E Contrario

Five leaders of HINDRAF were detained under the ISA on December 13. P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, R. Kenghadharan, V. Ganabatirau and T. Vasanthakumar were sent to Kamunting immediately under Section 8 of the ISA.

Prime Minister Abdullah has decided to by-pass the process of investigation/interrogation and send them straight to Kamunting. In normal ISA arrests, the police would first invoke Section 73 to detain someone for 60 days. Only after investigation would the Home Minister decide whether to sign the detention order under Section 8.

This means that even before the investigation, the PM is already convinced that the HINDRAF-5 have committed a crime.

Ironically, on the same day as the ISA arrests, the Deputy Minister of Internal Security, Johari Baharum, announced in Parliament that there were no terrorist activities in Malaysia. He said the last terrorist incident here was when the Japanese Red Army occupied the AIA building on August 4, 1975.

Only a few days earlier, AG Gani Patail and IGP Musa Hassan alleged that HINDRAF was linked to ‘terrorists’ LTTE (Bernama Dec 8). Johari has since indirectly denied the allegation, but the HINDRAF activists were arrested nonetheless.

The government has not even got all the facts right. The ISA has again been used for the convenience of stupid bureaucrats.

On the day of the arrests, many people worried about whether the list of targets for the crackdown would expand to include people like myself. I cannot fathom the state of mind of a very insecure PM. But perhaps I can compare the ISA with the magic ring in the Lord of the Rings. Its temptation is so great that not many people can resist.

I remember the arms heist in Sauk in July 2000. Later, members of a group labelled as Al Ma’unah were rounded up and detained under the ISA. I notice how similar the PM’s statement at that time is to his speech today (The Star):

“We’re all together in this, as it is our collective responsibility, and we should respect one another and not make baseless accusations against each other.

“I want us to continue to live peacefully and harmoniously as citizens of this country,” he said at a meeting with leaders and members of the Indian community here.

At that time the public was deceived into believing that the ISA was used solely to target armed terrorist cults like Al Ma’unah, not as a political tool. But only a few months later I was swallowed up under its black shadow for two years, together with Hishamuddin Rais, Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungip, etc.

Now we are witnessing the same trick being replayed. Today a few so-called Hindu “extremists” are detained. Next in line might be some Islamic “militants”. Soon, the arrest list will include BERSIH, then NGOs, and at the end, members of the opposition parties.

For UMNO, the real threat is not terrorist groups but organized movements of citizens with legitimate cause!