opinion On April 14, 1999, thousands of Malaysians gathered around Dataran Merdeka and the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to witness the final episode of the Anwar Ibrahim drama - the judgement.

However, the people were not surprised, as they knew the verdict had already been written outside the courtroom and long before the trial.

The intention of the mass gathering was nothing but to proclaim 'Rakyat Hakim Negara" (The people are the country's judges). Such a proclamation was obviously provocative to the government. The spontaneous and peaceful display of the people's concern was met with violent suppression from the police.

The pronouncement of Anwar's nine-year sentence marked another dark day in Malaysia's legal history. Coupled with massive arrests and suppression of peaceful protesters, the day revealed the naked, repressive nature of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's rule. Thus, this day was appropriately called the 'Black 14'.

On that day, I was assaulted three times, at different locations and by different police officers. I was arrested while sitting in front of a police water cannon truck to resist the advance of the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) towards a crowd which had peacefully gathered.

I was sprayed with a chemical mixture and hit with a baton. Then I was taken to the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur, but not before I suffered another round of beating in the police truck.

'Attempting suicide'

I was then detained under the charge of 'attempting suicide'. Although it sounded laughable, this accurately reflected the mentality of the authorities.

The police could never do any wrong since all their opponents have natural suicidal inclinations and often cause 'self-inflicted' injuries.

Together with another reformasi activist, Malek Hussein, I was remanded for two weeks. Finally, when we were brought to the Magistrates' Court after the remand period expired, and the allegation of 'attempted suicide' disappeared.

Instead, we were charged for illegal assembly under the Police Act. The case was mentioned a few times, yet the prosecutor never commenced the trial.

The first anniversary last year of the 'Black 14' met with equally brutal repression. A few days before the gathering, several reformasi activists were arrested. Among them were Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, N Gobalakrishnan and Ruslan Kassim..

On the designated date for the mass rally, Kuala Lumpur was like a war zone - the police and the military were stationed at all corners of the streets, train stations, LRT terminals, bus stops, toll gates and even shopping malls.

The intimidating measures did deter the congregation of a large crowd at Dataran Merdaka. However, smaller groups of demonstrators gathered at the National Mosque, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman and other places.

The nervous as well as brutal reaction by the police exposed the inner fear of the prime minister. 'Black 14' had became a symbol of judiciary manipulation, public outrage, of rising people's consciousness and a reminder that the regime would be eventually overthrown by the people's power.

Observing from afar, events in the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea and even in distant Mexico, the authorities fully understood that reformasi emerged because the people's consciousness was ripe for change.

Their demands for democratic rights had spread like wild fire throughout the nation.

Repeated suppresion

The annual commemoration of 'Black 14' is like the great bell of a clock tower, ringing every hour to warn the Prime Minister that his time was up.

I recall a Chinese proverb describing a thief covering his ears while attempting to steal a bell. The crackdown on the reformasi movement is as foolish as that thief.

The authorities thought that they could erase people's memory of their mistakes by locking up reformasi activists. Last year, 'Ops Padam' (Operation Extinguish) was held with the aim extinguishing the flames of reformasi.

I was arrested a day after the demonstration. Although I was not present at the 2000 'Black 14' gathering, I was charged as one of the conspirators.

We, several of the so-called conspirators including Ezam, Ruslan and Gobalakrishnan were locked up and interrogated for a week. At the end, none of us were charged for organising or participating in that 'Black 14' demonstration.

Instead, Ezam and I were charged with totally unrelated accusations involving other gatherings (illegal, of course!)

The repeated suppression of peaceful assemblies obviously failed to 'padam' (extinguish) the momentum of the reformasi movement. Otherwise the Internal Security Act (ISA) arrests of April this year would be unnecessary.

The April 2001 arrests surprised me. Not because I never anticipated that the ISA would be used when the authorities are desperate. I just did not expect them to be so afraid of the 'Black 14'.

Ten activists were caught under 'Ops Omega', another desperate attempt to extinguish the flames of reformasi

Symbolic victory

But the people were neither frightened nor deterred by these heavy-handed tactics. The culture of fear imposed through the ISA was now bankrupt. On April 14, 2001 people still defied a police order and courageously took to the streets.

I learned later (since I was detained and under interrogation, all outside news was denied) that several thousand people had proceeded with a planned gathering at the office of the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) in Kuala Lumpur.

A people's memorandum calling on the government to respect basic civil liberties and to abolish the ISA was handed to the Commission.

The event, 'Black 14' represents a symbolic victory over the spell of authoritarianism. For decades, the ISA was a curse over the heads of Malaysian people.

Within three years, from the first verdict on Anwar Ibrahim in 1999 to the gathering at Suhakam this year, a lot has changed in Malaysia. Every year, without fail, I was arrested and detained. This time, maybe longer than the previous two. But the future looks bright.

Knowing that prosecution in court can neither convict us nor halt mass mobilisation, the police finally opted for their ultimate weapon, the ISA. The police even dropped the charges against Malek and me for our involvement in resisting the water cannons in the 'Black 14, 1999'.

If the police had sufficient evidence to prove our wrongdoings, they should have followed the prosecution process. Instead, they bypassed the formal legal channel and proceeded with conviction without trial.

I suspect many of the charges against us would be withdrawn or suspended. However, such moves are not a gesture of tolerance or goodwill on the part of the police. Such precedence only further undermines the integrity of our judiciary system.

Before the commencement of our trial on the Lunas case, Ezam and I have already been sentenced to two years imprisonment.

One of the reasons cited for our ISA detention was our alleged involvement in the Lunas case. It appeared that the Home Affairs minister had preceded the judge (who had not heard the case) to pronounce us guilty.

Last option

This leads us to conclude that the powers-that-be are running out of patience for lengthy court procedures. The flames need to be put off now and the ISA is probably the last option they had.

But it is time they wake up to the new reality - the 'Black 14' has changed the nation.

TIAN CHUA is vice-president of Keadilan. He is currently being detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for a two-year period at the Kamunting Detention Camp in Taiping, Perak from where he wrote the above article.