Fan Yew Teng(l978), op cit., p 24

of a suspect through insufficient evidence to commit him was not guaranteed* The prosecutor could invoke Clause 21 of the Essential(Security Cases) Re­

gulations to recommit the suspect for trial. This clause allowed the evi­

dence of prosecution witnesses to he heard in camera in the absence of the

accused and even his counsel"}”^ Prosecution witnesses could be protected

from being identified either by wearing hoods(appearance) or elect to have

their evidence relayed by an interpreter(voice). The government justified

evidence in camera so as to encourage as many witnesses as possible to tes­ tify without the fear of reprisal. The D.A.P. charged that this would in fact encourage informers and accent provocateurs to incriminate innocent persons by resorting to perjury and even blackmail, since their credibility

102

could not be effectively challenged. It further claimed that the jury

and even assessors(as in the case of trials under the 1949 Emergency) were abolished, leaving the judge to be the sole arbiter of the outcome of the

trial. If and when the accused failed to prove his innocence(and the D.A.P.

submitted that this was more than likely under the prevailing circumstances), the judge was pressured to impose the maximum mandatory sentence, i.e. the

death penalty. If for some reason the maximum sentence was not imposed,

the prosecutor was thus likely to appeal}*^ The chances of a successful appeal in favour of the prosecutor were very much higher than the accused

appealing against the maximum sentence. This was because the traditional

appeal to the court of last resort, the Privy Council, had been abolished.

tution reads:"where a person is arrested and not released, he shall without unreasonable delay, and in any case

within 24 hours(excluding the time of any necessa­

ry journey) be produced before a magistrate and shall not be further detained in custody without the

magistrate's authority". Op. cit.

101. Ibid, p. 187-

102. Ibid, p. 188

By t h i s th e D.A.P. im p lie d t h a t th e M alay sian J u d i c i a r y was B iased to w ard s th e governm ent}0^

In v o ic in g i t s o b je c tio n s to th e E .3 .R ., th e D .A .P. was a ls o show­ i n g i t s co n cern o v er th e a r b i t r a r y d e te n t io n powers o f th e I .S .A . Two o f i t s members, N a tio n a l T r e a s u r e r , Chan Kok K it and th e M.P. f o r B atu G ajah, Chian Heng K ai, w ere d e ta in e d t o g e th e r w ith A bdullah Ahmad, A bdullah M ajid , Tan.Kwee Shen and Kassim Ahmad u n d er th e I .S .A . on 3rd November 1976* f o r

a l l e g e d l y b e in g d e l i b e r a t e l y o r unknow ingly, d i r e c t l y o r i n d i r e c t l y , i n v o l ­ ved i n a c t i v i t i e s w h ic h (in th e g o v e rn m e n t's o p in io n ) could be re g a rd e d as a s s i s t i n g th e advancement o f th e Communist U n ited F ro n t (C .U .F .)} ° ^ The g o v e rn m e n t's m otive i n d e t a i n i n g th e above-m entioned i n d i v i d u a l s was to h i g h l i g h t th e g ra .v ity o f communist s u b v e rs io n th ro u g h i n f i l t r a t i o n . T h is

a f f e c t e d even th e p a r t i e s and in d i v i d u a l s who w ere u n l i k e l y t o be in f lu e n c e d by communist pro p ag an d a. Except f o r Kassim Ahmad, th e Chairman of P .S .R .M ., whom th e governm ent re g a rd e d as h a v in g s tr o n g M a r x is t- L e n in is t te n d e n c ie s , th e o th e r s w ere i n th e government o r component p a r t i e s o f th e N .F. Abdul­ la h Ahmad and A bdullah M ajid were b o th d ep u ty M in is te r s and Tan Kwee Shen was th e E x e c u tiv e S e c r e ta r y o f th e M .C.a}0^ In d e t a i n i n g th e ab o v e-m entioned i n d i v i d u a l s , th e governm ent gave th e im p re s sio n t h a t i t d id n o t d is c r i m i n a t e a g a in s t anyone th e n d e a li n g w ith communist s u b v e r s io n , even government

10

4

. Fan Yew T e n g (l9 7 § ), op. c i t . , p .

