Beyond 30 days, the hunger strikers' lives were in great jeopardy and they could die. One by one were admitted to the hospital. In spite of that, torture was still the order of the day in the detention camp during these anguishing hours.

On Feb 5,1974, the 39th day of the hunger strike, Lim Yoon Pang @ Yoke Hwa, a Labour Party member then and a Parti Rakyat member now, was the last to take his bath and was assaulted by four wardens.

On Feb 6, the next day, Goh Seow Pheng, a Labour Party member, lost consciousness after being tormented. He had been hospitalised four times before, each time after an episode of abuse.

Goh often fell unconscious in the hospital. The hospital authority finally decided not to discharge him, lest he get himself killed if he was beaten up again back in the detention camp.

The detention camp authority had frequently delayed sending the hunger strikers to the hospital after inflicting injuries on them. Once, the doctors from the Batu Gajah district hospital, after having examined the strikers, asked the weaker ones to be sent to the hospital for further examination. The Batu Gajah detention camp authority simply ignored this advice.

Over and above 40 days, the hunger strikers had become very weak. Their movements were like feeble old men. They barely had the energy to move their bodies. They might even black out while walking. They could no longer take baths as their frail bodies shivered on touching the water.

The number of the hunger strikers lying in the hospital beds had also increased beyond the hospital's capacity. Extra beds were required. The workload of the hospital staff was overburdened. Yet, there was still no indication of an effort to resolve the hunger strike.

Rushed to hospital

On Feb 9, the 43rd day, agonised family members staged a peaceful protest march at the city centre in Kuala Lumpur. Scuffles broke out between police and demonstrators. The mothers and wives courageously fought the police repression.

The young and old women refused to disperse and clung onto their torn posters. They were then forcefully hauled into a Black Maria. They were later charged and fined for participating in an 'illegal assembly'.

The brutal repression and callousness of the authorities prompted the hunger strikers at the detention camp to stop taking their glucose drinks the ensuing day. As a result, the hunger strikers' blood pressure dropped drastically. Many passed out and were rushed to the hospital.

The hospital wards were overcrowded with sick bodies as they arrived ceaselessly the following days. The hospital authority sent out a warning of an impending loss of life.

Pressures, from inside and outside the detention camp, were mounting on the authorities to resolve the hunger strike immediately.

At long last, on Feb 12, two Barisan Nasional members of parliament, one each from Umno and PAS, representing the authorities, reached a settlement with the hunger strikers.

Lim Kit Siang, secretary-general of DAP and Kota Melaka MP, interviewed the Batu Gajah detainees in the presence of two senior government officers on Feb 16. Allegations made by the detainees in his investigation report have never been refuted.

Hefty toll

The Dec 29 hunger strike, which lasted for 47 days, revealed the total disregard of human rights by the authorities. It is not excessive to say that it was a political persecution.

The tightly controlled mass media did not give much publicity to the event. Not a single newspaper had published Lim's report.

The hunger strike had, however, received coverage from the foreign media and got the attention of international organisations. They had undoubtedly helped hasten the settlement.

At that time, there was not a single human rights group around locally to raise the issue. The general public was less responsive and very fearful of the 'white terror'.

Besides support from the opposition parties, DAP and PRM in particular, the hunger strikers' families had to rely upon themselves mostly. It should be mentioned that Mohideen Abdul Kader, a lawyer and a Parti Rakyat veteran, had provided ample legal assistance.

The detainees paid a hefty toll for their victory. When the hunger strike ended, they had all lost weight ranging from five to 14 kilograms per person. It took the detainees more than 10 days before they were able to eat rice and gradually restore their normal weight. Some suffered from constipation for quite a while.

In general, the detainees' health was damaged due to the denial of proper medical care plus the severe physical and mental tortures they underwent over a long period of time.

Two were found to be behaving abnormally. Having been imprisoned solitarily in a small cell for such lengthy time, they could not adjust themselves to their 'new' environment. They were sent for a medical check-up. One was subsequently admitted to a mental hospital. He failed to recover fully.

Tew Huat Kee, a Labour Party member, was afflicted with heart disease during the hunger strike. He passed away last year.

Just cause

Quite a number succumbed to their ill health and died soon after their release. They came from different places over the peninsular - Penang, Perak, Pahang, Selangor, Melaka and Johor.

Tan Hock Hin, Jelutong state assemblyman and deputy secretary-general of the Labour Party, was one of them. He was released in 1982 after being detained for 15 years. He had dedicated his last days to a just cause. He continued to work for a democratic and just society and had attended international human rights conferences several times before he passed away.

Those still living Dec 29 hunger strikers do not wish to see the event to repeat itself in their beloved country. Many, like Lee Ban Chen (now malaysiakini columnist), are still working relentlessly for the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA). They have had enough of the cruelty under the ISA. They do not wish to see the ISA continue to wreck the lives of others and their family members.

In the spirit of the anti-ISA poet, Hassan Abdul Karim, who calls upon us to speak out for ISA detainees irrespective of their political and religious beliefs as expressed in his poem, Sudahkah Kaukenal ISA? (Have you met the ISA?), we should cast aside our differences and seek to repeal the ISA in the utmost interest of humanity.

ANG HIOK GAI is the deputy secretary-general of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM). This article was written based on published memoirs of former ISA detainees and unpublished manuscripts by other ex-detainees passed on to the author. The first two parts of this trilogy appeared on May 3 and May 24.