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| Friday April 27 Kassim Ahmad - second thoughts on Second University James Wong Wing On 12:23pm, Fri: Dr Mahathir's premiership began with a great liberal hope on July 16, 1981, when he took over from the then ailing Tun Hussein Onn. On the day he assumed office, he made a statement: "We have not forgotten them. We will re-study their cases." The ‘they’ to which Dr Mahathir referred to was a batch of Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees who included, among others, Kassim Ahmad who quoted Quranic verses a few days ago on Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) to justify the existence of ISA. Some of his friends are shocked. Although I do not know Kassim Ahmad very well personally and only met him face-to-face once or twice casually, I too, am dismayed by his complete, unprincipled and even disgraceful turn-around on the issue of ISA 20 years after his release. When Kassim Ahmad was released from ISA detention on July 30, 1981 by the new 2M (Mahathir and Musa) administration, I was only studying in sixth form. From afar, I then really respected Kassim Ahmad because unlike others, he never appeared on TV to make any ‘confession’. He stuck to his principle that he was innocent of all the allegations against him which have never been proven in any open court until today. He was arrested on Nov 3, 1976. In 1984, when I was studying at the Monash University in Melbourne, I somehow got hold of Kassim Ahmad's book ‘The Second University - Detention under the ISA’ (Media Intelek, Petaling Jaya, 1984). Spiritual well-being I read it fervently and repeatedly. I still keep that book. Although it is now very yellowish due to the merciless passing of time, the book’s price written in pencil is still discernible. It cost RM6.90 then. Re-reading ‘The Second University - Detention under the ISA’ by Kassim Ahmad the day after he quoted Quranic verses to justify the recent spate of ISA detentions made me worry about the spiritual well-being of the now unfettered 67-year-old Kassim Ahmad. According to the introduction at the back of the book, Kassim Ahmad was born on Sept 9, 1933 in Alor Setar, Kedah, and educated at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in the town of his birth and then at the University Malaya in Singapore. He obtained a Master's degree in Malay Studies. He also lectured for three years at the London School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He later became the president of the People's Socialist Party of Malaysia or (PSRM) which is now the People's Party of Malaysia or (PRM). Not long after his release, Kassim Ahmad left the party. By page four of his book, Kassim Ahmad has already condemned the ISA as ‘monstrous’ before he proceeds to detail his sufferings, trials and tribulations. The book proper contains 146 pages. On page 18 (Chapter 3), Kassim Ahmad laments that the police officers who searched his house ‘did not understand literature’ because they took away a book titled ‘War and Peace’ authored by Leo Tolstoy whom the former describes as ‘a well-known, anti-communist Russian writer’. Kassim Ahmad writes: ‘It crossed my mind then that they did not understand literature ... I continued observing the officers searching my study with pity for their ignorance, but I also regretted that such a system had also made us all ignorant of many things.’ I don't know whether Kassim Ahmad was referring to the system of education, or the system of police training. Solitary confinement Chapter 4 (pp.21-22) is headlined ‘Hell 1' and its first section, ‘The Journey to Hell’. On page 29, Kassim Ahmad records a very enlightening ‘dialogue’ with an interrogation officer, one DSP Noordin: ‘That is why you are placed in solitary confinement in the cell,’explained DSP Noordin, ‘so that you can recall the wrongdoings that you have committed.’ ‘If I have done anything wrong in the eyes of the country's law, then charge me in an open court.’ ‘This law does not require the Government to do that.’ ‘This is not fair. How can the Government punish without first proving the crime of the accused in an open court?’ I asked. ‘We cannot bring these type of cases to court because of national security. But even this - this interrogation - is a sort of court. It is up to you, Mr Kassim, to prove that you are innocent.’ ‘This is impossible!’ I replied. ‘Why impossible?’ asked one of the officers who had so far remained silent. ‘How can I prove my innocence to a court that itself accuses me?’ ‘That is up to you,’ retorted the officer, changing into a harsher tone.‘The decision is yours. If you can convince us you are innocent, you can be free.’ His statement sounded so simple, and yet it was not true.’ Brute force Section 5 of Chapter 4, which is headlined ‘Meeting with the family’, has some interesting insights about the Special Branch and its interrogation techniques as recalled by Kassim Ahmad. It is worthwhile to quote at length for public record and public knowledge: ‘The Special Branch has many tricks. The interrogation period especially, and the entire detention generally, is the period for them to break and kill your fighting spirit. The term used is 'rehabilitation' ... gentle and harsh techniques are used alternately for the purpose of 'rehabilitation' and certainly there never arises the question of what is right or wrong in the use of these techniques. If it is felt that brute force is required, then brute force is used. If not, they will only cajole you. During my interrogation I did not experience any brute force. Perhaps this was because I was always patient and polite with my interrogators. Also perhaps because I have a party and lawyers who would defend me. But if you are a worker or a peasant who does not have anybody to defend you, you will be treated harshly. There are many ways how this could be done: for example, the cold treatment, that is, you would be laid down on a 'bed of ice' with a fan blowing full blast; or you would be whipped with a candle or a rubber hose - painful but no tell-tale marks; or you would be burnt with glowing cigarettes; and many more such treatments. One of the outcomes of this 'rehabilitation' process is the 'confession' of your crime. Heaven and hell As I have mentioned, these 'rehabilitation' techniques are devoid of any moralistic considerations. There is no question of right or wrong. Nothing is sacred; thus, even your family is a fair game for them. For example, you would be taken to meet your wife or family at such as time, but they are told to come at a different time, or an hour later or not told to come at all. When you come and wait and your family never turns up, you will surely be frustrated and perhaps feel angry. Then they will say to you, your wife or your family doesn't care for you anymore and instigate you to divorce your wife! Or your wife will be visited by a police officer with the aim of wooing her and instigating her to divorce you. At one of my earlier family visits at the Jalan Bandar police station, a very sad incident happened. My mother, who was very old, came all the way from Alor Setar to visit me, but they did not allow her to see me simply on the excuse that her name was not included in the visit permit for that day.’ (pp.33-34) Kassim Ahmad makes his clearest statement on the ISA in Chapter 9 (‘A New Prime Minister’) (‘Light After the Darkness’). In page 133, he says that ‘injustice had been done to us and truth had been violated, and those responsible have to bear the consequences in this world and the hereafter.’ It is clear that at the time of writing the book, Kassim Ahmad still believed in heaven and hell as all good Muslims and Christians still do. Byzantine politics Kassim Ahmad continues: ‘To hold a wrong idea or opinion is not a mistake according to the natural law of justice; if we had committed a crime such as rebellion against the state, the crime has to be proven in a court of law. But the Internal Security Act uses the argument that since ISA has been passed by Parliament, it is a valid law. But obviously the validity of a law does not only lie in the fact that it has been passed by a legislative body. The more important consideration is: Is the law valid from the standpoint of the natural law of justice?’ (pp.133-134) The Second University - Detention under the ISA ended with these God-loving words of Kassim Ahmad: ‘So I went in, took my ablution, changed my dress and prayed. In the last prostration in my prayer I stayed prostrated for a long time, saying my gratitude and praise to God, the Lord of the worlds.’ (p.146) And so, the Mahathir epoch began with the release of a God-loving Kassim Ahmad who appealed to heaven and hell to condemn the ‘monstrous’ ISA and its injustices, but is ending with the same Kassim Ahmad who quotes Quranic verses to support the ISA he once condemned. It is another comic-tragedy in the Byzantine politics of Malaysia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JAMES WONG WING ON is a former member of parliament (1990-1995) and also a leading Mandarin-Chinese opinion writer and columnist. He read economics and political science at the Monash University in Australia from 1983 to 1986. All views expressed herein are his own, and are open to criticisms and debates. |
| Friday April 27 Why the double-standards on ISA? Dr Syed Husin Ali President, PRM 2:51pm, Fri: I refer to the article by (News Straits Times chief) Abdullah Ahmad entitled ‘Between reality and the dream of basic rights’ published in Mingguan Malaysia of April 22. Allow me to comment on the article as it mentioned me and my stand on the Internal Security Act (ISA). I do not wish to repeat here how time and again I refused offers of conditional release and the circumstances surrounding my release after being detained for almost six years. All these matters have been recounted in great detail in my book, Two Faces: Detention without Trial. I also expressed my regard for Abdullah's freedom to hold himself and Dr Kassim Ahmad amongst "those political detainees who did not waver from upholding principle: We were innocent, we were set up". But does Abdullah only uphold principle when he is himself affected? Not for others? In his article, Abdullah stresses the similarity between his outlook and that of Kassim today on the ISA. According to Abdullah, Kassim apparently "was once idolised by Dr Syed Husin Ali and his friends". I had high regard for Kassim's previous cause, and from previously I have never agreed with several of Abdullah's political positions. But, forgive me, I have never idolised Kassim, just as I have never looked on Abdullah as an enemy. According to Abdullah, the similarity between himself and Kassim is that "they vehemently opposed the