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Did pressure get the 'Reformasi 6' out of detention?

THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, DATO' SERI ABDULLAH Ahmad Badawi, had a fortnight ago ordered that the 'Reformasi 6' be detained for a further two years when their two-year detention order ended on 01 June 2003. The prison authorities at the Kamunting detention camp created a needless ruckus with this group to cause grievous hurt and destroy their property to justify their continued detention. But on Saturday (31 May 2003) night, he ordered them released. There was high drama at how this decision was reached. He had returned, a day late, from a week's vacation in Perth. He therefore did not meet Dr Mahathir, who left for Evian the night before.

The Home Ministry's secretary-general, Dato' Seri Aseh Che Mat, was amongst the small crowd of officials, politicians and favour-seekers awaiting his return. He was there for more. A hurried soto voice discussion and minister and civil servant adjourned to an ante-chamber at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and joined by other officials from the ministry. It is clear now it was to release the 'Reformasi 6' the next day. I know of no instance where the ISA detainees' future is discussed so urgently especially when it is to release them. It shows how politics and politics alone dictated their release. Pak Lah had to eat humble pie. For the second time. The wives of two of the Reformasi 6 ambushed him at Parliament House, at its recent session, accused him of lying as he told reporters he had not decided about their detentions. They told him he had extended the detention orders. How could he not know of it? Or does he sign the orders without reading them? At that time, officials said, he indeed had.

The 'Reformasi 6' had to be released now. The Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, is in Evian for the G8 Summit, as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) representative. He did not want to be questioned in Evian about their detention, not when European parliaments are incensed that preventive detention is used in Malaysia against political opponents, with broad hints that it could worsen bilateral ties. The United States is not happy about it either. So, when AFP, in a news item yesterday, quoted unnamed officials to say the Reformasi 6 would be released, and Dr Mahathir met President Jacques Chirac, with whom he gets on well, in Paris on Sunday en route to Evian, they had to be. (News agencies by the nature of their trade want sources for what they assert. They would not send out stories like this on controversial topics without a sound source, which in this case must be of the highest.)

Dr Mahathir wisely decided discretion is the better part of valour and meekly submitted. He wants no more egg on his face than he has. It was a feeble attempt to clear the decks. It is misplaced. The Malaysian reporting is of this great world leader who has earned a place amongst the world's industrialised nations on his own right. Nothing could be more wrong. But that is another story. It proves, if nothing else, that when he thrives on international recognition as an enfante terrible, placing blame for all its woes to their policies, he can be, and often is, caught out at doing at home what he blames others for. I believe he was right most of the time in his well-placed criticism, but as the world tired of him, he got more loquacious and shot from the hip to look a sorry, muddled figure, of late, of fun. He often has to eat his words. As now.

The Reformasi 6, all but one political activists more than espouses of an opposition party ideal, had to be detained for their links to the former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. One, Mr Hishamuddin Rais, is a close friend, fights for what he believes in, but insists he has no political or other leanings. He tells me he an NGI - non-governmental individual - as opposed to NGOs or GONGOs - government-organised non-governmental organisations like Suhakam. Mr Tian Chua is a Parti KeADILan Nasional (KeADILan] vice-president but is more a political activist than a politician. Saari Sungib is described as the ex-president Jemaah Islamiyah Malaysia or JIM, but does it exist or has it grown in importance as yet another shadow anti-government and fundamentalist Islamic group created in the deviously creative minds of the Royal Malaysian Police?

The two politicians amongst them are the the KeADILan Youth chief, Mr Mohamed Izham Mohamed Noor, since convicted and serving a two-year sentence for revealing classified secrets, and the Johore KeADILan youth chief, Mr Lokman Noor Adam. The sixth detainee is Dr Badrulamin Bahrom, a former lecturer at the International Islamic University. Four were released yesterday, but two - Dr Badrulamin and Mr Lokman - would have to be when their detention order expires on 12 June.

But that is not how Dato' Seri Aseh says it: "We have decided not to seek an extension of the two-year sentence against the four", but he would not comment on the fate of the other two. He puts a brave front on an indefensible position. If they had to be detained on suspicion - and it requires little for that of anyone mildly critical of the government - they should have been released within the 60 days of detention before the order is made. Malaysia does not want another black eye by not releasing the par on June 12. It has been since the Federal Court ruled on 06 September 2002 that the 60-day detention order after the four and the Free Anwar campaign director were arrested was illegal. But the Home Ministry brushed it aside as inconsequential. Then the GONGO, the Human Rights Commission, Suhakam, said so too. To put it bluntly, the matter of the Reformasi 6 was out of his hands.

The Reformasi 6 would not have been detained as long as they were in Kamunting if the campaign for their release had been more focussed. There was too much of playing to the gallery, when what was wanted was quiet diplomacy. But the urge was to reveal any foreign support that they were not forgotten. And this delayed matters. This foreign support is important, not as a debating point, but as one more point that can be argued behind closed doors. Indeed, I know of more than one private and political initiative and quiet diplomacy but they would not allow them to linked with the public call for their release.

Now it is the turn of Dato' Seri Anwar's release. The campaign for that has had several false starts, but it is done with more discretion and quiet force these days. The West Asian Islamic governments are not happy about his continued incarceration. The Saudi government had made official and unofficial representations for his releasewith what happened. Dato' Seri Anwar is still a popular figure in the Middle East. Deliberately or not, Dr Mahathir when addressing a Middle Eastern political forum last year was introduced "as the eminent Malaysian Prime Minister and an excellent friend of us all, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim". He was not, to put it mildly, amused. With the OIC summit in Putra Jaya in Octoberr, in what is to be his crowning achievement in office, could he withstand the pressures of OIC leaders, as he could not the European leaders?

More than that, Dr Mahathir's political liabilities began when he removed him as deputy prime minister in the manner he did, and so all but destroyed not only UMNO, but the cultural bond it had with the Malay community. That feeling of cultural hurt is as high as it ever was. For UMNO to survive, it must put set this right. Only Dr Mahathir can, not his successor. So, the release of the Reformasi 6 is yet another sign of what you is what is not. And does this mean Dato' Seri Anwar would be released before the OIC summit? Your guess is as good as mine.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my