The government should shut down the detention camp in Kamunting and convert it into a national heritage site, urged anti-ISA group Gabungan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI), in announcing three demands last night.

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During a candlelight vigil near the national police headquarter at Bukit Aman, GMI secretariat member Ahmad Syukri Razab called on the police to immediately release the last 45 ISA detainees as the new replacement law has come into force.

Once the detainees are released, he said, the infamous Kamunting camp must be gazetted as a historical landmark to commemorate those who were once detained under the draconian law.

“(Kamunting camp) is a monument for us to remember that we have been oppressed before,” he said.

He also demanded that the government set up an independent commission to investigate the purported torture on the detainees.

‘Home minister has the power’

Syukri was announcing these before a group of 30 people at the vigil, who displayed placards that read, among others, ‘10th day of hunger strike’, ‘Hunger strike for dignity’, and ‘Why torture the detainees?’

Under the close watch of some 30 police personnel, the group chanted anti-ISA slogans, recited poems and invited the family members of ISA detainees to relate their experiences.

GMI chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Nor urged the Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to exercise his power to release the last 45 detainees as he is empowered to do so.

He pointed out that under the Section 32(2) of the Security Offences (special measures) Bill 2012, the ISA detainees could be further detained until the detention period is served; unless there is an intervention from the home minister.  

“The minister can order the release of the detainees if he is satisfied.

“We are uging Hishammuddin to exercise his power because it is the right thing to do,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hadijah Veerabu, whose son Fadzullah Abdul Razak has been held in the Kamunting camp since 2010, said she missed her son very much.

She said she had been losing weight since the day her son was taken away.

“Now that he is on hunger strike for a tenth day. When I see him doing like that, my body hurts,” she said.

Hadijah said she had lost faith in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who promised to abolish the ISA but did not bring Fadzullah back to her.   

“Whenever I queried the camp officials when can my son be released, they asked me to ask Najib,” she said.   

GMI said they will ramp up pressure on the authorities, while the activists and the family members of the detainees are expected to visit the Kamunting camp today.