abuse of the ISA for the purpose of maintaining personal power". Throughout its history, the ISA has always been used by leaders and the ruling party to maintain its power. We are again witnessing this in the recent detentions of 10 Keadilan leaders and reformasi activists. Why then does Abdullah, as Kassim, support and not oppose the use of the ISA this time around? Abdullah claimed that he and Kassim "were victimised by a group of power-hungry Umno extremists who were then in power". I agree. But doesn't he see that the recent ISA victims are also victims of a power-hungry group, more accurately one person, who currently controls the government? Naively, Abdullah asks, "how could we have threatened the country when there were no street demonstrations at the time, not to mention support from without?" Abdullah has surely not forgotten that when he was detained in July 1976 together with Kassim, A Samad Ismail and Abdullah Majid. They were accused of being pro-communist and, indirectly, of being communist agents. They were alleged to have threatened national security. They do not have to be involved in street demonstrations to be accused of threatening national security. Abdullah knows that the allegations were false. Abdullah knows that his television confession a few days after detention was based on a draft prepared by the Special Branch, after several drafts which he himself prepared had been rejected. This confession then became the charge against him and was the basis for the two-year detention order on him. Subsequently, when he retracted his confession because, he said, it was made under compulsion and on a promise that he would be released, his detention order was extended another two years - on a charge of being stubborn. Therein lies the injustice and oppressiveness of the ISA. False allegations are made out against detainees. The Special Branch has to be proven correct. The detainee is victimised in several ways (some of which were mentioned in Abdullah's article), until the detainee accepts that the SB's charges are true. Some continue to be detained after such an admission (as was Abdullah), and some not. But most of the detainees were prepared to be detained for years rather than accept the false allegations against them. That was why many were detained for more than 10 years, some up till 15 years. The 10 who were detained recently are accused of wanting street demonstrations daily in order to overthrow the government. They are also accused of wanting to use bombs, mortars, Molotov cocktails and other weaponry. Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor had lodged a police report against Utusan Malaysia for accusing him of plotting to overthrow the government. However, up till today, it is not known if the police have investigated the report. Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai says that he has information relating to the general plans of the reformasi movement, not specifically those who were detained, to use weapons. However, when asked to produce the evidence, the police have declared it confidential. If there is no specific evidence against those who have been detained, why are they still in detention? If indeed the police and the Home Ministry are in possession of evidence, why are they not using the various acts that are in existence, such as the Police Act, the Sedition Act, the Firearms Act, acts relating to treason, etc. in order to charge the detainees in court? Why are they using the ISA? Because there is no need to produce evidence and there is no need to go to court? The prime minister himself admitted that if these other laws were used, the process as well as the evidence required would be 'complicated'. So, the easiest route is to use the ISA. Does Abdullah, and those he supports, believe that the ISA and its abuse have changed? Why are they changing their stand now? Is it because those in power have awarded them higher positions and more shares? Anyone who holds to the teachings of Islam will surely know that, in Islam, sentencing or detention without trial and without evidence is wrong. The Quran teaches that when we adjudicate, it should be with justice. I believe this, too, accords with the teachings of other religions. For all such believers, this is or should be even more important than the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The leadership of this government once promised to review the ISA. But what has happened? Not only has the ISA not been reviewed, instead it has been applied even more broadly. Abdullah has attempted to raise suspicion against the detained Keadilan leaders and reformasi activists by labelling them as "heroes of foreign powers". This accusation is a long-standing one from the government leaders. Now Abdullah repeats it. What evidence does he have? Or does he just wish to parlay false accusations? Does he indeed wish to repeat the practice of the Umno leadership which put out false accusations in order to detain him? The fact is, Abdullah doesn't have a foot to stand on. Can Abdullah say if any amongst the detainees have ever helped in any American presidential campaign? Or has any of them ever worked with the Voice of America, a CIA instrument? Abdullah should look at himself. Although many know that Abdullah has committed both of these acts when he was in the United States, nevertheless no one has the right to accuse him of being an agent of American imperialism. So also, no one has the right to accuse him of being a communist agent, just because a power-hungry home minister once accused him of it. I have always regarded Abdullah's detention as unjust and all accusations against him as false, because no evidence was ever produced. So too with the recent detainees. Why does Abdullah now practice ‘double standards’? |
