The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said it would act over a hunger strike by a detainee at the Simpang Renggam centre and raise his case with the government in three weeks' time.

Commissioner Siva Subramaniam said he had led a Suhakam team to the centre in Johor and met the detainee at the Kluang hospital where he has been warded.

"All but one of the 236 protesting inmates who began their hunger strike on Nov 11 have ended it. He is adamant on continuing his strike while in hospital," Siva told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Balakrishnan Appala Naidu, a former MIC branch chief, has been on a hunger strike for14 days, protesting his detention without trial under the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969, under which the government detains suspected criminals for up to two years.

Siva said the doctor told him that Balakrishnan runs the risk of sustaining internal damage if he continues to refuse water and food.

"We tried to talk him out of it but he said he won't stop because he is worried that even if he is released by the court (an application has been made), he will be re-arrested as has happened to a fellow inmate recently," Siva said.

Fellow detainee Michael Soosai , detained since April 29, won a court order and was released on Oct 20. However the police re-arrested him as soon as he walked out the gates.

Siva said Suhakam plans to meet with Balakrishnan's family to "explain to them the consequences of a hunger strike" and will advise that they talk him out of it as he is very weak.

Dialogue with detainees

Suhakam also plans to submit a report on the situation to Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar after the commissioners' meeting on Dec 13, to "avoid future occurrences of such events".

"We had a dialogue with the seven hunger-strikers who ended their protest on Nov 13. They informed us that they were unhappy with a number of things including their extended detentions, as some have already served two years.

"Other reasons they gave were the absence of reasons for the extension, no specified release date, the lack of a rehabilitation process and the government's refusal to use other alternatives such as allowing them to return home with restricted conditions on movement."

According to Suhakam statistics, there are a total of 3,899 inmates in Simpang Renggam of whom 1,482 are convicts, 1,693 are detainees and 724 are on remand.

Meanwhile, responding to criticism about the absence of 17 commissioners for three working days from Nov 17, Siva said that there had been "miscommunication".

He said there was no negligence on Suhakam's part, but that the matter would be brought up at the next commissioners' meeting.

"We will work to ensure that the commissioners are more accessible to the public," he added.