What is it like to be interrogated round-the-clock for a marathon 44 hours in the infamous Kamunting detention centre? And what should you do or say?

These are the questions answered in the book by PAS man and former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee Saari Sungib.

In his preface, fellow ex-ISA detainee Syed Husin Ali said the book ‘ Derita Penjara Tanpa Bicara: Kisah Kekejaman Akta Zalim ’ (Detention Without Trial: The Ugly Side of the Draconian Law) is a “manual” on how to survive imprisonment without trial.

The author of the book, which will be launched by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim at the MBPJ Dewan Sivik on Monday, agrees.

According to Saari ( right ), the book is written to provide a comprehensive guide for political prisoners.

Relating his own experience as an ISA detainee, Saari, who is now second-term Hulu Kelang assemblyperson, said that in the Kamunting prison, there is every effort to break one’s spirit.

“The detainee will first experience the trauma of being a detainee. The charges will be the most illogical charges against you, the very crimes that you have never committed.

“The investigating officers will do their role play using the hard and soft approaches,” he explains.

Saari was accused of holding a secret meeting with several other activists at a secret place to topple the government.

“When I looked back at my diary, the meeting was nothing but an urging for clean and fair elections, and it was a public meeting held at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall,” Saari recalls.

“The occasion was published all over the place as a forum titled, ‘Pilihanraya atau Pilih Jalanraya’ (Election or street protest). What is so secretive about it!”

‘Good cop, bad cop’

One of the tactics that the Special Branch officers often used with Saari was to say: “We arrested you in order to save you from being used by Anwar (Ibrahim).”

The investigating officers would then praise him for his achievements in organising more than 100,000 peaceful demonstrators to Jalan Kebun and the Kesas Highway.

Such peaceful assemblies were organised by the Reformasi committee led by Saari every month from December 2000 through April 2001 during the Reformasi era.

But the officers will not always be full of praise.

“One investigating officer will be brutal, shouting, screaming and even using abusive words, and in some cases, they use force or other forms of torture.

“After you are worn out, another seemingly gentlemanly investigating officer will come in, and talk good things.

“Never fall into the trap of trusting the second investigating officer. It’s all part of the tactics used worldwide, be it in Guantanamo or Kamunting.”

There are a lot of abuses of human rights in the Kamunting prison system, Saari shares.

“They will make you feel like a criminal and make things difficult for you and your family members,” he says.

“As a result, a number of people have been neutralised. Amongst those who were detained alongside with me during the early years of Reformasi, half have been turned over.”

Mental torture

Beyond interrogation, Saari also speaks of the mental torture of being cooped up in Kamunting.

“In prison, there is nothing but concrete walls and the lights are on 24 hours a day. At times it was difficult for me to know whether it was night or day.

“The worst experience is having to be incarcerated in the cell alone with no one else with you.”

When he was released, “the sky appeared much bluer and the hills and the trees looking so much greener”.

Saari was detained twice under ISA during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s era - once in 1998 and again in April 2001 when he was held for two years until June 2003.

Others incarcerated with him were Batu MP Tian Chua, PKR leader Badrulaman Bahron and activist Hishamuddin Rais activist and Badaruddin Ismail, better known as Pak Din Reformasi.

Those dark days in Kamunting have also been an endless source of material for Saari.

It was then that he painstakingly penned eight volumes under major title of ‘ Suara dari Kamunting ’ (Voice from Kamunting).

He later published another book ‘ Sengsara Kem Kamunting ’ (Suffering in Kamunting Camp) on the first year at the detention centre, while another book ‘ Jejak Jejari Besi’ (Trail of Iron Bars) is in the works.

“I believe in political activism,” he says.

“I made it a point to put everything I could remember about the interrogation process in writing.

“As an activist, I made everything transparent and published the stories for all to read. There is nothing to hide.”

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