Tucking in his first meal as a free man, Hishamuddin Rais was joined by some 20 family members and friends, all eager to hear about his detention under the controversial Internal Security Act.

The worst thing about ISA, he said, is the power it gives to the authorities.

"It allows them to do anything they want to you," he said while drawing on a cigarette. "They may say they are investigating but you know they are going to detain you anyway."

Isham as he is fondly known returned home yesterday after spending two years as an unwilling guest of the state in the Kamunting detention camp in Taiping, Perak.

He was arrested at his home in Bangsar Utama in Kuala Lumpur on April 10, 2001 for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government by 'militant means'.

Also arrested were nine others - seven leaders of opposition party Keadilan, an activist from the human rights organisation Suaram, Badarudin Ismail, and Free Anwar Campaign executive director Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin.

Although all of them denied the allegation, only four were released after intense police interrogation in the first two months.

The rest - Isham and Keadilan leaders Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib, Lokman Adam and Badrulamin Bahron - were sent to Kamunting.

According to Isham, he was restrained and blindfolded by the police when he was arrested, and had no idea where he was taken to.

"I was driven around for about an hour. Towards the end of the journey, I could feel that we were driving over several speed bumps and that should mean that we were in a housing area. But I was thinking that they couldn't be taking us to a residential area!" he said.