter to the Minister for Home Affairs of Malaysia. First we provide an update on the situation of the detainees and details of the rally being organised. The detainees need to know they have your support, so please write a simple solidarity message to them.

Thank you for your continued support for the ISA detainees.

Urgent Appeals Desk
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On 27 October* 2001, the Abolish ISA Movement in Malaysia will organize a protest rally in front of the Kamunting Detention Centre in Malaysia to express solidarity with the political detainees presently held there under the Internal Security Act (ISA), and to call for the repeal of the ISA. The ISA allows for arrest and detention without trial on allegations of a “security threat?

*[This date as chosen to mark the last big ISA crackdown in Malaysia 14 years ago. On 27 October 1987, “Operation Lallang? the biggest crackdown on the democracy movement in Malaysia since decades, was launched by the Malaysian government. More than 100 political and NGO activists were subsequently arrested and detained for various lengths of time under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA).]

UPDATE ON THE CONDITION OF THE DETAINEES in Kamunting Detention Center:
[Source: Suaram and AIM-Malaysia]

ISA Detainees Waging Boycott Prison Food Campaign In Detention Center!

Six political detainees, namely Saari Sungib, Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, Tian Chua, Hishamuddin Rais, Lokman Noor Adam and Dr. Badrulamin Bahron, arrested under the ISA in April 2001, have launched a boycott prison food campaign starting from 11 September 2001 against the prison authority of the Kamunting Detention Centre. They are being held on a two year detention-without-trial order by the Malaysian government under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA).

The boycott campaign is launched by these six detainees to protest strongly against all form of ill-treatment and violations of the fundamental rights of the detainees. These violations include:
- semi-solitary confinement (two in a block which designated for twenty detainees)
- poor prison food
- breach of detainees' right to consult lawyers in private
- denial of access to television, radio and proper newspapers
- withholding of letters and postcards addressed to detainees
- infringement of the detainees?privacy by checking their personal letters
- restriction of their reading materials

The detainees have requested to meet the Commandant of the Camp, Mr. Mohd Zawawi Abdul Rahim, but to no avail. The detainees also wrote to the Minister of Home Affairs, via the Camp Commandant, seeking an explanation of the segregation policy by the prison authority. The letter dated 16th of September 2001 is still unanswered.

The political detainees have vowed to continue or step up the boycott campaign until the prison authority and the Home Minister respond to their request to improve the treatment of the detainees in the detention centre.

HEALTH UPDATE

Meanwhile, the health condition of the detainees is deteriorating. The families of the detainees reported that they looked pale and suffered noticeable weight-loss. Mohd Ezam is having a high uric acid count and would need a special diet. Tian Chua is suffering from severe asthma. Lokman is suffering form high blood pressure. Saari and Hishamuddin were down with severe migraine and had not seen a doctor. The families estimated that they lost between 2-9 kg within a week

We fear for the detainees health and well-being if the treatment of these detainees in the detention centre is not improved and continues to deteriorate.

SUGGESTED ACTION

The detainees need your solidarity support in time for the 27 October rally!

1. Please send a solidarity statement / message to the political detainees in Malaysia to be read out during the anti-ISA protest rally at Kamunting Detention Center on 27 October.
Fax or email your message to Abolish ISA Movement (Malaysia), c/- Suaram:
Fax: 603-77843526; Email: wkpeng@pc.jaring.my

2. Fax a protest letter:
To the Home Minister, Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - Fax: 603-88868014
and/or to the Malaysian Consulate in your own country.

3. Fax a letter to the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, SUHAKAM, Tan Sri Musa Hitam - Fax: 603-26125620
urging them to visit the detainees waging the 'boycott prison food' campaign.

SAMPLE LETTERS

Following are 2 sample letters: one of Solidarity and one of Protest.
You can send your own letters, based on these examples, or you can copy, sign and send them to the respective persons.

PLEASE.... At least send a Solidarity message to the detainees, who really need to be supported and encouraged to keep up their spirits!

Sample Solidarity message to the Detainees in Kamunting Detention Centre
Fax or email your message to:
Abolish ISA Movement (Malaysia) Fax: 603-77843526 ; Email: wkpeng@pc.jaring.my

SAMPLE LETTER 1

To :
Saari Sungib,
Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor,
Tian Chua,
Hishamuddin Rais,
Lokman Noor Adam
Badrulamin Bahron

Kamunting Detention Centre,
Taiping, Malaysia.

Dear Friends,

Today I join with your comrades in solidarity, to greet you in the Kamunting Detention Centre. I would like to commend you for your courage to stand up for your rights, and your strength in continuing to protest the injustice of your detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

I, and many others with me, am very concerned that you will not suffer additional physical and mental discomfort or ill-treatment while in detention. Such indefinite detention without trial is in itself inhumane and unjust, and cannot be justified under any circumstances, as it violates, at the least, very basic democratic rights including the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the right to due process of law.

I pledge my solidarity with the movement of people who are working to obtain your release and the release of all ISA detainees.

I also support the call of many Malaysians for the repeal of the Internal Security Act in Malaysia.

I wish you enduring courage and strength,
______________________
(Name / Organisation)

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SAMPLE LETTER 2:
Sample protest letter to Home Minister of Malaysia

Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Home Minister
Aras 13, Block D1, Parcel D,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
652020 Putrajaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Fax: 603-88868014

Dear Sir,

Re: Protest Against Inhumane Treatment of ISA detainees and demand Release of Political Detainees

I am extremely concerned about the health and well being of the six political detainees who are now waging a 'boycott prison food' campaign in the Kamunting Detention Center.

I am writing to urge the authorities to immediately meet with the detainees, stop the semi-solitary confinement of these detainees and all other forms of inhumane treatment of the detainees.

I urge you to guarantee that those recently detained under the ISA will not be subjected to physical or psychological torture or other ill-treatment while they are in custody;

I call for them to be allowed immediate, private and regular access to lawyers, their families and independent medical attention.

I urge the authorities to charge them with a recognizably criminal offence and bring them before a court of law, or else release them immediately.

I would like to express concern that the ISA violates fundamental human rights, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human rights, including the right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 5); the right to not be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention (Article 9); the right to a fair and public trial (Article 10); and the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law (Article 11). In the case of these and numerous other previous ISA prisoners, there is also no doubt that the ISA is also being used to deny the freedom of opinion and expression (Article 19) and freedom of peaceful assembly and association (Article 20).

Therefore I urge you to repeal the ISA.

Yours Sincerely
____________________
(Name/Organisation)
Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-42-2001
Issues :
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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.