The moment PSM deputy president M Sarasvathy was freed from detention under the Emergency Ordinance, she was overjoyed with relief, as she knew she could have die from heart attack in the solitary cell she was kept for 28 days.


 "I was attacked by severe pain in my left chest, which I suspected was heart attack. I thought I was going to die then," she said.


 <img align="right" alt="psm eo6 release pc 290711 sarasvathy" height="232" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/389/4dc6087c59b0a0c1e6d27b18996196f4.jpg" width="300"/>
 "The pain so severe that I can't breathe. This was my first such experience in life," she smiled bitterly when interviewed by
 
 Malaysiakini
 
 hours after her release.


 Sarasvathy had a reason for her fear - the records of her family's congenital heart attack.


 "My mother and both my younger brothers suffered from heart attack. I only had the great pain in my chest back in the lock-up," the 58-year-old claimed.


 Sarasvathy said she complained of chest pains and was sent to Hospital Kuala Lumpur twice - on July 15 and a day later.
 
 


 She complained of "mistreatment" by police officers during her incarceration.


 "The first time I complained of chest pains, I was sent to the hospital for medical treatment. On the way back, an officer told me the cell was haunted by ghost," she said.


 <img align="left" alt="psm eo6 release 290711 group photo" height="204" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/389/45f0a1639c49dee32c3ab2c174201b02.jpg" width="300"/>
 "It was between 1am and 2am past midnight. The officer said there&rsquo;s a male ghost who loves to visit female detainees," she decried.


 Not one to be scared of such tales, Sarasvathy said she told herself it was the intention of the Special Branch police officers, but she would not gave the officer the pleasure of breaking her spirit.


 
 Forced to undergo lie-detector
 




 However, the conditions of the cell in which she stayed for 28 days was quite another story, which she admitted affected her to some extent.


 <img align="right" alt="psm eo6 release pc 290711 banner outside klscah 02" height="202" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/388/3ab9eb3d3ccf575805ff7ed1213cb243.jpg" width="300"/>
 "Can you imagine being kept alone in a building containing eight solitary cells, and you need to go through door after door before reaching your room? And all the doors were locked. How would you feel?" &nbsp;


 The second time she complained of chest pains, she was forced to undergo interrogation hooked up to a lie detector.


 These experiences made her furious, but her objections went unheeded.


 "I refused to take the lie test. I was asked to answers questions about whether I had I lied about the T-shirts, and the funding sources of PSM," she said.


 According to report, she was even forced to signed a 62-page documents before being admitted to the hospital for three days.


 <img align="left" alt="psm eo6 290711 sarasvathy" height="283" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/389/bb09c25fb52438f5d04a3ef46763da73.jpg" width="200"/>
 Sarasvathy eventually went through an ECG test, which did not diagnose her as suffering a heart attack. But the pills and other medicine given to her, however, were meant for heart patients.


 The police handcuffed her whenever she was sent to the hospital for treatment.


 When Sarasvathy was released and publicly appeared at KLSCAH together with her five colleagues who had been detained without trial under EO, it only then that she broke into tears after being approached and hugged by friends and well-wishers.


 In fact, Sarasvathy's poor health condition and the mistreatment had been a concern due to her diabetes and condition of her thyroid.


 
 I will continue the struggle
 


 Three days after she was kept under EO, Sarasvathy was brought back to PSM's Jelapang branch office by a group of police officers, who were looking for more evidence. She was reported as having been deprived of water and looked tired then.


 She also said her interrogators had tried to find fault in her visit to communist-ruled Vietnam.


 "I told them, PSM is a party which fights for democracy and fairness. The police said, 'No, no, this is merely (your just saying it)&rsquo;," she said.


 "I then said, this (insurgency with the Communist Party of Malaya) happened 30 years ago, please come back to the 21st century," she said.


 Sarasvathy also expressed her gratitude to the general public, who had courageously fought the release of the PSM 6.


 "I will continue my struggle," said Sarasvathy.


 Sarasvathy was with 30 other PSM activists when they were picked up by police during a roadshow entitled 'Udahlah BN, Bersaralah' campaign.


 Six of them, including Sarasvathy, were detained under EO for purportedly posing a threat to public order. The authorities later accused them of bing among the key planners of the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally.

The recently -released PSM deputy chief was sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for chest pains twice, on July 15 and a day later.


Sarasvathy: I could have died in detention

~RM12

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