Stand Up For What We Believe In
There is no time or room for apathy

More than 40 days have passed since the ISA arrests. To date, only five of the ten detainees have been seen by their family members. The other five, Tian Chua, Hishamudin Rais, Gobala Krishnan, Abdul Ghani Othman and Badaruddin Ismail have still not been seen by anyone except their captors.

The police have said they are in the 'safest hands'. We all know what the 'safest hands' can do and have done in the past to those in their custody. It is not a reassuring thought.

These are my friends

I think of Tian and Hisham, two of the ISA detainees whom I know personally. I remember Tian in London, remember him here�laughing, talking about the various issues facing us, facing our country�

I think of Hisham�hardly able to sit down for two minutes at the table before leaping out, expressing yet another new idea�.

And now they are undergoing the first 60 days of detention under the ISA, the various interrogation techniques, disorientation and solitary confinement.

What this will do to their mental and physical wellbeing one can only guess. It is a cruel situation, a bad law, controlled by arrogant, inhumane authorities.

Tian and Hisham are not terrorists; they are not numbers on a list, not faceless names on a warrant of arrest�these men are my friends, friends with an enormous amount of courage.

Everyday I read the Anti-ISA Campaign Diary of Events listing the numerous ceramahs, the roadshows, the hunger fast, the various memorandums and letters of protest against the ISA.

I am told that the present public response to the ISA arrests is far better than previous responses to ISA arrests. People are more aware given the recent political upheavals and publicity in the media.

But when I leave my house I am amazed that life just simply carries on in spite of the injustices that occur daily. All around me people are carrying on with their lives. Day-to-day living taking precedence over larger issues at stake.

I wonder if I am awake or perhaps it's all a dream. Is the struggle just localised in the capital city?

Perhaps it is the case of geography where certain sectors of people are more aware of the issue or more willing to stick up banners and posters and wear badges and sign petitions. Is the struggle gaining support or are the same people involved in organising activities and giving talks?

Tian Chua a 9A1 student?

I recently went to my local market, which is a hive of activity, where double-parking is common and a person can get extremely upset over being short-changed or over a price increase of thirty sen or over losing a parking space. These personal 'rights' are guarded so zealously. I asked the stall-holders I usually frequent (for my groceries, vegetables, fruit and flowers) what they thought of the ISA.

My flower man remembered reading about it. He felt that while the opposition was necessary in any democratic country, the public should not be inconvenienced (he was caught in a traffic jam travelling along the Kesas Highway�very moody). He was ambivalent about the ISA.

My taukua man remembered reading something about people being arrested but had no idea what for and neither had he heard of the ISA.

My vegetable lady said she had no time to read the papers. My chicken lady thought that Tian Chua was the recent 9A1 student who had not got a place in the university.

One woman I spoke to felt that people were arrested under the ISA for demonstrating in public.

Another felt that if they were arrested then they must have been guilty of some wrongdoing if not why else would the police arrest them.

Someone else remarked, "All these heroes�can't keep quiet."

I was about to give up in despair when my onion and dried chilli man quietly told me that the ISA was a means by which the government was trying to supress keADILan and that he was going to Sg Nibong that evening to hear Guan Eng and Chandra speak.

I finished marketing slightly cheered but still wondered about the general level of consciousness in the market and in the country for that matter.

The ISA must go

Is the general population really awake? What will it take to unite the general population against the blatantly unjust ISA?

We can fight to the death for a parking space but when it comes to speaking out for someone, speaking out against an inhumanity, why is it that our reactions are so slow? Is it ignorance? Is it the fear of repercussions? Is it the case that it is not our problem unless it affects us directly?

Is there really such apathy and lack of collective responsibility towards the nation and its direction? The poem by Rev Martin Niemoeller called 'First They Came for�' comes to mind.

In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
but I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one left to speak for me.