|
Tuesday, 09-Mar-2004 7:39 AM If the fire is too hot, then get out of the kitchen I have a reputation of being one arrogant and pompous son-of-a-bitch. I suppose you can’t blame me. It’s the way I was brought up thinking that I am of royal birth and that everyone else, except His Royal Highness the Sultan of Selangor of course, are below me. The fact that I schooled in the ‘elite’ Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) only strengthens my conviction I am above the rest. Now that is some display of arrogance is it not? Anyway, today I am going to write something very arrogant. Arrogance is important and necessary, mind you. You must have this arrogant streak to believe you are better than the rest and to be able to succeed in your endeavours. Are you going to now tell me this is a very unIslamic posture to take? Certainly not! Islam demands you arrogantly stand up for your convictions. What, you may ask, is the reason for my sudden outburst? Has something or someone rubbed me the wrong way earlier today? Well, my outburst is in response to the total hunger strike launched by those 53 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees in the Kamunting Detention Centre since 1 March 2004. Today, the eighth day of the hunger strike, a couple have been admitted into hospital in critical shape and more are expected to occupy those empty hospital beds in the very near future. And in a very arrogant tone of voice, all I have to say to these hunger strikers is: too little, too late. Before I explain what my beef is, let me first flashback to 1999, soon after the National Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Nasional or keADILan) was formed. I was then enjoying my teh tarik (a concoction of tea dust) and sharing a pack of cigarettes at a sidewalk café in Jelatek with two colleagues who have since disappeared from the scene -- Sheryll Stothard and Rozaid Abdul Rahman. We were discussing detention under the ISA, a fate most who oppose the government would probably have to face sooner or later. Sheryll and Rozaid were both adamant that once you get detained under the ISA you are totally helpless and at the mercy of the powers-that-be. I, the arrogant bastard that I am, begged to differ. No one is helpless I argued. You can fight anything and everything if you have the will and determination to do so. My opposing stand brought laughter from my two drinking mates and let me tell you I just hate being laughed at. The minute you get detained under the ISA you will melt, they told me. You can ‘talk big’ now. But once you are under detention you will break. I was mad. No one laughs at me and gets away with it. No way, I shot back. You just wait and see. If I ever get detained under the ISA I will fight it. I will never submit, just you watch. “Sudahlah!” Further insults I could not endure. “Okay, let’s take a bet. If you get arrested under ISA and you don’t break I will buy you dinner,” said Sheryll. We shook hands to seal the deal. About a year later, the Free Anwar Campaign (FAC) was launched and I was asked to head it. A couple of my old school friends from MCKK told me I was mad. If you want to do this, do it outside the country. If you do it in Malaysia you will certainly face ISA detention, I was warned. Let them try, I boastfully replied, and they all shook their heads thinking that I had spent too many years riding my motorcycle in the hot sun and my brain had fried. Maybe so, but it sometimes need some insane moves to bring sanity back to the system. Well, I eventually was detained under the ISA less than a year later on 11 April 2001, a day after four others, Hishamuddin Rais of my alma mater included, another mad hatter just like me. I will not go into details as I have already written a book on the whole episode but suffice to say I fought my detention with a hunger strike, and won. And Sheryll still owes me that dinner till today. Four of us eventually saw freedom within 60 days but six others were packed off to Kamunting for a further two-year detention. But we did not take it lying down. Apart from the nationwide ‘Bebaskan’ road show that we launched, on the first anniversary of our detention we launched an 11-day hunger strike. All told there were 12 of us in the hunger strike plus the six in Kamunting dubbed as the ‘Reformasi Six’. Anwar Ibrahim joined us on the fifth day, 14 April, the anniversary of his conviction and six-year jail sentence dubbed as “Black 14”. What disappointed me most about this 10 April 2002 hunger strike is that it was confined to just the Reformasi supporters. None of the other ISA detainees (which numbered about 100) or their families participated in or supported the hunger strike. They did not want to ‘rock the boat’. They felt if they behaved themselves and quietly sat out their ISA detention without stirring up a fuss they would be released in due course for ‘good behaviour’. Well, this did not happen. The Anti-ISA Movement (AIM) tried to meet the family members in an attempt to bring them into the movement but they refused to even meet the AIM organisers. They felt meeting and getting organised would jeopardise their loved ones’ chances of an early release; so they kept their distance and kept to themselves. Eventually, the Reformasi Six saw freedom while all the others got their detentions rolled over another two years after 26 months of detention without trial. Being good boys and ‘following the rules’ had not helped. Instead of seeing an early release, their detentions were extended. A fat lot of good that did them! I am still sore that our 10 April 2002 hunger strike failed. The failure was to mobilise all the 100 ISA detainees into an organised force. I still believe we could have fought the system if we wanted to. But we did not, and the ‘system’ won. Anwar Ibrahim’s famous catchphrase is, “If you are scared of the risks then don’t talk about the struggle”. In other words, if the fire is too hot, get out of the kitchen. Why talk about the struggle then try to play safe? There is no such thing as a safe struggle as Anwar Ibrahim has shown us. You take the risks or you leave the struggle. Don’t play with fire then hope not to get burnt. Now, finally, those ISA detainees are fighting back. A week ago they launched a hunger strike to demand their release from detention. That’s the way to go! But why wait until you are rolled over another two years to do so? Why did you not join us on 10 April 2002? What was it you were so scared of then that you no longer are today? Are you scared if you go on a hunger strike you may die? So what! Is this not the risk of opposing a dictatorial government? If you fear for your life then just follow the system like sheep. Don’t talk about opposing an unjust system and shout for change or reforms, yet at the same time fear the repercussions. Death or injury is part and parcel of any struggle, especially one that is against a dictatorial regime. Let the hunger strike go on. So we lose a few people. That is the price we have to pay. We need to empty the Kamunting Detention Centre and ensure not one soul is left there other than the prison wardens, who have no souls anyway. If we cannot empty the Kamunting Detention Centre by sending everyone home, then let us do so by sending them all to their graves. Either way we will empty Kamunting. We must arrogantly send a message to the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government that we shall no longer tolerate detention without trial. Imam Abdullah, grandson to the renowned religious leader, of all people should know that Islam forbids detention without trial. No one can be incarcerated unless first allowed a proper trial and a conviction secured based on tangible evidence and the testimony of witnesses of unblemished character. The ISA goes against Islam and any way we oppose it cannot be unIslamic, even to the extent of a hunger strike. Malaysians fear supporting the opposition because of the ISA. Malaysians fear opposing the government because of the ISA. Malaysians fear speaking out against transgressions because of the ISA. The opposition will never make inroads and the ruling party can continue with its blatant abuses as long as the ISA remains. In the 43 years since 1960 that the ISA has been in existence, an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 people have been detained without trial. And this will continue for another 43 years unless the 100 or so detainees in the Kamunting Detention Centre are prepared to face death and say, “Enough is enough”. If 100 must die for the ISA to be abolished then so be it. If they die, yet the ISA remains, then let another 100 take their place in the hunger strike. Well, enough of my arrogance for one day. I take my hat off to those hunger strikers whatever I may feel about the delayed timing. And may Allah be with you all my brave friends. I salute you. RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN
|
