Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) will hold a massive public rally at Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam on June 28 to press for freedom of those detained under the Internal Security Act.

They hope to pull in at least 15,000 people to this gathering, which will commemorate GMI’s past efforts in advocating the release of detainees under the draconian law, which allows detention without trial.

gmi suhakam isa detainee 040608 norlaila “After a successful candlelight vigil held at Kamunting Detention Centre on June 7, we are very optimistic about getting the public to attend our gathering,” said GMI campaign manager Norlaila Othman.

Their campaign, ‘Enough of six years of cruelty’, which was launched in March involved several large initiatives such as collecting thousands of letters and postcards from the public, online petitions and a candlelight vigil at the Kamunting Detention Centre which saw a crowd of more than 1,000 people.

“GMI has arrived at the conclusion that the public has become conscious of the cruelty of ISA and they are now much more courageous in defending justice,” said GMI president Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh.

People’s Anti-ISA gathering will be attended by PAS vice-president Mohamad Sabu, PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah, DAP deputy chairperson Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Hindraf leader R Thanenthiran and former detainees Saari Sungib, Lee Ban Chen and Badrulamin Baharon.

“We will be presenting the public with a multimedia presentation of GMI struggles, poetry reading, talks by our guests and enable the public to receive first-hand information from former detainees,” Syed Ibrahim told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Black and Red Day

According to Syed Ibrahim, GMI will also launch a ‘Black and Red Day’, in observance of their struggle at the rally. klscah launch civil society award 191207 syed ibrahim

“From June 29 onwards, all in support of abolishing the ISA are asked to dress in red and black every Sunday to show their continual allegiance to our goal,” said Syed Ibrahim.

He explained that GMI has even requested for opposition parliamentarians to keep challenging the security law in Parliament.

“I understand that our proposal never left the speaker’s chambers but I hope they (opposition) will continue to bring this issue up in Parliament even if the government keeps turning it down,” he said.

“No matter what, we will continue to push the government to abolish the law,” he added.