The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) will review the Internal Security Act before submitting its recommendation to the government, said its chairperson Abu Talib Othman today.

"The complaints (by the Abolish ISA Movement or AIM) have centred on the application of the law and whether or not it is being abused by the authorities," he said after meeting representatives of AIM at the Suhakam headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Besides the ISA, Suhakam would also be looking into other laws that allow for detention without trial, such as the Emergency Ordinance.

"We will put up our recommendation to the government when we have finished our review of the laws," he said.

The study is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Satisfied

Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said she was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting.

"We were happy to air our views and they were willing to listen. It is a positive sign and we will work towards a common goal," she said.

AIM secretary S Arutchelvan said Suhakam agreed that the ISA was a human rights violation.

"They agree in principle that detention without trial is an infringement of human rights and they are very concerned about the first 60 days of detention where detainees are held incommunicado ," he said.

The AIM, a coalition of 83 organisations including trade unions, political groups, and NGOs, called today's meeting in order to discuss several human rights issues, including a remark made by Suhakam vice-chairperson Harun Hashim that ISA detainees at the Kamunting detention centre were not being rehabilitated and that their detention was a waste of time.

Wrong term

Suaram director Dr Kua Kia Soong lambasted the commissioner, who was absent from the meeting, for making such a statement.

"To conceive of rehabilitation is an even bigger insult to a detainee than the detention itself, and the fact that a Suhakam commissioner said such a thing is almost as if he is agreeing with the ISA," he said.

In response, Suhakam commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan admitted that "rehabilitation" was the wrong word to use in the context and that Harun's statement had been misinterpreted as a result.

"When the word "rehabilitation" is used, it implies that the detainee is guilty, so that was the wrong term to use.

"What we meant was that the detainees should be allowed to spend their time there more fruitfully, not that they were guilty and needed rehabilitation," he said.

Controversial statement

Harun, who headed an inquiry into the condition of ISA detainees on June 18, made the controversial statement on Aug 5.

"We were told the detainees were just being dumped here and prison officials in Kamunting were not given any orders as to what to do with them.

"It's more like punishment than rehabilitation and it's a waste of time since none of the detainees are doing anything," he had said.

The AIM also expressed its dissatisfaction with Suhakam's ISA inquiry, claiming that instead of addressing the central issue of the very act of detention itself, only the physical well-being of the detainees was investigated.

The meeting was also attended by around 20 members of the AIM coalition including PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali, and most of the Suhakam commissioners, namely, Zainah Anwar, Asiah Abu Samah, KC Vohrah, Ramon Navaratnam and Ranita Mohd Hussein.