FAC News - Saturday, February 2, 2002 9:50 AM

Police play cat-and-mouse game with Badrulamin

Dr Bardrulamin Bahron was initially arrested under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act in April 2001 together with nine other National Justice Party leaders and Reformasi activists. About four months ago, he was released, but under strict terms and conditions.

As the police normally say, "You are free to go," but in Dr Badrulamin’s case it was, "You may go but you are not free."

Late last year, within a month of his release, Dr Badrulamin attended an art exhibition and read a prayer to bless the function.

Soon after, he was called to the police station to make a statement and a couple of weeks later he was arrested and charged for violating the terms of his release. A summons was then served on him asking him to appear in court on 30 January 2002 to face the charges.

On Wednesday, 30 January 2002, Dr Badrulamin went to court as required but the court official did not know anything about the case. They had no records of the charge against him.

The court then got in touch with the Prosecutor who was no help either. He was just as confused as the court official.

The Prosecutor said he is not able to proceed with the case "until he gets further instructions from Putra Jaya."

They then gave Dr Badrulamin a new date in March for the hearing and extended his bail.

That same night, the police phoned Dr Badrulamin at home to inform him he is to go to Kamunting on 8 February 2002 to appear before a review board. They were going to review the terms of his release.

Dr Badrulamin was elated. He thought they were now going to remove his strict conditions and allow him to be a free man again.

Later that night, the police phoned him again and asked him to report to the Rawang Police Station the next day. Dr Badrulamin assumed it was because of the application he had made for permission to leave the area.

The next day he drove to the Rawang Police Station where he was re-arrested under the ISA and sent back the Kamunting. The police, however, never told him of the reason for his re-arrest other than that he had violated the terms of his release without specifying which.

Is this part of the mental torture tactics they are playing on Dr Badrulamin? They made him excited one day with prospects that he would be free again, then arrest him the next day without telling him why.

Political detainees in Malaysia are now no longer subjected to physical abuse – not since 1998, the episode of Anwar Ibrahim’s world-famous Black Eye – but the mental abuse they suffer is worse. Body wounds heal, but when the mind goes it very seldom returns.