When I read those words from Raja Petra Kamarudin as published on the Malaysian Insider, tears well in my eyes. Detention under ISA can be indefinite, and the detainees’ existence can indeed vanish in the memory of the outside world. Many Malaysians, myself included, have been the happy consumer of truth supplied by RPK. We deplored one government scandal after another, exposed through RPK’s news portal Malaysia-Today. We cheered him on when he criticised the Bad Guys to our heart’s content. In fact majority of Malaysians are still reminiscing the historic change of March 8, forgetting that RPK is one brave loving Malaysian who should be accorded large part of the credit. What about those first-time opposition MPs who got a big boost in their election campaign when they had RPK as their guest speaker? RPK was the ’swinger’ of March 8, no doubt about it.
And when RPK had to utter those words from Kamunting Detention Centre, it is only fair for us to ask ourselves “what have we done when RPK is taken away by the tyrant called Barisan Nasional?” At a minimum, you can
write RPK a postcard and address it to “YM Raja Petra Kamarudin, Tempat Tahanan Perlindungan,
34600 Kamunting, Taiping. Perak“. (We can only pray hard that the prison officers do not just bin the cards.) In fact, do anything that will bring to his attention that he is never forgotten by us, us who are still enjoying the freedom and continue to search for truth in his absence.
Next, involve yourself with the various campaigns launched by various groups of concerned citizens and supporters of RPK. The campaigns are to create awareness and focus people’s attention of the injustice against RPK and 60 or so other ISA detainees. We have people shaving their head and even a nicely done-up leaflet is prepared. Participate in candle light vigils that are organised across the country. Sign the online petition demanding release of ISA detainees. And a few other ideas as well. Many ideas are not mutually exclusive so you can take part in as many as possible. A good starting point is the guide at Malaysia-Today.
Finally, an adaption of Martin Niemöller’s poem “First they came”:
In Malaysia, they came first for the Malaysia-Today blogger, And I did not speak up because I was not a blogger;
And then they came for the Sin-Chew journalist, And I did not speak up because I was not a journalist;
And then they came for the Sassy MP, And I did not speak up because I was not an MP;
And then … they came for me … And by that time there was no one left to speak up.
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