Campaigners against the Internal Security Act (ISA) and nine ex-detainees reiterated their call today for immediate repeal of the draconian act, enacted 45 years ago.

The ISA, put in place by the British to combat the communist insurgency in 1960, has earned notoriety because it has since been used against opposition politicians and activists.

Thousands of people have been detained under the Act and allegedly subjected to ill-treatment and torture by the police special branch personnel while in custody.

"These dark deeds by the Malaysian special branch are the scandalous side of 'Malaysia Boleh'," said ex-detainee and human rights body Suaram director Dr Kua Kia Soong.

"The biggest scandal of all is that, to date, none of the these torturers have been brought to justice, nor have deterrent sentences been passed on them."

He was addressing a gathering at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. About 80 people, including representatives of non-governmental organisations and family-members of current detainees attended.

'Perpetrators unpunished'

Drawing a comparison, Kua said the perpetrators behind the infamous Abu Ghraib atrocities - when Iraqi prisoners were abused - have at least had been exposed and brought before a court of law.

However, he said the Malaysian special branch personnel who had abused former ISA detainees Dr Munawar Anees, Joshua Jamaluddin and the countless others remain unpunished.

He singled out the initial 60-day detention period - when detainees are held in solitary confinement and are interrogated - is more draconian than even South African security laws under apartheid or those in northern Ireland during the uprising against the British.

"The ISA has been kept in use all this time mainly because it is a very convenient tool at the disposal of the ruling coalition. It is an example of crass abuse of the law," Kua said, citing the recent threat that the ISA would be used against self-proclaimed spiritual leader Ayah Pin and his followers in Terengganu.

"(Yet) the terrorists who torched and destroyed the property (at Ayah Pin's commune) have not been apprehended and punished," he noted.

Abolish ISA Movement chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh called for repeal of the ISA, saying other laws are sufficient to curb offenders.

In calling for detainees to be released, he said a royal commission should be set up to investigate the allegations of ill-treatment and torture of former detainees.
This, he said, should be with the intention of (identifying and) punishing perpetrators and to ascertain appropriate monetary compensation for those who were ill-treated.

"Let this anniversary serve as a wake-up call and realisation that this law violates the principles, nobility and supremacy of democracy and justice, day and night," he added.

'Death threats'

Nine former ISA detainees, representing each decade since the ISA was enacted, presented their testimony before human rights commissioners, relating horrifying experiences.

The two-hour session heard how detainees had been subjected to severe torture - physical and mental - and had received death threats from officials at the detention camp where they were held.

Commissioner N Siva Subramaniam said Suhakam would study the testimonies and act accordingly, reiterating the commission's stand that the ISA should be repealed and replaced with a comprehensive law to deal with national security.

Also present were commissioner Dr Abdul Monir Yaacob and Complaints and Inquiries Division chief Taib Hampden.

The crowd later released balloons outside the Suhakam office to mark the call for the ISA detainees to be freed and for abolition of the Act.