by Dr Prema Devaraj

You could have heard a pin drop as each woman made her presentation. Such was the atmosphere at a recent fraternity talk in ALIRAN. The topic was Women Against the ISA. We were privileged to have Rohana Ariffin, Irene Xavier, Roslijah Syed (wife of Abdul Ghani Haroon) and Vasanthi Ramalingam (wife of N Gobalakrishnan) as our speakers for the night. The room was packed and time flew. The speakers were informative, their delivery moving and at times hilarious, each in her own way.

Women in the Struggle for Justice

The evening began with Dr Rohana Ariffin (a long standing PRM member, social activist and academic) giving a brief history of the role women have played in the struggle for justice and democracy in Malaysia. Some of her research material on women in the struggle came from the Public Records Office in London.

Rohana introduced us to past women activists, some of whom were involved in the trade unions and labour movement, others in the anti-colonial movement and later on those who were advocates on education for women. We were lucky to see some statistics on the detentions during the Emergency years. What was particularly interesting was that between 1951 and 1953, 17-22% of those detained under the Emergency Ordinance were women.

A Woman Detained under the ISA

Next we heard from an ex-ISA woman detainee, Irene Xavier, social activist, president of Sahabat Wanita. Irene had come from Kuala Lumpur for this session. She was detained in 1987 and spent almost a year in the Kamunting Detention Centre. She gave the audience a frank description of what happens to a person when they are arrested. Many in the audience were shocked and appalled. She explained that the ISA is basically used to silence dissent. She added that it has been used not just against communists (for whom it was initially meant) but also against individuals such as opposition leaders, academics, religious leaders, social activists and environmentalists.

She said that the ISA violates the basic rights of a person, and contradicts the constitution. “There are no real charges, the police just quote the Act when they arrest someone under the ISA” . In addition the judicial review process initially in the Act has been removed. A person is presumed guilty with no recourse to defend herself. “The Home Minister and the police will never be called to account for the arrest.”

There are no checks and balances and a detainee is at the whims and fancies of her interrogators. She spoke of her own experience of being beaten and verbally abused by her interrogaters, all of whom were male. She noted that it was more than coincidental that the ISA was used everytime UMNO was in crisis. She finished by calling for the repeal of the ISA for the simple fact that it is unjust and inhumane.

ISA and the Detainee's Family

The next two speakers were wives of recently released ISA detainees, Abdul Ghani Haroon and N. Gobalakrishan, and they described how the ISA affected them and their families. Both wives only saw their husbands after 46 and  47 days respectively. Both men were subsequently released by the High Court
on 30 May after a successful habeas corpus application. However the Chief of Police has appealed against the judgment.

Roslijah Syed (Ghani’s wife) travelled from Kulim to be present at this session. She recalled how Ghani was arrested and how the ISA affected her personally. She said, “…before this… I did not know anything about politics and I used to scold Ghani for coming home late at night… After his arrest…after seeing how the police behave… I understand.” She spoke of the impact of her husband’s arrest on her five children.

As she relived what she and her children had been through, she was choked with emotion. With tears in her eyes, she described her children’s confusion, pain and frustration at their father’s detention and the shameful unhelpfulness and harassment by the police.

However she added that despite their personal anguish and anxiety, they had all emerged stronger. She said that she has received much support from the other wives of the ISA detainees and also from the public, urging her to be strong and to carry on. Despite Ghani’s release, she continues to speak out against the ISA. She ended her talk by calling on people to work together for the abolition of the ISA.

The last speaker of the evening was Vasanthi Ramalingam (wife of N. Gobalakrishnan), who travelled from Seberang Jaya for this session. She said that much of what Roslijah had said also held true for her. She found herself thrust in a position of having to become assertive and outgoing. “Before my husband was arrested I was not interested in politics… but now  I speak out to my customers who come to my shop to buy my cakes… They are so shocked… I don’t care… People must know what is happening! ”

She too was in tears as she spoke of her children’s anguish, of how they did not want to go to school after their father was arrested, of how their school teachers came and encouraged them to go back to school and reassured them about their father. She said the support from the public had been overwhelming.

She too had experienced similar obstructive and unhelpful encounters with the police as Roslijah. She said her bakery was under police surveillance. She described her antics at getting rid of them and had the crowd in stitches.

When Gobala was released, he was able to tell her about some of the interrogation techniques. She was shocked (and the audience too!) to hear that the interrogaters, instead of trying to prove the ridiculous allegations about rocket launchers and grenades, were trying to concoct stories about illicit affairs among KeADILan members and party leaders. Despite her husband’s release, Vasanthi continues to carry on with the struggle against the ISA. Vasanthi went on to say that people should speak out against the ISA and urged those present to join in the struggle.

The underlying theme that evening was simply this: Women have always played a role in the struggle for justice. Although the speakers had all become activists through different paths, their message was the same: the ISA has to go. It is a bad law and has been used time and again to silence dissent - in the colonial period, through the Emergency and in the years since.

The unjust and inhumane treatment of detainees and the anguish of their families is unacceptable. There can be no justification whatsoever for the ISA. The courage and determination shown by the speakers was an example
to all present. It is clear that anyone can get involved and take up the quest for justice.

The evening ended with a call… Let’s get involved. Let’s work together. Let’s rid our nation of the ISA. The ISA must go!