The police should immediately, within the next 24 hours and without any psychological game of playing one detainee against another, allow all the other eight ISA detainees, and in particular the six who had been detained for the fourth week, namely Parti Keadilan Nasional Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, its vice president Tian Chua; Keadilan supreme council member N. Gobalakrishnan, Penang Keadilan Youth exco member Abdul Ghani Harun, former JIM Chairman Saari Sungib, and social activist Hishamuddin Rais immediate family access.
The police should not try to use family visits as a psychological weapon in trying to breakdown an ISA detainee, but should respect such visits as a human right which must be respected by the police.
The ten ISA detainees should also be allowed visits by their lawyers and Suhakam commissioners.
In this connection, the decision by the Shah Alam High Court judge Justice Mohd Hishammuddin Mohd Yunus ordering two of the ISA detainees, Abdul Ghani Haroon and N Gobalakrishnan to be produced before the court for their habeas corpus application is great news, giving hope to activists for the restoration of the rule of law and human rights.
The police should have no hesitation in producing the ISA detainees in court to await its decision, unless it has things to hide not only from the court but also from the general public.
(4/5/2001)