Former Internal Security Act detainees and civil society groups today slammed a human rights commissioner's statement that ISA detainees should be rehabilitated.
"Why should the ISA detainees be given rehabilitation when it has not even been proven yet that they are a threat to national security?"argued prominent lawyer and former ISA detainee Karpal Singh.
In an ongoing inquiry by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to look into the conditions of detention under the ISA, commissioner Harun Hashim yesterday said that placing detainees in the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak was a waste of time and public funds.
The Suhakam vice-chairperson added that it was a waste because the detainees were being held for two years without a proper chance to be rehabilitated.
In response, Karpal said that, during his incarceration from 1987 to 1989, the 'rehabilitation' process was usually carried out by officers from the Special Branch.
"The SB officers would usually come around and try to indoctrinate us, but we would usually just ignore them," said Karpal, who is also DAP deputy chairperson.
The opposition leader was among those arrested under the infamous Operasi Lalang in 1987 which apprehended 106 people ranging from social activists to religious workers and politicians.
Dr Kua Kia Soong, another victim of Operasi Lalang, said it should be the Special Branch officers themselves who should be rehabilitated.
'Insult'
"It is not the detainees that need the so-called rehabilitation. This process intrudes upon the personal being of the detainee.
"They (SB) use crude methods. They say that you have been deluded by the opposition and that you should join the Barisan Nasional," Kua said.
Kua was formerly DAP parliamentarian for Petaling Jaya Utara. He now serves as principal director for New Era College and director for Suaram, a human rights NGO.
He also criticised Harun and the commission for not being able to understand the true nature of the so-called rehabilitation programme.
"They do not understand that ISA detainees detest the whole concept of rehabilitation. It is a complete insult. I find the commissioner's statement shocking," Kua said.
DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang, another former ISA detainee, also found Harun's statement appalling.
"I am totally aghast at Harun's comments which showed that the ISA inquiry has lost its raison d'etre when it is more concerned about rehabilitation than fundamental violation of human rights under the draconian and anachronistic ISA," Lim said in a statement today.
Suhakam's role doubted
He also said that the commissioner's statement had shaken public perception of Suhakam's role in protecting human rights.
"How is Suhakam performing its statutory duty to protect and promote human rights by being more concerned about rehabilitation than the very detention of ISA detainees?" Lim queried.
The Suhakam inquiry began on June 18 in Taiping and concluded two days later after officials spoke to 17 detainees and prison officials from the nearby Kamunting Detention Centre.
Three police officers were interviewed in yesterday's follow-up session at the Suhakam headquarters in Kuala Lumpur which was also conducted by commissioners Prof Hamdan Adnan and Asiah Abu Samah.
