My Father is a Hero...A Man of Dignity
by Emelia Badaruddin
My father, Badaruddin Ismail, better known as Pak Din, was born 56 years ago in Tapah Road, Perak. He is the eldest of eleven brothers and sisters. My father completed his Form Five at Sekolah Menengah Tinggi Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, and worked in the Navy for about 17 years. After that he worked for a construction company until 1984 when he decided to start his own business.
Pak Din is married to Fatimah Abdul Majid (51). They have three children, Erwan (28), Emelia (24) and Edura (20), and three granddaughters aged between 1 and 7 years.
Working for Suaram
Later he was elected into the secretariat of Suaram. Presently he works in the Documentation and Monitoring Division of Suaram. His focus is on the National Human Rights Commission and he was in charge of documenting all proceedings related to police brutality during the 5 November Kesas Highway demonstration. He was working to produce a book for Suaram when he was unexpectedly detained under the ISA.
Twice Arrested
My father was detained under the ISA on 26 April 2001 at about 8.50 a.m. while he was having his breakfast at Medan Selera, Taman Melawati. The stallholder told us that five to six people wearing T-shirts (Special Branch personnel) grabbed my father and took him away.
At about 9.30 am, a police officer who introduced himself as Inspector Faizal informed me that my father had been arrested. The officer did not tell me the reasons for the detention, or the sections of the law under which the detention was made.
We only knew about my father�s arrest under the ISA from �Berita Jam 6� on the same day.
This is the second time my father has been arrested. He was arrested for the first time on 24 October 1998 together with his younger brother in Kampung Baru.
Then they were locked up for seven days. My father and my uncle were beaten up by the police. As a result, my father had seven stitches on the right side of his forehead while my uncle had a �black eye� on the right.
Is this proof of what some people proudly proclaim to be �Polis Mesra Rakyat�, those who are supposed to take care of the peoples� security but behave otherwise.
No Visit, No Response
When I called the police to ask when I could visit my father, DSP Joon (Public Relations Officer) said that the police were still conducting their investigation. I called the Officer-In-Charge, DSP Philip, almost every day but he did not answer my calls. Nobody wanted to take responsibility, it seemed.
Nearly 30 days have gone by. We still have no news of my father. My family is worried about his health and security although the police officer said that anyone who is kept in police care would be �safe�.
Deputy Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi�s promise that the detainees would not be �brutalized� and would be �well treated� is hollow, in view of what happened to the former deputy prime minister, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in the notorious �black eye� incident.
At his press conference on April 11, Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Norian Mai, said that the detainees were �planning militant actions to topple the government�. He added that the detainees had planned to use Molotov cocktails and grenade launchers at a �Black 14� rally.
It doesn�t make sense at all why my father, Dr. Badrul Amin and Lokman Adam were arrested after the April 14 rally which, as everyone knows, ended peacefully.
What is the government trying to prove? The government has not produced a shred of evidence to demonstrate that the 10 detainees are involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the government. No evidence has been given to support the allegations made against them.
Granddaughters
Now, nearly 30 days after my father�s detention, my family have still not been allowed to see my father. We are extremely worried about his health because he is rather old compared to the other detainees. Can you just imagine what will happen if such an old man was beaten up by the police?
His granddaughters, especially 4-year old Ainaa, his second granddaughter who is very close to my father, always ask when they can see their �Tok Din�. Her sister Adila (7 years) has said, �kalau Mahathir pukul Tok Din, kakak nak jentik hidung dia�. Can you imagine how such a small child can say things like that without anyone teaching her to say so?
We have made a great deal of effort to obtain my father�s freedom. We went to Parliament to present a memorandum to the Opposition Leader, Dato� Fadzil Noor. We went to Putrajaya to meet Prime Minister Dato� Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Deputy Prime Minister Dato� Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to present a memorandum to protest against the arrest of several leaders of Parti Keadilan Nasional and other social activists.
We demanded the immediate release of all ISA detainees. We were terribly upset and disappointed when Dr Mahathir and Dato� Seri Abdullah refused to see us. They just sent their personal secretaries to meet us.
But they are being pressured with all kinds of anti-ISA activities that we have conducted. This is our major purpose. We will continue to give the government a lot of pressure so that they shall have no choice but be forced to release the detainees.
A Promise to Struggle
Personally, I�ve made a promise to myself: I will struggle and fight for my father�s freedom and bring him back to his beloved ones, especially his granddaughters, and to all citizens of this country.
I will not just wait and see what happens. My family and I will continue my father�s struggle until they release my father and all the detainees. I will not stop � this is my promise. Remember Mahathir, we, all the Malaysian citizens, will make sure that the Mahathir regime will be charged in an open court for what they have done to the rakyat.
Lastly, I request all the people out there who love freedom to pray hard for all the detainees� health, to pray for their immediate release, and to pray so that truth prevails and cruelty is removed .
Up! Up! Islah (reforms)!
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My father is a man of dignity. He is innocent and brave. With a sense of human dignity, my father joined Suaram in 1998, first as a volunteer for the Urgent Arrest Team. He helped the OKT (Orang Kena Tahan ) to secure bail and legal counsel, and fought for the freedom of protestors who were arrested for merely exercising their constitutional right to peaceful assembly.