In a historic visit to the Kamunting detention camp in Taiping today, the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) heard firsthand from detainees of how they were maltreated before they were sent there.

"Most of them complained more about how they were treated before being sent to Kamunting," said commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan.

Internal Security Act detainees are initially placed under a 60-day preventive detention order by the police before a two-year order is signed by the Home Minister to place them in the Kamunting camp.

Fellow commissioner Simon Sipaun and Suhakam's legal adviser Raja Azwa Raja Petra were also present with Hamdan for the five-hour visit which began at 1.15pm.

Hamdan told malaysiakini that conditions in the detention centre was much better than those in prisons and lockups.

"In terms of the physical condition of the place, it is much better as it is not overcrowded. The centre is meant for 600 people but there are only a total of over 500 people," Hamdan said.

The centre holds both detainees under the ISA as well as 'pre-release' detainees - prison inmates sent to Kamunting before release by prison authorities.

"The conditions of the detention centre were spanking clean and like a hospital they looked 'sanitised'," Hamdan added.

69 detainees

Hamdan said the centre holds 69 ISA detainees including one woman, an increase of 29 people since end 2000, as Suhakam's inaugural annual report released this year stated there had been 40 detainees.

Twenty-one of the present detainees are 'tekongs' or operators who bring in illegal immigrants. There are three members of the Shia faith, termed as 'international terrorists', 15 from the Al-Ma'unah martial arts cult, six recently detained reformasi activists and four members of the Free Acheh Movement. Three are being held for firearms offences, 10 for counterfeiting currencies and seven, falsifying documents.

On April 10, the police arrested detained 10 reformasi activists under the ISA for a 'militant attempt' to overthrow the government.

Four were subsequently released, but the rest were sent for further detention at Kamunting.

The six are Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua, party youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, party leaders Saari Sungib, Dr Badrul Amin Bahron, Lokman Noor Adam and social activist-cum-malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais.

The Al-Ma'unah detainees were part of a group involved in an arms heist from two military installations in Perak last year.

Twenty-nine were charged in court for planning "to wage war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong".

Ten were sentenced to 10 years' jail each after pleading guilty to a reduced charge while the other 19 are still on trial.

The other detainees are under the pre-release category. Hamdan added that the ISA detainees are in "good spirits".

"However the six reformasi detainees complained that they were not put together and not allowed to mingle with their families," Hamdan said.

Last Monday, wives and representatives of the six sent in a memorandum to Suhakam complaining of maltreatment.