25

. Fan s t a t e d t h a t t h i s was l i k e l y to o ccu r b ecau se th e J u d i c i a r y was u n d e r p r e s ­ s u r e from th e governm ent to to e i t s l i n e . I t was a lle g e d t h a t Dr. M a h a th ir, th e Deputy Prim e M in is t e r , gave a t h i n l y v e i l e d t h r e a t a t th e end o f 1977 t h a t th e J u d i c i a r y sh o u ld n o t a tte m p t t o f o r c e i t s viev/s on th e l e g i s l a t u r e o th e rw is e i t co u ld fa c e a d v e rse consequen­ c e s . T his was in re s p o n se to some ju d g es o p p o sin g th e E .S .R .

10

5

. New S t r a i t s T im es, 5 th F e b ru a ry , 1977« See sp eech by th e I . G . P . , Tan S r i H a n iff Omar on communist s u b v e rsio n and th e j u s t i f i c a t i o n o f th e a r r e s t o f th e above-m entioned in d i v i d u a l s .

106. For d e t a i l s o f th e a r r e s t , see K .D as,"P u rg e from W ith in " , F a r E a s t­ e rn Economic R eview , 1 2 th November, 1976. For d e t a i l s o f th e con-

ministers. The D.A.P. however attributed the detention of its 2 members to a consequence of intra-party fighting in U.H.N.O. Lim Kit Siang stated that both Chan and Chian were sacrificial victims of this, in the same way that he had been detained for 18 months under the I.S.A. shortly after the

1969

radial riot. He denied that both had been involved in the activities of the C.U.F., either directly or indirectly and held that the real reaaon for their detention was their consistent advocacy of Chinese educational issues(which,according to the D.A.P., were lawful and constitutional) from

107

1971 to 1976. This was in response to the I.G.P.’s address on television on

4

th February 1977 dealing with communist subversion and the confessions of all the detainees except Kassim Ahmad. Lim Kit Siang claimed that the I.G.P.'s address had inferred that both Chan and Chian had confessed their involvement with the C.U.F. privately because they wished to continue with their political activities on their release. According to him, this was

an attempt to smear the integrity of both men. He therefore challenged the government to either prove that both men had in fact been involved in C.U.F. activities or release them unconditionally. His challenge was pre­ dictably ignored.

The D.A.P.'s inconsistent stand over the I.S.A. made it very vul­ nerable to charges that it practised double standards. Before the

1969

fessions of Abdullah Ahmad and Abdullah Llaiid, see K.Das, "Switching on the Confessions", F.E.E.R., 18th February, 1977* For Tan's

confession, see K.Das,"The Subtle Art of Subversion", F.S.E.R., 26th February, 1977* For Kassim Ahmad's detention and earlier harrass- ment, see Fan Yew Teng,"Torture and Ill-treatment of political pri­

soners in Malaysia",

AI.IPO Japan Asia Quarterly Review, Yol. XI No.

4

, 1979, PP- 12-7.

107

. See Parliamentary speech,"Chian Heng Kai and Chan Kok Kit: Detention under I.S.A." in Lim Kit Siangan.cit.,op. 202-6 for full details. To persistent D.A.P. calls forlineir release, the Home Affairs M i ­ nister, Ghazali Shafie explained that both men had, in accordance to the laws of the country, been given several opportunities to de­ fend themselves. They had been brought before a Review Board _■

g e n e r a l e l e c t i o n s , th e D .A .P. had i n f a c t s u p p o rte d th e I .S .A . as shown i n 108

th e 1967 S etap ak D e c la r a tio n . A cceptance o f th e I .S .A . was d i c t a t e d by h i s t o r i c a l t i e s w ith th e P .A .P . w hich had n o t o n ly s u p p o rte d th e p r o v i s i o n s ,

