Dr Mahathir's premiership began with a great liberal hope on July 16, 1981, when he took over from the then ailing Tun Hussein Onn. On the day he assumed office, he made a statement: "We have not forgotten them. We will re-study their cases."
The 'they' to which Dr Mahathir referred to was a batch of Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees who included, among others, Kassim Ahmad who quoted Quranic verses a few days ago on Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) to justify the existence of ISA. Some of his friends are shocked.
Although I do not know Kassim Ahmad very well personally and only met him face-to-face once or twice casually, I too, am dismayed by his complete, unprincipled and even disgraceful turn-around on the issue of ISA 20 years after his release.
When Kassim Ahmad was released from ISA detention on July 30, 1981 by the new 2M (Mahathir and Musa) administration, I was only studying in sixth form. From afar, I then really respected Kassim Ahmad because unlike others, he never appeared on TV to make any 'confession'.
He stuck to his principle that he was innocent of all the allegations against him which have never been proven in any open court until today. He was arrested on Nov 3, 1976.
In 1984, when I was studying at the Monash University in Melbourne, I somehow got hold of Kassim Ahmad's book ' The Second University - Detention under the ISA ' (Media Intelek, Petaling Jaya, 1984).
Spiritual well-being
I read it fervently and repeatedly. I still keep that book. Although it is now very yellowish due to the merciless passing of time, the book's price written in pencil is still discernible. It cost RM6.90 then.
Re-reading ' The Second University - Detention under the ISA ' by Kassim Ahmad the day after he quoted Quranic verses to justify the recent spate of ISA detentions made me worry about the spiritual well-being of the now unfettered 67-year-old Kassim Ahmad.
According to the introduction at the back of the book, Kassim Ahmad was born on Sept 9, 1933 in Alor Setar, Kedah, and educated at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in the town of his birth and then at the University Malaya in Singapore.
He obtained a Master's degree in Malay Studies. He also lectured for three years at the London School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.
He later became the president of the People's Socialist Party of Malaysia or (PSRM) which is now the People's Party of Malaysia or (PRM). Not long after his release, Kassim Ahmad left the party.
By page four of his book, Kassim Ahmad has already condemned the ISA as 'monstrous' before he proceeds to detail his sufferings, trials and tribulations. The book proper contains 146 pages.
On page 18 (Chapter 3), Kassim Ahmad laments that the police officers who searched his house 'did not understand literature' because they took away a book titled 'War and Peace' authored by Leo Tolstoy whom the former describes as 'a well-known, anti-communist Russian writer'.
Kassim Ahmad writes: 'It crossed my mind then that they did not understand literature ... I continued observing the officers searching my study with pity for their ignorance, but I also regretted that such a system had also made us all ignorant of many things.'
I don't know whether Kassim Ahmad was referring to the system of education, or the system of police training.
Solitary confinement
Chapter 4 (pp.21-22) is headlined 'Hell 1' and its first section, 'The Journey to Hell'. On page 29, Kassim Ahmad records a very enlightening 'dialogue' with an interrogation officer, one DSP Noordin: 'That is why you are placed in solitary confinement in the cell,'explained DSP Noordin, 'so that you can recall the wrongdoings that you have committed.'
'If I have done anything wrong in the eyes of the country's law, then charge me in an open court.'
'This law does not require the Government to do that.'
'This is not fair. How can the Government punish without first proving the crime of the accused in an open court?' I asked.
'We cannot bring these type of cases to court because of national security. But even this - this interrogation - is a sort of court. It is up to you, Mr Kassim, to prove that you are innocent.'
'This is impossible!' I replied.
'Why impossible?' asked one of the officers who had so far remained silent.
'How can I prove my innocence to a court that itself accuses me?'
'That is up to you,' retorted the officer, changing into a harsher tone.'The decision is yours. If you can convince us you are innocent, you can be free.' His statement sounded so simple, and yet it was not true.'
Brute force
Section 5 of Chapter 4, which is headlined 'Meeting with the family', has some interesting insights about the Special Branch and its interrogation techniques as recalled by Kassim Ahmad.
It is worthwhile to quote at length for public record and public knowledge: 'The Special Branch has many tricks. The interrogation period especially, and the entire detention generally, is the period for them to break and kill your fighting spirit.
The term used is 'rehabilitation' ... gentle and harsh techniques are used alternately for the purpose of 'rehabilitation' and certainly there never arises the question of what is right or wrong in the use of these techniques. If it is felt that brute force is required, then brute force is used.
If not, they will only cajole you. During my interrogation I did not experience any brute force. Perhaps this was because I was always patient and polite with my interrogators. Also perhaps because I have a party and lawyers who would defend me.
But if you are a worker or a peasant who does not have anybody to defend you, you will be treated harshly. There are many ways how this could be done: for example, the cold treatment, that is, you would be laid down on a 'bed of ice' with a fan blowing full blast; or you would be whipped with a candle or a rubber hose - painful but no tell-tale marks; or you would be burnt with glowing cigarettes; and many more such treatments.
One of the outcomes of this 'rehabilitation' process is the 'confession' of your crime.
Heaven and hell
As I have mentioned, these 'rehabilitation' techniques are devoid of any moralistic considerations. There is no question of right or wrong. Nothing is sacred; thus, even your family is a fair game for them.
For example, you would be taken to meet your wife or family at such as time, but they are told to come at a different time, or an hour later or not told to come at all. When you come and wait and your family never turns up, you will surely be frustrated and perhaps feel angry.
Then they will say to you, your wife or your family doesn't care for you anymore and instigate you to divorce your wife! Or your wife will be visited by a police officer with the aim of wooing her and instigating her to divorce you.
At one of my earlier family visits at the Jalan Bandar police station, a very sad incident happened. My mother, who was very old, came all the way from Alor Setar to visit me, but they did not allow her to see me simply on the excuse that her name was not included in the visit permit for that day.' (pp.33-34)
Kassim Ahmad makes his clearest statement on the ISA in Chapter 9 ('A New Prime Minister') ('Light After the Darkness'). In page 133, he says that 'injustice had been done to us and truth had been violated, and those responsible have to bear the consequences in this world and the hereafter.'
It is clear that at the time of writing the book, Kassim Ahmad still believed in heaven and hell as all good Muslims and Christians still do.
Byzantine politics
Kassim Ahmad continues: 'To hold a wrong idea or opinion is not a mistake according to the natural law of justice; if we had committed a crime such as rebellion against the state, the crime has to be proven in a court of law.
But the Internal Security Act uses the argument that since ISA has been passed by Parliament, it is a valid law. But obviously the validity of a law does not only lie in the fact that it has been passed by a legislative body.
The more important consideration is: Is the law valid from the standpoint of the natural law of justice?' (pp.133-134)
The Second University - Detention under the ISA ended with these God-loving words of Kassim Ahmad:
'So I went in, took my ablution, changed my dress and prayed. In the last prostration in my prayer I stayed prostrated for a long time, saying my gratitude and praise to God, the Lord of the worlds.' (p.146)
And so, the Mahathir epoch began with the release of a God-loving Kassim Ahmad who appealed to heaven and hell to condemn the 'monstrous' ISA and its injustices, but is ending with the same Kassim Ahmad who quotes Quranic verses to support the ISA he once condemned.
It is another comic-tragedy in the Byzantine politics of Malaysia.
JAMES WONG WING ON is a former member of parliament (1990-1995) and also a leading Mandarin-Chinese opinion writer and columnist. He read economics and political science at the Monash University in Australia from 1983 to 1986. All views expressed herein are his own, and are open to criticisms and debates.
