MALAYSIA: PETITION TO THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT
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| This petition is
closed. Many thanks to all those who have
responded. The political situation in Malaysia is
still volatile, 5 of the original 10 potitical
detinees we were campaigning for are still in
prison. Just recently the Malaysian government
arrested 15 Muslim persons under the Internal Security
Act, several of whom are also members of the opposition
Islamic party PAS. This time, the allegation is
that they are connected with terrorist groups, in line
with the global "anti-terrorist" campaign that
started up after the September 11 attack in New York. But human rights advocates in Malaysia and in the world maintain that these accusations should be proven in a court of law. Detaining them under the ISA means that the government does not have to prove their charges in court, there is no way for the people who are arrested to prove their innocence, and also the society will never be sure that the allegaitons are true. This is NOT a secure situation for the people. We will keep on monitoring the situation, and surely make more requests for your solidarity in the future. In solidarity with the detainees and their families." |
From 2 pm June 8 to 2 pm June 9 a group of supporters of the Malaysian ISA detainees, peoples’ organisations, NGOs and human rights defenders held a 24 -hour Hunger Vigil at the Malaysian Consulate in Hong Kong. This Petition was presented to the Malaysian Consulate, at that time, with 90 signatures. We are continuing the Campaign against arbritrary arrest and detention without trial under such national security legislation as the ISA in Malaysia, and the petition will be a part of the campaign.
Please sign the petition. Every signature will be automatically transmitted immediately by email to the Malaysian National Human Rights Commission.
PETITION TO THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT to release all ISA detainees, and to repeal the ISA, so that it can no longer be used to intimidate and destroy peaceful expressions of the people’s movement for reform and democracy.
We - friends of the detainees, peoples’ organisations, NGOs and human rights defenders in Hong Kong - join with many thousands in Malaysia and in other parts of the world to protest the arbitrary arrest and detention without trial in Malaysia of 10 political leaders and social justice activists, between April 10 and 26, 2001. During the 6o days’ preliminary detention without process, they were held incommunicado, except for brief visits by family members, denied access to their lawyers and all have been denied reading materials for the first 30 days.
We protest most strongly against the 2-year detention without trial order served on 4 persons:
Arbitrary arrest and detention without trial under such national security law as the ISA is a violation of the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly, to recourse to legal defence and a fair trial and in itself amounts to a form of torture. Former political detainees in Malaysia have given evidence of physical and mental torture while being detained under the ISA. Furthermore, it is the experience of peoples’ movements and human rights defenders in many places in Asia, where similar national security laws exist (Korea, Sri Lanka, Indonesia…) that these laws – themselves a colonial heritage – are being now being used to intimidate and curb peoples’ organisation for political, economic and social refoms.
Considering that the Shah Alam Court, on releasing 2 detainees on 30 May, has declared that their arrest under the ISA violates their “procedural rights” and is unlawful, and that denying them access to their families was "cruel, inhuman and oppressive", and refusing to let them see their lawyers was "a gross violation of [their] fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Constitution" ;
And noting the recommendation of the Judge that “it is
high time for the (Malaysian) Parliament to reconsider the
ISA”;
We take heart that the sense for Justice is not completely eroded
in Malaysia.
We call on the Malaysian government to:
Release all ISA detainees
immediately and unconditionally
Facilitate medical examinations by doctors chosen by the
detainees
Repeal the Internal Security Act