A year after six reformasi activists were detained under the Internal Security Act, opposition leaders today handed a memorandum to the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), asking it to secure their release.

PAS president Fadzil Noor, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali, Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and DAP central working committee member Chow Kon Yeow presented the memorandum accompanied by 100-odd supporters.

Present to accept the memorandum were commissioners Prof Hamdan Adnan and Simon Sipaun.

Human rights activists, families of the ISA detainees, supporters, student activists and also numerous police officers in plainclothes armed with cameras filled the function room at the Suhakam headquarters in Kuala Lumpur where the memorandum was presented.

The memorandum, endorsed by 82 non-governmental organisations, also called on the human rights body to visit the six detainees as well as set up an inquiry into their arrests.

The memorandum was signed by Fadzil who is also chairperson of the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) central committee.

The six detainees are Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib, Dr Badrulamin Bahron, Lokman Noor Adam and malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais.

The detainees, who are undergoing a two-year detention at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak, began a hunger strike today to mark the first anniversary of their arrest.

The six, held for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government through violent means, said the hunger strike is being staged to highlight their demand to be released or charged in an open court.

Abuse of ISA

Taking turns to speak to the commissioners today, the opposition leaders unanimously called for a repeal of the ISA and for the six to be tried in open court.

According to Fadzil, the arrest of the six under the ISA was clearly an abuse of the act, referring to instances where the detainees were questioned on subjects which did not have anything to do with national security.

All throughout the interrogation, the detainees were brainwashed and not asked on matters relating to national security at all. The ISA has been abused and is used to abuse dissidents.

Therefore, the six have no choice but to initiate a hunger strike and to attract attention as to how the ISA has been abused, Fadzil said.

Wan Azizah called on the commission to fulfill its mandate and see that the six would get justice.

We hope the commission will put pressure on the authorities to have the six released. They have never committed any crime but to expose the wrongdoings of the government, she said.

Syed Husin on the other hand lambasted the government for claiming that Western countries have learnt from Malaysia the usefulness of preventive detention laws like the ISA in the light of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

If we are thieves and other people are robbers, we cannot claim ourselves to be right in having the ISA.

The detainees have also gone through so much suffering in being separated from people and their families and there have also been cases of detainees being tortured and beaten. The commission should make sure that this does not happen, he said.

Chow from DAP added that the current human rights situation could deteriorate to a point that the concept of rights might not exist anymore.

Arliza Jaafar, wife of ISA detainee Saari, also called for Suhakam to act quickly, stating that the six who were on hunger strike were losing weight and looked like planks of wood.

Suhakam to visit ISA 6

Following this, commissioner Hamdan assured them that a visit would be made to Kamunting as soon as next week.

We have sent them many reminders to improve the situation in the camp and to remove barriers between the families and the detainees. We also maintain that they have access to a fair trial and we hope that their human rights will not be violated, Hamdan said.

Whereas Simon said he understood the pain that the families were experiencing as he has a family himself.

It is our stand that the ISA is against human rights and I agree they (detainees) should be brought to court, he said.

After handing over the memorandum, the crowd moved to the foot of Menara Tun Razak where Suhakams headquarters is located.

GMI spokesperson Zahir Hassan then launched a hunger strike by supporters in solidarity with the six.

However, a minor scuffle occurred when police officials grabbed the banner announcing the hunger strike from the crowd.

A police spokesperson later said the supporters did not have a permit for the event and were not allowed to put up posters and banners.

He added that the organisers were also not allowed to have a loudspeaker.

Loudspeaker confiscated

Earlier, police confiscated a loudspeaker from the organisers when Zahir was in the midst of announcing the arrival of the opposition leaders.

A scuffle ensued when the crowd protested, but Zahir was forced to continue on without the amplifier.

There were also 50 police personnel consisting of the Federal Reserve Unit, Light Strike Force, uniformed and plainclothes policemen on the ground floor of the building.

As the opposition leaders were leaving, the crowd started to chant reformasi. Several supporters also taped their mouths to symbolise their solidarity with the six ISA detainees.