Pagalavan's Avatar

The below account of his recent appearance in UK by Mariam Mokhtar is worth reading. Remember Bala’s disappearance , when police said they don’t know where he is at the beginning? They even claim that he has not left the country.

 

 

We expected scuffles, handcuffs, a tearful Marina (RPK’s wife) as her hapless husband was bundled into a black maria. No. There was none of that drama.

Instead, RPK (left) the much-loved fugitive was given a thunderous standing ovation by 360 people who were packed into the lecture hall.

The enthusiastic response and spontaneity of affection by this mostly Malaysian crowd would have made any Malaysian minister green with envy.

At RPK’s debut, there were no British bobbies nor Polis Di Raja Malaysia; Only a few Malaysian Special Branch trying to blend into the crowd.

Thankfully, someone finally reminded Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Ismail Omar that no extradition treaty exists between Malaysia and Britain, to avoid him further embarrassment.

The Malay Mail too, had egg on its face when its odious effort to sell more newspapers, gave RPK additional publicity and drove more people to the alternative media sites.

From the outset, RPK said he would avoid controversial topics but would concentrate on the Internal Security Act (ISA) and his personal experience gained during two periods of detention.

A clip from an Australian TV network of Marina (at left in picture) and his daughter visiting RPK at Kamunting showed that suffering was not confined to the victim.

I am curious about the prison-guards. They are privy to the mental and physical breakdown of a person. RPK described sleeping on bare floors, sleep deprivation, eating from filthy plates that bore traces of food from previous days.

We pictured the 10’x10′ concrete room that he would have to call ‘home’ for the duration of his imprisonment and of the hole in the middle of floor that was his toilet.

We learnt about interrogation at odd hours of the day to disorientate him. Any attempt to make notches on the walls to record each passing day was banned and would result in a loss of privileges.

How would the guards reconcile themselves to such inhumane treatment? Did they leave their consciences at home, when they went to work? Did the teachings of their faith justify these tortures?

Or had they lost all faith in religion and mankind? Were they devoid of feeling?

The fact that the Emergency Regulations Ordinance 1948 morphed into the draconian Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA), after Malaysia’s independence (1957), should debunk the myth that the ISA was a relic of British rule.

In 1960, the opposition party agreed to the passing of the ISA provided it was used only to combat communist terrorism. So why did the government renege on this deal, following the 1989 Peace Treaty with the communists?

After this, the ISA was used solely for control of the opponents of BN.

Typical ISA detention

RPK then described a typical ISA detention. The first 30 days were spent on drawing confessions from the detainee – a ‘sign of co-operation’.

(RPK’s confession was 250 pages long).

The following 30 days, dubbed ”turning over’, was when the guilty party would sign every page of his confession, not in duplicate or triplicate, but thirty times.

At best this was a waste of paper. At worst, this ‘turning over’ period accentuated the finer points of remoulding the ‘new’ character of the guilty with offers of money, material wealth and positions of responsibility.

These ‘rewards’ would be delivered in stages, depending on the ex-detainee’s behaviour after release. Some of the Trojan horses, in Malaysia’s main opposition party, may be fulfilling bargains struck during “turning over”.

Undoubtedly the talk’s main point was the need for greater transparency and accountability in Malaysian politics. The known abuses of the postal voting system, the cheating, the manipulation of votes and the underhand tactics, were a recurrent theme in Malaysian elections.

RPK suggested possible solutions which included abolishing postal votes, having a credible Election Commission, the right to vote for all overseas Malaysians and the presence of a foreign election watch to monitor our elections.

We were left with a poser at the end. Malaysia had 4.5 million unregistered voters and 3 million eligible voters who did not exercise their right to vote. Did they not care or could they not be bothered to vote?

It is wrong for people who are aware of the injustices in our country to refuse to instigate change.

It is equally wrong for ordinary people, like you and I, to choose to look the other way.

If we think it is acceptable to bequeath to our children a country that is riddled with nepotism, cronyism, corruption and disregard for human rights, then we are morally bankrupt.

The only excuse I can offer is that they are afraid. RPK alluded to this “politics of fear” earlier.

As an illustration, Anwar Ibrahim (right) gave a talk on 3 May, at the Faculty of Law, in the University of Cambridge.

The lecture, ‘Islam and Democracy in South East Asia’ was undersubscribed because people believed they would be penalised for attending.

Also, students were ‘warned’ to stay away, as the lecturer, was the de-facto opposition leader.

At RPK’s talk yesterday, it transpired that the same fears gripped students in London. Many government scholars kept away.

A few, who attended, confirmed that they were put under intense pressure and risked having their scholarships revoked by the government.

One student said that the students’ scholarship agreements contained an undertaking that they would not attend any ‘political’ lectures.

It seemed to drive home RPK’s point: “In the past, the ISA stopped you from shooting and bombing. Today, it stops you from having thoughts. So you have a nation of robots.”

ISA’s evil grip

The evil grip of the ISA has even reached the distant shores of Britain.

To effect a change, is simple.

Responsible Malaysians must vote. And overseas Malaysians must demand the right to vote as guaranteed in the constitution.

Few are aware that four decades ago, overseas Malaysians could vote in a Malaysian election by registering their vote at the High Commission in London.

This right must be reinstated.

Despite the disturbing lack of transparency in our system of governance, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (left) would be pleased that the true spirit of ‘1Malaysia’ was happily practised at a ‘makan kecil’ after the lecture.

This gathering was a healthy mix of Malaysians of all races, religions, ages and both sexes, engaged in lively discussions about sensitive topics.

There were no recriminations nor animosity, which is as it should be.

Are Malaysians ready? More to the point, are Malaysian politicians mature enough for intelligent discourse?

//

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real–speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.