Migrant Section

U.N. Commission, M’sian Deputy PM Asked to Free Human Rights Leader

BY BULATLAT.COM

An appeal has been sent to the Kuala Lumpur government and the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights to release immediately a prominent Malaysian political prisoner along with several other detainees.

In a petition sent to Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs and Mary Robertson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Migrante International asked for the release of Tian Chua, a human rights leader known to Filipino migrants, and other political prisoners who languish in various Malaysian detention centers for allegedly violating that country’s International Security Act (ISA).

The appeal was issued on April 10, marking the one-year arrest and imprisonment of Tian Chua.

Tian was arrested along with nine other pro-reform activists last year by the Inspector-General Police for alleged involvement in a plot to “overthrow” the Mahathir government. Migrante said however that no evidence was shown to prove police charges and that for two months, he was interrogated on his involvement in his political party and human rights NGOs.

Educated in Australia and The Netherlands, Tian was elected to head the Coalition for Peoples Democracy in 1998 – the same year he won a special award honoring his work in defense of human rights from Malaysia’s National Human Rights Society.

Joining the National Justice Party (KeADILan), he helped fight for the Malaysian people’s democratic rights and against corruption in government. Migrante said that Tian was arrested in August 2000 and was so badly beaten up by police that he had to be hospitalized.

In his second arrest in April last year, police invoked ISA which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

Tian was held in solitary confinement in a secret police cell for two months before he was sent to the infamous Kamunting Detention Centre for a two-year confinement on orders by the home minister, Badawi.

Former political prisoners in Malaysia have testified to being subjected to torture, including sleep deprivation, round-the-clock interrogation, solitary confinement, being stripped naked, and threats of physical harm to families including children.

As a human rights worker, Tian fought for the rights and welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Malaysia and in other countries where he has been. In 1997, he assisted Marie Fe Ocampo, a Filipino domestic in Malaysia who was reportedly raped by Croatian Ambassador Znidaric. He helped form the Justice for Maria Fe Ocampo Solidarity Committee which fought for Ocampo’s rights to stay in Malaysia so she could pursue justice.

Migrante has appealed to all freedom-leaving peoples to join the protest against repression in Malaysia. It also asked that the ISA be repealed. Bulatlat.com

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