I wish to categorically deny Hishamuddin Rais' involvement in any anti-government activities in Bangsar Utama or Setapak as alleged by the police in his detention order. A few university students and I have met him several times to discuss our pet topics, which are films and culture.

And we met at the restaurant near his home cum office in Bangsar Utama where we also discussed our play Tok Ampoo , which was staged in many parts of the country. There was never at any time that Hishamuddin talked about anti-government issues.

Yes, we met again on the day of the reformasi gathering at Jalan Kebun, but there was no talk about doing anything subversive. Hishamuddin never talked about such nonsense which the police are now saying he did.

How could the police know? Unless one of us was a mole, which could not be. Otherwise, the mole would have said something even more definite.

We are young students and Hisham had a wonderful feature film which we saw, and we are just his fans. Hishamuddin never talked about running down the government.

The place near his office was convenient for us. It had ample parking space for our motorbikes, and we can take the LRT which is also nearby.

We met mostly at the restaurant or the nearby warung and when we met in his office, it was to rehearse for our play.

We also knew there were a Malay and Indian SB who were at a nearby motorbike repair shop who stared at us but we ignored them, because we had nothing to hide.

We are students, and we are not involved in politics or the reformasi movement. Yes, Hishamuddin often attended political gatherings, but he did not hide this fact.

He took his camera along once but it was taken away by a policemen at the Jalan Dang Wangi station where he was briefly detained. But Hisham did not want to lodge a police report as he saw it as a small matter.

Hisham has no intention to bring down the government by force. He is using his creativity to produce films.

I had attended forums where he spoke including at the Australian High Commission but he did not say much, except general things. Even when he talked about dictators in history who were brought down by the people, it was factual. He did not specifically ask for other dictators be brought down the same way.

When Hisham was first arrested, we were fearful that what the police had said about him were true. But, after reading the reports about what the police had alleged, we are not fearful anymore.

Why? Because we know Hisham personally. Nobody can tell me Hishamuddin Rais is the person the police are saying he is.

We are university students, and we are not so stupid. Hisham rears half a dozen cats in his office. Indeed, he lives with cats. He had lived outside Malaysia for 20 years, and I am sure he will use his two years in Kamunting creatively.

God bless him and may the police come to their senses.