Campaigners have intensified their demands for a government decision o­n the release of five reformasi activists being held at the Kamunting detention camp under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The sixth detainee, Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, is serving a separate two-year sentence at the Kajang prison for breaching the Officials Secret Act.

The five may be released o­n different dates - June 1 and 13 - if the Home Ministry does not renew their detention orders. By then, they would have served out a two-year period.

Last week, Home Ministry officials interviewed several of the detainees to prepare assessment reports that will determine if they are to be released or detained longer.

'Decide now'

DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang ( far right ) questioned the decision-making process at a press conference held by by the Anti-ISA Movement (AIM) at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall this morning.

Also present were families of several detainees, members of human rights group Suaram, a few ex-ISA detainees and reformasi activists.

Lim described the interview as an 'odd' procedure, considering that Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ( left ) is currently o­n holiday in Australia and is o­nly expected back next week.

"He is not even in the country. If the decision is still pending, who will decide o­n their release now?" he asked.

"If the government has decided to release them, why delay it further, especially since the Federal Court has ruled that the police action (to detain them initially for 60 days) was unlawful?"

Lim, a ISA detainee himself under the 1987 police sweep code-named Ops Lalang , said the decision to release a detainee would have previously been made o­ne month before the expiry of a detention order.

The five being held in Kamunting are Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Saari Sungib, Lokman Noor Adam and Dr Badrulamin Bahron, and malaysiakini columnist-cum-film maker Hishmamuddin Rais.

The detainees together with Mohd Ezam were arrested for allegedly plotting to topple the government using militant means, a charge they have denied.

Objectivity poser

Last Friday, Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin ( left ) said the decision o­n whether or not the reformasi activists would be released would depend o­n the assessment reports prepared by ministry officers. These would be based o­n the interviews conducted with detainees.

Referring to this, Parti Rakyat Malaysia president Dr Syed Husin Ali ( right ) questioned the powers given to case officers in determining the fate of detainees, when the law gives absolute power to the minister.

"When the highest court has ruled that the police detention of the activists was unlawful, this (the ruling) included case officers who conducted the interrogation. Can we expect them to be fair and objective in conducting assessments now?" he asked.

Syed Husin, an ex-ISA detainee whose two-year detention order was extended twice, also said the alleged assault of Tian Chua and Hishamuddin by camp security personnel o­n May 9 was "normal provocation".

He said the authorities used these "old tactics" to show that the detainees are still hard-headed, unwilling to co-operate and so, have not been rehabilitated.

"This makes it easier for the case officers to recommend that they be further detained, which is my worry," he said.

He urged Abdullah to immediately release the activists without imposing any condition o­n them, thus proving that he is capable of being just and that he respects the decisions of the ISA Advisory Board.

'Produce evidence'

AIM working committee chairperson Zaid Kamaruddin ( right ) said the government should produce evidence in court if it insists o­n extending the detention orders.

He said any renewal of the orders would go against the grain of the rule of law and make a mockery of the country's democratic system.

"It would send a strong signal to the public and international community that the rule of law simply does not exist here, with the government sweeping aside judgments and recommendations of its own statute," he said.

Reiterating that the ISA deprives a detainee of the right to an open and fair trial, access to legal counsel and the presumption of innocence, Zaid said AIM would continue to oppose any extension of the detention order.

The wives of the reformasi activists also registered their protests during the press conference, urging the government to release the detainees without delay.

They said such detention, without any grounds, amounts to political persecution of the detainees as well as cruel and inhumane treatment of their families.