Saifuddin took the stand
Jun 22nd, 2007 by Tian
The first time I heard about the name Saifuddin Nasution Ismail was amidst a commotion. He and a group of Barisan Nasional Youth were storming an international meeting organized by a coalition of NGO.
The ill-fated meeting known as the second Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET2) was held in Asia Hotel in Kampong Baru, Kuala Lumpur. I was an activist committed to peace and self-determination of East Timor. Saifuddin was a youth leader of Umno. He was given the task of leading the mob to stop the conference.
In the name of Asean solidarity, Malaysian government endorsed Indonesian aggression in East Timor and kept it eyes closed on the killings and abuses by the occupying power.
The NGO activists were determined to bring the issue back home. Till then East Timor was discussed on various world platforms but none in Asia. Malaysian government under Mahathir declared support to all sorts of struggles—from Palestine to Bosnia. We wanted to take on the government to note the plights in our region. Besides helping struggles in faraway places, our neighbour Timorese deserved our concern.
I guess Malaysian government never expected a drastic regime change in the region, and eventually a totally new political landscape emerged in our neighbourhood. Notwithstanding hostility and unfriendliness displayed by all Asean states, East Timor has become independent. It must be a great embarrassment for Malaysian government.
Saifuddin and his BN Youth had done a big favour for the independent struggle of East Timor. The incident was an awakening signal to the world. It also shocked the Malaysian public and alerted them the crisis in East Timor. The violence assault on NGO drew condemnation from all quarters—international and domestic media including pro-government papers slammed the barbaric action.
Today (22 June) Saifuddin took the stand as a witness to the incident. He told the court about his role as the third in the rank of Umno Youth then. The episode was orchestrated by then Deputy Home Minister Megat Junid. Saifuddin was instructed to stop the conference, and with the help of Azman Atar (deceased) who was Umno divisional head of Batu.
Saifuddin was told to switch off the PA system if the organizers refused to stop. Azman would lead another group to perform a separate task. Saifuddin described Azman as a person well-known for “wide connection”. He described this connection as “kaki pukul”.
To this point, the judge jested “do you mean samseng?”
Then he made a joke about Bahasa Malaysia has “funny expressions like kakitangan, kaki pukul etc.”
“kaki pukul, kaki (leg) boleh pukul ke?”
I suppose the judge is enjoying the trial.