| Kassim Ahmad is the eldest son of three children, born on 9th September, 1933 to an Islamic religious teacher, Ahmad Ishak and housewife Ummi Kalthom Hj Ahmad, in Bukit Pinang in the district of Kota Setar, in the northern state of Kedah in Malaysia. His parents were fourth generation Malaysians who, on his father’s side, were believed to have migrated from Padang, Sumatera, and, on his mother’s side, from the Thai Malay province of Pattani. His grand-father who doubled as a religious teacher and farmer was domiciled in Seberang Perai in the state of Penang. His father married his mother, the youngest daughter of a farmer in Kedah, and lived in various village towns in Kedah in his career as a religious teacher until they settled down on a piece of land they bought in Bukit Pinang. Educational Background Having led a hard life, his parents wanted their eldest son to make good. Being a diligent and intelligent boy, Kassim easily won the praises of his teachers in both primary and secondary schools and was given many positions of responsibilty. But towards the end of his schooling, he contarcted interest in politics that turned him into a young radical, and was later to land him as head of the Malaysian socialist party and in political detention for nearly five years. However, being of an intellectual turn of mind and with a love for literature to boot, he became a famous poet in his own right and a famous, albeit controversial, writer too. Added to that, his renewed interest in Islam since around 1972, as a philosophical and scientific political thought made him sit uneasy in his party chairman’s position. He therefore resigned that position in 1984. His attempt to bring reforms into the United Malays National Organization, which he joined in 1986, failed and he quit active politics in 1992. Career and Works After leaving University, he worked for a while as a reasearch officer at the Malaysian Language and Literary Agency in Kuala Lumpur, then took a teaching post at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London for four years and then returned to Malaysia to teach in a secondary school in Penang. Being of a free spirit and not inclined to follow rules too much, his services were terminated by the school authorities in 1969 for distributing socialist party literature to his students. He became a free lance writer, translator, journalist and teacher after that and ever since. Kassim’s political and philosophical interests introduced him to the LaRouche’s political-philosophical movement in the United States, to the revolutionary Baathist Party in Iraq and to the U.S.-domiciled, Tucson-based Egyptian Quran scholar, Dr. Rashad Khalifa. He has attended conferences held by all these organizations. Kassim’s interests are diverse. Literature, politics, philosophy and religion -- these are his major interests, and he has written books and essays on them. He has been awarded the honourary Doctrate of Letters by the National University of Malaysia in 1985 and the Poetry Award of the Malaysian National Writers’ Association in 1987. His works include books on Islamic social theory (1984), on Prophetic Traditions (1986), an interesting account of his political detention (1983); and several collections of literary and political essays as well as an anthology of verses (1967). He published two major philosophical essays, one a criticism of Marxism (Dewan Bahasa, December, 1975, and another on the meaningfulness of life (Pemikir, Oct.-Dec., 1997. He has also edited several classical Malay works. Most of his works are in Malay. The work on the Prophetic Traditions, which was hotly and widely debated when it came out and for which some religious authorities pronounced him apostate, has been translated into English and Arabic (1997). He is currently working on a Malay translation of the Quran, his autobiography and on editing a new edition of the famous work of the Malay 19th century writer, Hikayat Abullah, while running the Malaysian Quranic Society of which he is the head (since 1995)as well as being the Chairman of Penang Port Workers’ Co-operative (since 1997). He likes to begin work early in the morning at three and retire to bed at 9.30 p.m. after a day’s labour of between 12 to 15 hours. Often he works seven days a week. Family and Friends In his busy schedule, he makes time for his family, with whom he discusses family and other matters on irregular on Saturday evenings. He is fond of all his five grand-children, four of whom stay in Penang, and he sees them every week when he is not out of Penang. He likes to have discussions with friends whom he invites for lunch or for after dinner coffee. His wife, Shariffah Fawziah binti Syed Yussoff Alsagoff, the daughter of a police officer in Selangor, married him in 1960 and bore him their two daughters and one son. She shares with him his world outlook and helps him with the clerical side of his work. |
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