Suhakam (Human Rights Commission) wants the last remaining nine Internal Security Act detainees in the country, released as soon as possible as "there are no rational grounds to continue holding them indefinitely without trial".
This will be the recommendation that Suhakam vice-chairperson Simon Sipaun and commissioner N Siva Subramaniam will be making to the federal government soon in a report.
Besides the ISA Detainees Review Board, Suhakam can also make recommendations to the government on behalf of ISA detainees and visit them periodically.
"Three of them - a Bangladeshi, a Pakistani and a Thai - should have been brought to trial in an open court or deported straight away," said Sipaun after a visit yesterday to the Kamunting Detention Centre for ISA detainees and the Taiping Prison.
"But this was not done for some reason and they have been incarcerated for nearly two years."
Sipaun said that they should have been charged in an open court based on their alleged crime which was falsification of documents.Sipaun does not rule out the possibility that there might not be sufficient evidence to charge the three foreigners in an open court.
In that case, they should not have been held at all but simply deported, he added.
"Why hold them for no rhyme or reason? What public or national interest is served by continuing to hold them? As a deterrent to others? That's not the way to go about it."
'Too lazy to prosecute'
Again, Sipaun does not rule out another possibility - that "the authorities in fact might be too lazy to bring them to court".
This happened in a similar case in Sabah several years ago when seven people - including employees of the National Registration Department and Umno - were held under the ISA, he added, for being involved in the fraudulent issuance of the MyKad and other Malaysian personal documents to illegal immigrants.
"They were not charged either, although all the evidence was reportedly there, and instead they were simply locked up under the ISA and released after two years.
One Filipino ISA detainee, an illegal immigrant, was deported.
He's now back in Sabah and came to see us to complain that the authorities are withholding his MyKad and that of his family members."
The Filipino was told by the NRD, according to the complaint lodged with Suhakam, that the department "cannot release his and family members' MyKad as he has been held under the ISA".
The episode has been duly recorded in the 2008 Suhakam annual report.
In the case of the Pakistani, Sipaun finds it odd that he has been charged with falsification of documents.
He was given to understand the man is illiterate. The question that arises is how an illiterate man was able to falsify documents despite this obvious handicap.
'Mas Selamat prefers Malaysia'
Two other foreigners who got the visiting Suhakam team's attention were a Sri Lankan and Mas Selamat Kastari, a Singaporean member of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
He escaped from detention in the republic and was nabbed in Johor on April 1 after being on the run for two months from the authorities in both countries.
The interview notes on the Sri Lankan were with Suhakam officials who accompanied the two commissioners and Sipaun could not elaborate on the matter.
"Mas Selamat (left) is an interesting case and I spent 30 minutes of our two-hour visit with him," said Sipaun.
"He does not deny that he's a member of Jemaah Islamiah."
Mas Selamat has been accused by Singaporean authorities of planning to bomb the Changi International Airport and carry out other attacks in the republic.
He did not mention these allegations to Sipaun. However, he has plenty of complaints about his detention in Singapore.
He prefers to remain in Malaysia which apparently refuses to hand him over to the authorities there.
Presumably in retaliation, the Singapore authorities refuse to allow his family members to visit him.
They have also confiscated their travel documents and they are also reportedly being watched around the clock.
"Although Mas Selamat did not mention the various allegations made against him by the Singapore authorities, he did say that he must fight for democracy and freedom, in accordance to his beliefs.
He claimed he was drugged in S'pore
"Both these conditions are absent in Singapore, according to Mas Selamat," said Sipaun.
Mas Selamat complained to Sipaun during his interview that he never felt normal during his entire detention in Singapore.
He suspects that the authorities there must have been administering drugs to him through his food ever since he was detained.
Mas Selamat said he did not know why the Singapore authorities kept "drugging" him, if that was what they did.
He suspects that it might have been to make him talk or to tell them what they believe to be the truth.
In any case, he always felt dizzy, and tried to eat as little of the food as possible and escaped at the very first opportunity that he got in February.
According to media reports, he climbed out through a toilet window in his high security prison and swam across the Johor Straits to Malaysia.
Mas Selamat did not go into the details of his escape but Sipaun is sure that the Malaysian authorities know all about this by now and other things as well.
Sipaun does not know what will become of Mas Selamat in time to come.
The remaining four detainees held under the ISA, all Malaysians, have also been accused of being members of JI.
They include three detainees who were held just a month ago.
Mentally challenged among those detained
Two of these detainees have two wives each.
One of these men has 17 children and both his wives are not working, forcing the families to depend on the generousity of neighbours, friends and strangers for their daily survival.
The first of the four Malaysian detainees has been under ISA detention for the last seven years.
He has lost all contact with his family. No one comes to visit him.
Sipaun could not interview him during his visit since he ran into a toilet and locked himself in and refused to come out.
"From what we can gather, he seems to be under a lot of stress," said Sipaun.
"I suspect that he must be a mental case by now. I wonder why he's being left alone just like that.
His medical condition should be evaluated and proper treatment given.
"It's bad enough that his family doesn't visit him. On top of that, he has been in detention for seven years."
A strange discovery
On why this particular detainee has been in detention so long, Sipaun made a strange discovery.
Apparently, he refuses to sing the national anthem and so the ISA Detainees Review Board has declined to recommend him for release.
"How can a man who is not in his right mind sing anything?" asks Sipaun.
"Even if he can sing and refuses, that should not be held against him to deprive him of his right to freedom and personal liberty."
Sipaun also wonders how many Malaysians can really sing the national anthem in full or even partly.
All nine ISA detainees are being held in six huge dormitories.
Two the Malaysian detainees are being held in the first dormitory, the second dormitory holds Mas Selamat and another Malaysian detainee, the last dormitory holds the Malaysian detainee who has been held seven years, the third dormitory holds the Pakistani and Thai, the fourth dormitory the Bangladeshi and the fifth dormitory the Sri Lankan.
The Kamunting Detention Centre also holds about 300 prisoners.
The Suhakam team didn't visit them, having already visited the Taiping Prison earlier in the day.
The Taiping Prison, which will get a thumbs-up in the Suhakam report, has space for 700 prisoners but currently holds a little over 600.
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