After my meeting with our field officer from Kapar on Friday, I realised I had tonnes to complete before leaving for Kuching, Sarawak on Tuesday for a consultation with Sarawak based NGOs. As a result, I was unable to attend both the public hearing on the ISA and the Politics & the Kingdom conversation. Fortunately, Malaysiakini carried the story on the former.
A lot of testimonies were given by the detainees of Operasi Lalang, including Dr. Kua Kia Soong, Khalid Samad and Lau Teck Gee. To many, the trauma never left them and I recall reading somewhere that Irene Xavier still looked visibly shaken when asked about her experience despite that particular interview being done many years after the incident.
Lulu put up an impressive list of 65 of the 106 detainees picked up during Operasi Lalang in her blog. It literally reads like a who's who in civil society in Malaysia. Many of the names listed are instantly recognisable by many Malaysians and I personally have had the privilege of meeting and engaging some of them.
The use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) has gone beyond the original aims of curtailing armed rebellion. In fact the said armed rebellion ended with a peace treaty 18 years ago! The use of he ISA during the various administrations are listed below:
- Tunku Abdul Rahman
1960 - 1969- 1,199 detentions
- Tun Abdul Razak
1970 - 1976
- 574 detentions
- Tun Hussein Onn
1976 - 1980
- 1,245 detentions
- Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
1981 - 2003
- 1,304 detentions
- Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
2004 - present
- 82 detentions
As far as actually getting rid of the "lalang" (weeds), I would say Operasi Lalang had been an abject failure. The actual "lalang" remained untouched and to date, have grown into huge forests of elephant grass!
On the day after the 20th anniversary of Operasi Lalang, may we not forget the price that has been paid to dare to think outside the box. And let us remember those who remain incarcerated under the ISA without trial today and their longsuffering families.
The battle rages on for a Malaysia that we can all call home.
If you liked this post, consider buying me some coffee. Suggested price is $1.00 for a cup and $10.00 for a 1 lbs bag (personally I am a big fan of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe).
Categories: Malaysiana, Works
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Comments (2)
uliang said:
Hmm it seems strange, but if we (naively) use ISA as a measure of the country's stability, it would seem that Hussien Onn's tenure must be the most unstable. 1000+ detentions within a span of 4 years!!??
Comparitively, despite Operasi Lalang, Mahathir's tenure is the most stable of them, considering that his tenure saw less people arrested under ISA per year compared to the other premiers.
I'm not sure, but what happened during Hussien Onn's 4 years?
Posted on October 28, 2007 5:56 PM
Bob K said:
I think we must also be aware of the historical context:
Tunku Abdul Rahman's tenure saw the Confrontation, and the general fear (perhaps even paranoia) of perceived front organisations of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). Upon the termination of the First Emergency on August 31, 1960, 3 additional Emergencies were declared in this period - the 2nd Emergency in 1964, the so-called 3rd Emergency in 1960 (Sarawak only) and the 4th Emergency as a result of the May 13 incident.
Razak's tenure was immediately post May 13 and also saw a major student protest movement. The CPM also renewed their armed incursion southwards during this period.
Hussein Onn had Ghazali Shafie as his Home Minister who was both ambitious and had a very interesting rapport with Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew. There have been allegations that some form of coordination between Ghazali and LKY in the crackdown on dissidents on both sides of the causeway during that period. The 5th Emergency was also declared in this period for the state of Kelantan.
If I'm not mistaken, none of the additional Emergencies declared since the first one was terminated has yet to be rescinded.
Posted on October 29, 2007 12:35 PM