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Letter to the Editor

An Affront to Parliament

More than two weeks have passed since the original seven activists were detained under the ISA.

No one outside the police has any clue as to their security and well-being. Their families have not had any access to them. Their lawyers have not met them. The public has not seen them.

It is extremely worrying that no one knows whether the sick among them have had medical treatment. Remember Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim? He was brutally assaulted and badly injured but was denied prompt medical treatment.

No one knows if these detainees have been brutalised. Nobody has seen them to confirm that they are well.

Should we accept the word of the police with regard to their welfare? Remember Anwar Ibrahim? While he was agonising and groaning from the injuries inflicted by the top policeman of the country, we were assured that he was `safe and sound'.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has stated `No more black eyes'. But does he know what is happening in the inner sanctum of Bukit Aman? Are the police obliged to tell him all that they do? After all he didn't even know that the seven were detained under the ISA!

Does Abdullah Badawi know more than Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad? Dr Mahathir, Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs in September 1998, said he didn't know his IGP had ruthlessly attacked a helpless Anwar Ibrahim but afterwards pretended that everything was above board.

We fully emphathise with the detainees' family members, friends and relatives, and concerned citizens who fear for the safety of the detainees.

The authorities may, out of unwarranted cruelty or for absurd reasons, deny family members and lawyers access to the detainees. In law the authorities have no excuse to deny Suhakam Commissioners legitimate access to the detainees.

Any delay in granting Suhakam Commissioners access to the detainees is an affront to the authority of Parliament. For it is an Act of Parliament that established Suhakam and confers upon its Commissioners powers and authority, including access to places of detention.

Under Functions and Powers of the Commission, article 4(2) states:

4(2) For the purpose of discharging its functions, the Commission may exercise any or all of the following powers: (d) to visit places of detention in accordance with procedures as prescribed by the laws relating to the places of detention and to make necessary recommendations;