(Open letter by P.Uthayakumar to Malaysian Home Minister Hishamuddin)
We welcome the release of the longest serving Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee Shamsuddin Sulaiman, a suspected Jemaah Islamiah (JI) detainee without trial who was released on 2/9/10 after eight years (The Staronline 3/9/2010).In the spirit of Hari Raya on the 10th and 11th of September 2010 we call upon the Home Minister Hishamuddin Tun Hussein to release all our local and foreign ISA friends still being detained without trial at the Kamunting Prison in Taiping.
On this Hari Raya occasion I had recall how I had fasted for the whole of the Ramadan month in 2008 along with my Jemaah Islamiah (JI) friends and other muslims. Also how when each J.I and other detainees are released, it used to be a happy and also sad occasion. Ha
ppy because our fellow ISA detainee is released from detention. And sad because we are going to miss him and perhaps will never ever see him again. Even when we bid and hug them goodbye it was from the heart.Behind the walls of the ISA prison there was truly One Malaysia as everyone was treated equally irrespective of their race or religion.
Even though the Hindraf lawyers were labeled as Hindu extremists by UMNO we had zero problems with the J.I. “Islamic extremists” at Kamunting Prison.
This is evidence that racist and religious supremacy in Malaysia is largely the creation of the UMNO controlled government to maintain and sustain their already 53 year old rule of Malaysia.
We learnt in Kamunting Prison that genuine One Malaysia will naturally take place and does not have to be artificial as it is in reality today only when UMNO practices genuine equality for all the communities in Malaysia especially for the poor and politically powerless Malaysia Indians as is guaranteed in Article 5 of the Federal Constitution (equality before the law) and when UMNO stop all acts of rule by majoritarian might and the UMNO racist and religious supremacist bully agenda.The rule of law is for every man to be given a right to be heard, a fair hearing as per the Latin maxim Audi Altrem Partem.
Under the law every man is presumed innocent until proven guilty and therefore no one should be arbitrarily detained under th
e ISA but instead should be given a full hearing and be tried in an independent and fair Court of law and that too only if there is a genuine case against him.The pain and torture of detention under the ISA is a lot more worse than for the ordinary prisoners who would know exactly when they would be released. But for the ISA detainees, their detention is indefinite and they would not know when they would be released. This alone is designed to make it a lot painful and most suffer from mental torture on a day to day basis.
On this auspicious Hari Raya occasion, I recall my 514 days of detention without trial under the ISA at Kamunting Prison, feel for my friends still detained here and call upon the Home Minister to release them all on the occasion of this Hari Raya on 10/9/10.
Finally we call for the abolishment of the ISA and for the closing down of the ISA Kamunting Detention Prison.
P.Uthayakumar
8/9/10.
Y.B Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Menteri Kementerian Dalam Negeri, Kementerian Dalam Negeri,
Blok D1 & D2, Kompleks D,
Pusat Pentadbiran,
Kerajaan Persekutuan, Fax: 03-2693 3131
62546 Putrajaya E-Mail: menteri@moha.gov.my
