40 Years is Enough! Abolish the Internal Security Act! by Dr Francis Loh
At about 10am a group of former detainees stepped forward to face the crowd, their backs to the gates. Somebody called for silence. And as though it was a call for prayer the mood turned solemn. The noise turned to a whisper. The former detainees then led the crowd:
Kami, rakyat Malaysia yang berhimpun di sini
Dengan ini mendesak
Dengan ini Menuntut:
1. Pembubaran Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri 1960 dan semua akta lain yang benarkan penahanan tanpa bicara;
2. Pembebasan semua tahanan yang masih ditahan dibawah ISA dan undang-undang lain yang membenarkan penahanan tanpa bicara;
3. Menjalankan satu Siasatan Bebas terhadap penyiksaan dan penganiayaan yang dilakukan ke atas bekas ISA dan membayar gantirugi kepada ahli keluarga mereka.
The declaration was followed by spontaneous shouts of Mansuhkan ISA! (Abolish the ISA!), Cukup 40 Tahun! (40 Years is Enough!), ISA Zalim! (The ISA is Cruel!), Hidup Kebebasan! (Long Live Freedom!), Hidup Rakyat! (Long Live the People!), Hidup Kebebasan! (Long Live Freedom!) And as these shouts filled the early morning Kamunting air, dozens of brightly coloured balloons were released. Looking up, as the red, blue, yellow and other coloured balloons floated freely into the heavens I thought back of how, three years ago, we had also shouted the same slogans, in front of the same detention camp, to mark the 10th anniversary of Operasi Lalang, a mass crackdown against dissent in October 1987. But whereas there were only about 150 people then present, today there were gathered perhaps twenty times more people. The crowd then marched along the left and right sides of the road � so as to let the traffic drive by � to a certain humble Kampung Pasir, a few hundred metres away. There, by a stream in an open space in the middle of the village when a make-shift speaker�s rostrum had been put up, a forum was held. The crowd heard from seven to eight former detainees who recounted their experiences under detention. Some emphasised the harsh conditions they encountered, most painful of all was being deprived of their loved ones. Others, to stress the arbitrariness of how the ISA could be applied, recounted how the authorities approached them to implicate others who were completely innocent. Still others spoke of the true friends they found among fellow detainees while in Kamunting. There was also special thanks offered to the people of Kg Pasir who provided them with fresh fruit and warm meals from time-to-time, and who welcomed the detainees� families into their homes when they came to visit. It was a most meaningful morning spent among fellow Malaysians. The crowd was well-behaved and the gathering was completely peaceful. The Kamunting police who had not prevented the gathering from being held were praised and offered a round of applause. In fact, the peaceful gathering had moments which not only touched the heart but the spirit too. But clearly, the people had also awakened. They were no longer afraid of standing up for justice and to protest against the heinous ISA and other harsh laws. I felt so proud to be a Malaysian that October morning. | |||||||||||||||
An estimated crowd of 2,500 people from all over the country converged in Kamunting (near Taiping, Perak) on Sunday, 29 October, to protest 40 years of the Internal Security Act (ISA). The crowd began gathering in front of the guard house, at the gates of the dreaded Kamunting detention camp, from about 9.00 am. Some youths who had apparently come from Kuala Lumpur put on a skit to depict the cruelty of the ISA and how arbitrarily it had been used in the recent past. They also led the crowd in singing some songs of protest, one of which was the amended version of Barisan Kita, made popular by the reformasi movement these past two years�.Semboyan telah berbunyi, Menuju Reformasi.