The recent detentions under the Internal Security Act and remarks by Malaysian ministers prompt me to say something about my own experience as a detainee under the ISA.

I do not want anyone to think that the Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's statement that no one will be abused in detention is a promise of good treatment ([#1] ISA 7 will not be 'brutalised', says Pak Lah [/#], April 12). I say this because the ISA exists because it is a legal licence to abuse a detainee.

In fact, our Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad hit the nail on the head when he said that the ISA is necessary because it can be used when there is no evidence of crime ([#2] ISA more effective, says PM [/#], April 12).

My own experience was that the police used the 60 days to cow, humiliate, initimidate and literally beat me into agreeing to the story that they concocted from their sick minds about espionage and spy masters. I had to read a spy novel (for the first time in my life) in Kamunting, where I was held, to understand the spy terminology that they used. I cannot see how the DPM can prevent abuse unless he sits in the interrogation rooms all the time.

The ISA is used so that men can beat women. In every interrogation session that I was put through there was a woman Special Branch officer present except for the session when I was beaten. Rules are conveniently bent when the police break the law. How is the DPM going to prevent this?

The ISA is used so that police personel can verbally abuse detainees. They can insult my religion, my religious leaders, my family and my friends.

The ISA is used so that the police personnel can barter with female detainees who ask for another panty because the only one she has has been stained with menstrual blood. Getting a pair of slippers or anything for that matter is a major negotiation.

So I am convinced that the DPM does not know what he is talking about. Until the people of this nation say that we will not allow this type of abuse, no one, not even the DPM, can guarantee there will be no abuse of detainees under the ISA.