During my secondary school days, one of my classmates once mentioned teasingly, "Beware of Clause 8 of the ISA". I did not understand what he said then.

I had also come across an arrest by the police Special Branch of my neighbour's son, who was a Parti Rakyat member. On hearing of his son's arrest, the aging father's face turned pale.

He ran straight home to get rid of all his son's belongings indiscriminately. He was fearful, very fearful indeed. Why was he so fearful? Because of the ISA (Internal Security Act)!

What is the ISA? Why are people so scared of it? Why are they critical of it? Why do they want it to be abolished? I was unclear then and did not know what was wrong with it. Somehow it slipped my mind.

Later, soon after my graduation from the University of Malaya, I was detained under the ISA for nine years. My nine years' experience has taught me why the ISA, which has been so often criticised and condemned, must be abolished.

'Dark and quiet place'

I would like to give a brief account of four instances with regard to my experience under the ISA.

1. When I was detained in 1976, I was kept in the same police remand cell together with two brothers who had been locked up for quite a long time. One of them told me that they were arrested and bashed up because they picked up a leaflet from the ground to read while on their way home after their breakfast. He complained and claimed that the police knew that they were innocent.

In several instances, some police officers coming to inspect the cell remarked surprisingly, "You are still here!" "Why don't the police let us go?" he retorted sadly. The incident reminded me of a newspaper report regarding the arrest of two suspects related to the murder of the IGP (Inspector General of Police). Who were the murderers? Were the two brothers the suspected murderers? I did not know. But from the police officers' reaction towards them, I was sure they were innocent of committing any crime.

2. I was assaulted at the time I was detained and during the subsequent interrogations. I was also beaten up and threatened at the detention camp. When the police ransacked my living room, they did not allow me to follow them. I was forbidden to bring anything with me when under arrest. So I did not have any towel, toothbrush, soap and extra clothes with me.

For more than 30 days, I wore the same old clothing. I wore it after bathing even though my body was still wet. I wore it from wet to dry and from dry to wet, over and over again, day after day. During one interrogation session, the police officer questioned why I was so smelly. He was sitting at the other end of the table about four feet away.

I replied, "You didn't allow me to bring anything with me and to see anyone from my family. I haven't brushed my teeth, have taken baths without soap, haven't washed my clothes and haven't had any extra clothes to change for more than 30 days". Only after that did I get to see my family members and had my daily essentials.

My health was badly affected as a result of no extra clothes to change during the early half of the first 60 days in the police remand cell.

3. One night, the same interrogation officer talked to me, "If you do not cooperate with us, we will bring you to a dark and quiet place. And we will gun you down there. And then we will say that you are killed for trying to escape." I was completely stupefied.

A few nights later, after interrogation, he took out a gun and put it on the table. I was terrified like hell. My fellow detainees had told me about the killings of some detainees by the police. After being killed, the police planted guns and bullets on them. The police then claimed that these detainees carried firearms and were killed for resisting arrest.

4. I was detained without trial from 1976 to 1985. I was imprisoned solitarily at the special detention camp at Batu Gajah, Perak for five years during 1977 to 1983. During 1981-82, I was transferred to Kuala Lumpur and was held in solitary confinement in a small room, eight feet by 10 feet, for more than a year. Occasionally, the police officers came to see me. They tried to brainwash me and turn me over.

When I was brought back to the Batu Gajah detention camp again, I often felt that people were far away from me even if they stood right in front of me. This kind of feeling lasted for more than a year.

ISA's ugly face

I heard many horrible stories about the sufferings of the other detainees while I was held in the detention camp. These stories are mainly about physical and mental tortures inflicted on the detainees. After my release, I felt a strong urge to produce a book telling these stories. I wish to let all the people know from real stories how inhuman the ISA is. I want to expose the ugly face of the ISA.

There are people in our society who still think that ISA is okay, so long as it is used on the communists and the so-called subversive elements. They are too naive. The ISA has been abused right from its introduction in 1960 to suppress and wipe out political opponents as well as dissidents.

It has been a powerful tool for the ruling elite to maintain its power. ISA is not only undemocratic and draconian, but also inhuman and immoral. There is no way people with conscience can condone the continued existence of the ISA.

For nine years I had been unjustly incarcerated for a 'crime' that the BN (Barisan Nasional) government dared not put me in front of an open and fair trial. The recent ISA arrests of ten leaders and activists from the Parti Keadilan Nasional and the reformasi movement are another disgrace to the country. If they were guilty of planning militant demonstrations, then put them before open and fair trials. Otherwise, it only goes to show that the BN is cowardly and dictatorial.

Increasingly, people are aware of their rights to peaceful assembly and demonstration. Umno youths have themselves demonstrated in front of the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. The use of the ISA to suppress peaceful demonstrations is increasingly unacceptable and being condemned across all sections of the society. The BN government is losing the battle to win the hearts and minds of the people by resorting to the ISA.

Not right

Because I am an ISA victim and have experienced for myself the cruelty of the ISA, I do not wish to see it doing any more harm to others anymore. Everyone has the inalienable right to an open and fair trial. It is not right to accuse someone of committing a crime and throw him or her into prison without trial.

What more when it is used to crack down one's political opponents. It was intolerable in ancient societies and is also deplorable now to detain someone without trial. Many countries have already done away with laws akin to the ISA.

I have compiled a book that documents all the instances of ISA arrests from 1960 to 1996. It was published in 1999 and titled Forty Years under ISA . So far only the Chinese version is available.

The book represents my humble attempt to raise the people's consciousness on the ISA so that they can understand the wickedness and cruelty of it. It is when more and more people utter ' I Say Abolish ' to the ISA that it will be abolished one day.

KOH SWE YONG is now a member of human rights organisations Suaram (Suara Rakyat Malaysia), Hakam (Human Rights Society Malaysia) and Amnesty International Malaysia (AIM). He has been campaigning relentlessly for the abolition of ISA and has joined Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) to continue his struggle on another platform. He is currently the PRM Treasurer.