Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is in for a surprise when he opens his mail on Monday.

A group of non-governmental organisations and individuals today mailed Abdullah, who is also home minister, a paper mache "head" in protest against the recent use of the Internal Security Act against 10 reformasi activists.

The "head" sported on its bald top, the names of all the laws in Malaysia that currently violate the constitutional right to basic freedoms.

According to group spokesperson Saira Shameem, the "head" was bound with white cloth across the eyes and the mouth, representing the "unthinking, uncritical, silenced Malaysians" who have been created by a system that stifles voices of dissent.

In a letter accompany the parcel, the group urged Abdullah to release all the 10 ISA detainees who were arrested last month. It also call on the deputy prime minister to repeal the controversial security law - which allows indefinite detention without trial - and all other preventive detention laws.

"The act of arbitrary arrest and detention of 10 political activists in April and the detention of three Shiite followers of Islam in the Kamunting detention centre are acts in violation of all known human rights principles," said Saira in the letter to Abdullah.

'Head' mail

The "head" was mailed by the protestors at the General Post Office in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

Security personnel at the GPO initially tried to prevent the group from handing out anti-ISA leaflets but relented after a brief discussion.

Meanwhile, two representatives of the group packed the "head" into a box at the GPO's Poslaju section and handed it over to the counter personnel.

While there was a short discussion when a GPO security officer raised the issue of the "permissibility" of mailing a paper mache head via Poslaju, the counter staff nevertheless accepted the parcel and promised that it would be delivered to Abdullah on Monday morning.

The group then moved to the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall where they passed on the "hunger strike banner" to 10 members of the Chinese youth movement who began their 24-hour Hunger Strike for Freedom today.