Suhakam has dishonoured its undertaking to conduct an inquiry into the ISA detention of the reformasi six by narrowing and restricting  it to the visitation rights of their family and lawyers and their detention conditions  

(Petaling Jaya,  Thursday): Suhakam has dishonoured its undertaking to conduct an inquiry into the Internal Security Act (ISA) detention of the reformasi six, Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Nor, Hishamuddin Rais, Chua Tian Chang, Saari Sungib, Badrulamin Bahron and Lokman Noor Adam by narrowing  and restricting it to the visitation rights of their family and lawyers and their detention conditions.  

The Suhakam undertaking in its statement of 17^th April 2002 to conduct an inquiry into their  ISA detention was one of the four reasons given by the reformasi six  to end their 11-day anniversary hunger strike protest against their ISA detention.’  

Suhakam  commissioner Prof Mohd Hamdan Adnan, who heads the Complaints and Inquiries Working Group, told radiqradio on Tuesday and Malaysiakini yesterday that Suhakam at its second meeting on Monday decided to conduct an inquiry into the conditions of detention, such as the  visitation rights of the families and lawyers and the medical treatment  of the reformasi six, and that the inquiry would be launched once the Suhakam deputy chairman Tan Sri Harun Hashim returns to Malaysia from abroad.  

The Suhakam statement of 17^th April 2002  had committed Suhakam to  an inquiry into the detention of the reformasi six under the ISA based on the memorandum it had received calling for their immediate release, apart from drawing attention to their detention conditions. 

To narrow and restrict the Suhakam inquiry merely to investigate their visitation rights and detention conditions, including medical treatment, is a mockery of the Suhakam commitment in its statement of 17^th April to conduct an inquiry into their ISA detention and underscores the  increasing irrelevance of Suhakam to discharge its statutory duties to “protect” and promote human rights.  

It is a travesty of its statutory mandate to “protect and promote human rights”: when Suhakam  confined itself to the narrow ambit of looking into the visitation rights and detention conditions of the six  ISA detainees instead of the larger issue of their ISA detention. 

Although Suhakam is barred by the Suhakam Act from inquiring into any matter which is the subject matter of any legal proceedings, the pending habeas corpus appeal of the reformasi six on the legality of their ISA detentions should not preclude Suhakam from inquiring into the human rights aspects of their ISA detentions – and the Suhakam inquiry into the Kesas Highway Incident is a good precedent.

I note that the Suhakam statement of April 11, 2001 (“4-11” decision)  that the ISA is “a fundamental human rights violation” and calling for the immediate release of the ISA reformasi six has been quietly put up  on the press statement page of the Suhakam  website  (http://www.suhakam.org.my/press_statement.htm) after I had queried last Friday whether the absence of the April 11, 2001 statement was tantamount to a repudiation - or repudiation-to-come - of the “4-11” decision.     

Why is Suhakam’s statement of April 17, 2002  that it would conduct an inquiry into the ISA detention of the reformasi six not on the Suhakam website? 

It is disappointing that after the Suhakam’s first working meeting on Monday, the Suhakam Chairman Tan  Sri Abu Talib Othman has yet to clarify whether he would adhere to the  “4-11” Suhakam decision that the ISA is a violation of  fundamental human rights and that the reformasi six should be released immediately.  

In view of its “4-11” decision, Suhakam should not narrow and restrict its inquiry to the detention conditions but conduct a full and comprehensive inquiry as to whether the ISA detention of the reformasi six constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights which Suhakam is statutorily obliged to “protect”. 

(23/5/2002)