A father making his way to his ill daughter at Univeristy Hospital today.
By
Debra Chong and Edward Cheah, themalaysianinsider.com
PETALING JAYA, Feb 13 – Kota Alam Shah state lawmaker M Manoharan who is detained two years under the Internal Security Act (ISA) has been allowed out to visit his only daughter in hospital today.
Manoharan arrived at the pediatric section in the University Hospital (UH) close to 3pm and was immediately escorted into the children’s ward.
The doors were closed and locked instantly, barring the media from following inside.
Manoharan was not handcuffed.
He looked visibly thinner after over a year spent behind the high security walls of the ISA Detention Centre in Kamunting, Perak.
Despite that, he was neatly dressed in a white shirt, with its sleeves rolled up over dark trousers and shoes. He also sported a trim beard.
He did not address the reporters, and only directed a very brief question about the stability of the Selangor state government to DAP Seri Kembangan assemblyman, Ean Yong Hian Wah.
Reporters were later told Manoharan would be allowed to spend two hours with his daughter.
The daughter, 11-year-old Shivaranjini, was admitted early yesterday morning, about 1am, after complaining of having trouble breathing, her mother S Pushpaneela, 47, told reporters outside her ward here earlier this afternoon.
Pusphaneela added that the doctors told her Shivaranjini’s blood pressure was very high, “equivalent to an adult’s”.
“Her blood pressure is 135,” Pushpaneela said, but did not explain what it meant.
Although Pushpaneela said her daughter’s condition is stable for now, she continues to worry for Shivaranjini’s health.
“There’s something not right with her. The doctor will tell me after the blood test,” Pushpaneela told reporters in a calm voice.
She related how Shivaranjini shares the tightest bond with her father, among the three children (there are two boys) and seemed to take be hardest hit following Manoharan’s detention under the ISA in late 2007 for leading a mass street rally in Kuala Lumpur demanding rights for the ethnic Indian community in Malaysia.
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| A short reunion... ISA detainee M Manoharan, the Hindraf leader, holding his daughter Shivaranjini who was warded in University Hospital. Looking on is his wife Pushpaneela who has been running his service centre in Kota Alam Shah while Manoharan continues his detention in Kamunting, Perak. That was this afternoon. By now Manoharan would have been transported back to his cell up north. >Read More |
The daughter was most upset after learning an appeal for her father’s release was dismissed by the Federal Court two days ago.
“She saw on TV... that detention remains,” Pushpaneela recounted.
Shivaranjini suffered breathing difficulties thereafter.
The family last saw Manoharan at the weekly scheduled meeting in Kamunting last Sunday.
Special Branch later relented and allowed one reporter to enter the children’s ward and observe the family reunion for a few minutes.
The reporter — from The Star — later shared that father and daughter were affectionate to each other. The meeting was expected to be emotional in lieu of the court decision and Shivaranjini’s hospital admission.
Asked how she felt to see her father again, Shivaranjini said: “I feel happy but sad.”
The lone reporter related that her doctor informed the family that the child’s breathing difficulties were induced by “emotional pressure”.
Manoharan said that his daughter often broke-down whenever they spoke on the telephone.
“I’m also emotionally affected by it,” he was reported saying.
He drew a stark example about his daughter; when she on December 6 last year travelled alone from their home in Selangor to Kamunting Detention Centre, in Perak— without informing her mother.
Manoharan said he is planning another appeal for a writ of habeas corpus on grounds that as an elected official, he must be allowed to carry out his duty to “serve the people”.
He said he was extremely upset that the appeal for a review for the release of the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders from ISA had been rejected recently.
He noted that the Selangor state legislative assembly will sit for their second term on March 10.
He hopes the government will allow him to serve the people in his constituency this time, after missing the first one last year.
“My wife is shouldering all the responsibility. My family is in disarray. And my constituency is in a limbo,” Manoharan told The Star, adding “I’ve yet to see my constituency until today.”
Manoharan was escorted out from the children’s ward at 5pm.
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