Two Faces (Detention Without Trial)
By Dr Syed Husin Ali
INSAN, Malaysia, 1996, 169pp.
Order from INSAN, 11, Jalan 11/4E, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Review by Eva Cheng
Since 1960, the Malaysian government has used a tool of extreme social control — the Internal Security Act (ISA) — which allows it to arrest anyone on "suspicion" of being a security threat (the ISA definition of such a threat is absolute) and detain them indefinitely, without trial.
This legislation, which is designed to terrorise, is used today, at times with massive arrests. Some people have been detained for more than 15 years.
One such wave of arrests took place in late 1974, in the midst of massive protests against the increasing destitution resulting from worldwide recession, reinforced by Malaysia's ex-colonial economic structure.
University lecturer Syed Husin Ali was among those detained. He spent six years in jail, in humiliating conditions. He was released in 1980 following an Australia-based international campaign for his release. Two Faces is Husin Ali's account of those six years.
This detailed account paints a vivid picture of what Husin Ali went through. From the physical condition of the jails, as well as the lies, manipulation and torture inflicted by the interrogators, one gets a clear idea of how the whole ISA mechanism works to break prisoners' body and will.
Husin Ali's "crime" was speaking out against the social inequalities in Malaysia and addressing students who rose up around the country in solidarity with the protesting peasants in Baling in November 1974. Husin Ali's involvement in the socialist party PSRM (Partai Sosialis Rakyat Malaya), of which he was a central committee member from 1967, didn't seem to help, but it did not form part of the official charge.
Referring to his words at a campus forum, the charge against Husin Ali stated, "You alleged that the Government economic system had exacerbated the suppression of the Malays of the 'lower class' by those of the 'upper class'. You also accused the Government of pursuing a suppressive policy against people who opposed its policies and system. Your irresponsible and inimical utterances are obviously designed to instil the spirit of 'class struggle' to the audience aimed at bringing the Government's downfall by revolutionary means."
The ISA was introduced by the Malaysian government as a weapon against the "threat of communism", but it is actually used to crack down on even the mildest forms of social dissent and to suppress political opponents, within or outside the ruling parties. For example, attempts were made to get Husin Ali to implicate some senior members of UMNO (the dominant party in the ruling coalition), including Malaysia's current prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad.
Husin Ali's account ends at 1980, when he was released. The preface and the appendices give only a brief idea of the Baling and related protests which led to his detention. The book does not attempt to situate those developments in late 1974 in the broader context of Malaysian society, nor, probably for security reasons, does it cover current political developments in Malaysia.
But Husin Ali's political involvement continues. He resigned as professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of Malaya in 1990 "to concentrate full time in politics" and is currently the president of the Malaysian People's Party (Parti Rakyat Malaysia, PRM — the new name of the PSRM).
He was the organiser of the second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor in Kuala Lumpur in 1996, which was violently disrupted by UMNO thugs. Husin Ali was among more than 24 Malaysians who were detained for their role in that conference.
Husin Ali is a founding member of the recently formed Asia Pacific Institute and has agreed to be a keynote speaker at the API's Asia Pacific solidarity conference, to be held in Sydney at Easter 1998.
For further information on Malaysia, Tangled Web is also useful. This book, published by the Committee Against Repression in the Pacific and Asia, focuses on a wave of arrests under the ISA in October 1987 against social, environmental and community activists, in the context of similar arrests in Singapore around that time. Tangled Web is available for $6 at Resistance Bookshops (see page 2 for addresses).