Media Statement
All Barisan National Leaders Have The Same Disrespect For Rule of Law
The detentions of these three Keadilan leaders and one prominent social activist are contemptible. Despite alleging all kinds of threats against national security to justify the arrests that began on 10 April 2001, and despite interrogating the detainees for nearly 60 days, the Police evidently have nothing that they can prove or defend in an open court.
The Malaysian people aren't so stupid or blind as to be distracted by Dr Mahathir Mohamad's latest sandiwara just because Dr Mahathir and UMNO are faced with severe internal divisions.
After laughable denials of his resignation as Minister of Finance, Daim Zainuddin has quit either out of unpopularity, or because he no longer serves Dr Mahathir's purposes, or both. With its annual general assembly looming, UMNO has tried to refurbish its shabby image by suspending several divisional chiefs on charges of 'money politics'.
Outside UMNO the pressures have increased. The opposition has grown in strength and sophistication. The post-September 1998 dissent persists because it was never something that was instigated by a few individuals.
There was no visible public support for the ISA arrests. But there was plenty of opposition coming from political parties, NGOs, SUHAKAM and ordinary people who rejected the regime's repressive rule.
The clearest rejection of ISA came from Justice Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus who declared in the Shah Alam High Court on 30 May 2001 that the detention of N Gobalakrishnan and Abdul Ghani Haroon was unlawful, the Police had acted in bad faith, and Parliament should review ISA.
Dr Mahathir's notorious dependence on ISA is already well known. Some people thought, however, Minister of Home Affairs Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was 'different'.
If he was indeed different from his mentor, Abdullah Badawi would have accepted that Justice Hishamudin's judgment had demolished all justifications for ISA's continuing existence. After all, when the arrests were first made, Abdullah Badawi had tried to distance himself by claiming ignorance of the Police moves.
But by signing the two-year detention orders against Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam, Haji Saari and Hishamuddin, Abdullah Badawi has proven to all Malaysians that there is no 'lenient side' to 'Pak Lah'.
By choosing to ignore Justice Hishamudin's historic judgment, Abdullah Badawi has shown that he is no different from Dr Mahathir when it comes to authoritarian rule.
For the sake of Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam, Haji Saari and Hishamuddin, and all other prisoners of conscience and ISA victims, Malaysians who are committed to Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law must continue the struggle against ISA and BN's repression.
IMMEDIATELY RELEASE ALL ISA DETAINEES!
Aliran Executive Committee
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Aliran condemns the two-year detention orders made under ISA against Tian Chua (Parti Keadilan Nasional vice-president)(right), Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor (Keadilan Youth chief)(far right), Haji Saari Sungib (Keadilan Supreme Council member) and Hishamuddin Rais (media columnist and social activist).
The detentions of Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam, Haji Saari (left) and Hishamuddin (far left) are also cowardly. They are merely desperate acts of political persecution ordered by a Barisan Nasional regime that no longer has any just or democratic response to legal and legitimate challenges.
Malaysians should not place any hopes in the supposed differences between one or another BN leader. As the apologetics of dissident-turned-minister Rais Yatim amply demonstrate, BN leaders are all the same in their habitual disrespect for the rule of law.