109

b u t had s i m i l a r ones i n S in g a p o re . The D .A .P .'s p o s i t i o n s u b se q u e n tly changed w ith th e d e te n t io n o f Lim K it S ia n g f o r 18 months a f t e r th e 1969 r a c i a l r i o t . At th e 1971 D.A.P. C onggress, Lim K it S ia n g condemned th e I .S .A . in M a la y sia . Though he d id n o t d i r e c t l y condemn th e I .S .A . i n S in ­ g a p o re , he c a l l e d f o r th e r e l e a s e o f th e "O p eratio n Cold S to r e " d e ta in e e s

( s i n c e 1963) S a id Z a h a ri, Dr. Lim Hock Siew, Dr. Poh Soo Kai and Ho P i a o l ^ K it S i a n g 's c r i t i c s i n t e r p r e t e d t h i s as th e D .A .P .(o r a t l e a s t K it S ian g )

s t i l l s u p p o r tin g th e I .S .A . i n S in g a p o re . They ap p eared v i n d i c a t e d when t h e D.A .P. S e c re ta r y -G e n e ra l c a l l e d f o r th e P .A .P .'s r e -a d m is s io n to th e S o c i a l i s t I n t e r n a t i o n a l ( S . I . ) a t a m e etin g i n Tokyo in Ja n u a ry 1978» a f t e r th e P .A .P . had been e x p e lle d f o r a l l e g e d l y v i ö l a t i n g human r i g h t s u n d er th e I .S .A . K it S ia n g s t a t e d t h a t S in g a p o re ’ s d e te n tio n - v /ith o u ^ b - tr ia l law s w ere n e c e s s a r y owing to th e t h r e a t o f m i l i t a n t communism on th e i s l a n d . Pie added t h a t cu rb s on S in g a p o r e 's abuse o f i t s d e t e n t i o n - w i t h o u t - t r i a l powers co u ld be more e f f e c t i v e l y m eted o u t w ith S in g ap o re i n s i d e th e S . I .

112

r a t h e r th a n o u ts id e i t . T his s ta te m e n t p r e c i p i t a t e d some c o n fu s io n i n th e D .A .P .' s ra n k s , le a d in g t o th e r e s i g n a t i o n o f Fan Yew Teng who had been a c t i v e l y cam paigning o v e rs e a s a g a in s t r e p r e s s io n i n b o th M a la y sia and S in g a -

on 6t h and 1 2 th O cto b er, 1978» So f a r th e l a t t e r was s t i l l n o t s a ­ t i s f i e d t h a t th e y w ere no lo n g e r s e c u r i t y r i s k s and t h e r e f o r e could n o t r e l e a s e them. New S t r a i t s T im es, 6t h December, 1978.

108. See Item 8 in Appendix A.

109. See l e t t e r to th e F a r E a s te rn Economic Review, 3 1 st M arch, 1978 by an ex-D .A .P. member in Penang.

110. Lira K it S ian g , o p . c i t . , p . xxx.

111. See D .A .P .'s l e tte r ," A b u s e o f d e te n tio n p ow ers", to th e F a r E a s te rn Economi c Review , 24t h F e b ru a ry , 1978, pp. 6-7.-

pore, as manifested, by the excessive detention powers of the I.S.a} ^ In his letter of resignation, Fan had. accused Lim Kit Siang of condemning re­ pression in Malaysia while condoning it in Singapore by his support of Sin­ gapore's re-admission to the S . Lim Kit Siang tried to clarify the D.A.P.'s position to refute Fan's charges. He held that the D.A.P.'s call to the S.I. to re-admit the P.A.P. did not depart from its official stand in opposing the I.S.A. in both countries. The D.A.P. had proposed an Asso­ ciation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) commission on human rights to end detention-without-trial laws in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indone­ sia and the Philippines in the Parliamentary debate on 24th March, 1978*1** However this appeared unconvincing to many of its critics, who, in the ab­ sence of a direct D.A.P. condemnation of the I.S.A. in Singapore,publicly, considered this a generalisation on Kit Siang's part and in no way reflected

In document The Democratic Action Party in post-1969 Malaysian politics : the strategy of a determined opposition (Page 88-97)