We refer to the Malaysiakini report Rais hopeful of release of two M'sians in Guantanamo .

The Abolish ISA Movement (AIM) is annoyed by the statement from Foreign Minister Rais Yatim that:

‘The government is hopeful that two of its citizens being held at the Guantanamo Bay camp will be released and sent home after Barack Obama is sworn in as US president’.

He also added that, ‘No charges have been brought against them (Mohamad Farik Amin and Mohammed Nazir Lep), and this is worse than the ISA (Internal Security Act)’.

What is it worse than the ISA? Until today, not even a single ISA detainee has been charged. What did the minister mean by ‘it is worse than ISA?’ Doesn’t this show that the minister agrees that ISA is a law which denies trial and it is a draconian law?

We wish to call upon the minister to stop practicing double standards. We wish to point out to the minister and the government that the Kamunting detention camp in Malaysia is no better than the Guantanamo Bay camp.

Many are detained arbitrarily and without trial under the ISA for so many years. Calling for the release of the two Guantanamo Bay detainees while on the other hand denying the right to a trial for the ISA detainees here only exposes the government’s hypocrisy.

Currently there are five alleged JI (Jemaah Islamiyyah) detainees who have been held under the ISA for seven years.

They are Yazid Sufaat, Suhaimi Mokhtar, Abdullah Daud, Mat Sah Mohd Satray and Shamsuddin Sulaiman. Many more have been held for between two to six years.

Just like those held in Guantanamo Bay, the Kamunting detainees have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention without trial, with the conditions of their detention kept well away from the eyes of the public.

Practicing arbitrary arrest and detention without trial using an anachronistic law which was formulated for the Emergency many decades ago only disgraces Malaysia in the eyes of the world.

Setting up a special camp (Kamunting) with the aim of among others concealing the terrible conditions of their detention from the public eye and systematically inflicting torture on the detainees, serves to further damage the country’s reputation and confirms the belief that such laws inevitably lead to abuse.

We therefore call upon the government to charge the ISA detainees or otherwise free them. Failure to do so will lead the people to conclude that the government is practicing double standards.

On what grounds can the Malaysian government demand for a fair trial for the Guantanamo Bay camp detainees if it can’t put things rights in its own country?

The writer is attached to the Abolish ISA Movement secretariat.