opinion

The collapse of World Trade Centre building has clearly shocked the whole world. While I was denied the privilege of watching the spectacle on TV, I did try to imagine the images of horror and tragedy.

The fall of New York's twin towers on Sept 11 also symbolised the collapse of the American public confidence in their own personal security. Indeed citizens throughout the world are dismayed. The terrorist group - whoever had done it - has demonstrated their power to threaten the security of any individual, anywhere on earth.

That was the point the terrorists have intended to make - not the Palestinian issue, anti-imperialism or jihad (holy war) - but pure plain terror , an expression of power to inflict maximum pain and fear.

The fear unleashed by the terrorist attack, however, should not be transformed into a hysteria. The global community must console the physical and psychological wounds of the American people. At the same time, the world must caution the US government not to reply violence with violence. The escalation of violence does not enhance global security.

The US government has to respond to the provocation with great prudence, and be especially careful not to alienate the larger Islamic and Third World nations. The action to arrest the responsible culprits must avoid any innocent casualty.

In the short term, terrorist groups must be carefully investigated and correctly identified. Those that threaten world peace should be promptly dealt with by using existing international mechanisms.

In the long run, the causes of terrorism must be addressed, most importantly, global injustices be addressed. Only with the elimination of oppression and exploitation will world security be assured.

Global campaign

The democratic societies of the world should also be mindful not to lose their humanistic values in the hysteric fear of terrorism. Civil liberties should never be compromised in the name of national security. Such anti-terrorism sentiment could be expedient to many authoritarian regimes around the world.

By allying with the global campaign against terrorism, these regimes seek support from the Western nations to tighten their repressive rule. The West will lose the prospect of lasting global peace if they unwittingly help to legitimise authoritarianism in the effort to combat international terrorism.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is one of the autocrats who have cunningly seized the chance to justify his suppression of his political critics. He claimed that the Internal Security Act is in fact an instrument to prevent terrorism.

In April this year, he ordered the arrest of 10 reformasi activists, including me. He accused us of planning an armed insurgency and, subsequently, six of us were sentenced to two years' imprisonment without trial. Two months later, he arrested 12 supporters of PAS. They, too, were accused of belonging to an armed subversive group known as KMM.

The Malaysian public is unlikely to be convinced. The ISA allowed the government to arrest and detain anybody suspected of being anti-government without a formal trial. This is our main objection. If the government has evidence that we, the reformasi activists, as well as the so-called KMM, were indeed involved in terrorist violence, we should be brought to an open court. We challenge the government to produce its evidence in court.

Riding on the public emotion against terrorism, the Mahathir government intends to confuse the danger of international terrorists with legitimate political opposition. Before the World Trade Center attack, the authority claimed that terrorist elements had infiltrated all levels of society - schools, universities, government departments, civil services, mosques, religious institutions, etc.

The government even accused that KMM members were trained by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is also said that KMM has extensive international networks in Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Transparent

Mahathir gave the world an impression that terrorists are dangerously active in Malaysia. With the international links, they are a serious threat to Southeast Asian or even world stability. If that is so, Mahathir should not keep us and the so-called KMM behind the tall fence of Kamunting detention camp. He should be completely transparent with our 'subversive' activities. The public have the right to know the real danger they are facing. In view of the recent tragedy in New York and Washington, the world has the right to know too.

If these ISA detainees were truly involved in violent activities such as bank robbery, murder, bombing, kidnapping, hijacking in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, their threat certainly go beyond our national boundary.

If all these were true, Mahathir should have share these information with other Asian governments as well as the US. After all, Mahathir was amongst the first to pledge support for an US-led global alliance against terrorism. Well, why doesn't Mahathir start with inviting some foreign experts to come here to investigate our terrorists activities.

On the other hand, if Mahathir refuses to present concrete evidence to the international community, he might be perceived as 'harbouring terrorists' and risks facing international sanction. However, Malaysians themselves can hardly take Mahathir's allegation of terrorism seriously. Such scare tactics are nothing but a poor excuse to crackdown the opposition.

Mahathir's black propaganda has a very negative impact on our international image. His fabrication of political instability due to armed terrorists might even convince foreign investors and tourists to avoid Malaysia. In the current gloomy global atmosphere, these lies will further aggravate our economic downturn.

In short, Malaysia cannot avoid a genuine democratic reform. The continuous power manipulation by Dr Mahathir is dragging the country into greater disaster. For Malaysia, the ultimate solution to any form of extremism is to establish democratic institutions and uphold the respect for human values.

TIAN CHUA is Keadilan's vice-president and is currently being held under the Internal Security Act in Perak's Kamunting detention camp.