Aliran Monthly interviewed freed ISA detainee N. Gobalakrishnan, who was detained for 50 days (from 10 April 2001) under the ISA

In person, Gobalakrishnan, a Supreme Council member of keADILan, looked much slimmer than in the photos of him prior to his arrest. Speaking softly and deliberately, he reflected on his ordeal during his detention under the ISA and the moments after his release by the High Court on 30 May 2001. In this interview, he shared with us how his acute awareness of the presence of God kept him mentally focussed despite his worst fears for the safety of his family.

Aliran Monthly: What was your most difficult moment during detention?

Gobalakrishnan: The most difficult times in detention were the thoughts about my family when I was told about my family... Because I knew what my situation was but I was completely cut off from the rest of the world. Only the interrogators were in touch with me and I didn’t know what was happening outside, to the extent, the interrogators told me that my family didn’t want me, my wife didn’t want me and my children never asked about me and that my family did not want to have the family visit even though the police, the interrogators said that they insisted that the family visit me. All these were lies.

My family outside - they were fighting to get a chance to meet me. For 47 days, the police denied my family this right. One of the senior interrogation officers mentioned that during my two years of ISA detention, he would be taking care of my wife. I think what he meant was I would not be accessible to my family and I couldn’t get any news to my family of all the wrongdoings and bad things said by them. So that created fear in me because I didn’t know what was going to happen to my family next. The worst thing was the fear about my family because I knew that I could take care of myself even though I had to go through all that torture of improper food, the improper environment…I could take everything but not the worry about my family.

AM: Has this whole experience changed you in any way?

Gobala: This ISA detention has changed me - I realise that I should fight more for the underprivileged and poor. I believe that the government arrested us under the ISA because they did not want the multiracial interaction taking place within the alternative parties. I intend to go down and create better interaction among the multiracial communities in this country…

It’s a ploy of the Barisan Nasional to make sure that the Indians, Malays and Chinese do not interact among themselves. And only the leaders interact. When the communities don’t interact, they do not learn about the day-to-day lives of each community and that is one of the reasons that incidents like May 13 and Taman Medan happen.

After my joining the alternative party, I have been able to give speeches in areas dominated by the Malay community. I have even given a speech where nearly 100 percent of (those attending have) been Malays. And I have been able to talk to them about the problems of the Indians and the day-to-day lives, culture and tradition of the Indians. The Malays are very welcoming of the other races and they are willing to learn, accept and go along with the other races. I hope the Barisan Nasional will not stop us from interacting more among the multiracial people in the country.

AM: What are your thoughts now about the ISA?

Gobala: The ISA is not necessary at all in a country which (claims) to be very advanced technologically and developed. In Malaysia, communication and IT have advanced to such an extent that I am very sure the police and the government know where I am and what I am involved in day-to-day. Why do they need the ISA - just to suppress and put us behind walls which restrain us from interacting with people?

What we are doing is bringing information and bringing about unity among the people. But the ISA has been putting people behind walls and not allowing them to interact with their families. All those arrested under the ISA to date are not people who have been violent. Among (those who were arrested) were Syed Husin Ali and opposition leaders like Karpal Singh (and) Lim Kit Siang - people who have been vocal and supportive of the development of the people. So ISA is not necessary at all for Malaysia.

I was released by the Shah Alam High Court Judge, to whom I am very thankful - may God bless him (Datuk Hishamuddin Yunus)... All these (allegations) were fabricated just to detain me and keep me behind the walls of ISA.

After my release now – it has been six months – if there is any truth to these allegations, either I should have been detained immediately after the restraining order (expired) or I should have left the country. I am still around and I am still propagating what I believe in. I don’t think that the police have any evidence at all because there is no truth at all in what they said.

AM: Could you describe for us the moments after your release from court and the next few days.

Gobala (pic, left): The day I was released from court, I spent time with my family. But my friends and relatives and my immediate family were very worried that I would be picked up immediately after the restraining order expired – because the judge only gave me 24 hours (restraining the police from re-arresting me).

Because of the experience of Karpal Singh who was rearrested after his habeas corpus (release), I decided to take a rest with my family and with my friends. I was travelling around the country, visiting the keADILan division offices and my very close friends, but all this I did very quietly and (kept a) very low profile.

... I never trusted the police after the release - because (from) the day I was arrested until I was released, the police only fabricated, and lied and used baseless allegations - whereas in the interrogation, they never talked about these allegations at all - about the weapons, and trying to overthrow the government by terrorism. All these were baseless allega-tions…we were never interrogated regarding these.

(Instead), they interrogated and wanted to know about our sexual activities, and also they talked very badly about the president of my party, Datin Seri Wan Azizah, saying that she is a very loose woman, with very low moral values, and also my youth leader Ezam Md Noor. All this shows that the Malaysian police and the government are very weak in handling matters pertaining to justice. They don’t even know the law but they want to talk about the law.

AM: So what are your plans now? How has your life changed, and your outlook?

Gobala: I plan to spend more time for the really underprivileged in this country…I will carry on the struggle. The police or even the government of Mahathir will not be able to stop us even though they can re-arrest and enforce the ISA on me. They cannot ask me to just keep quiet. I am going to do what I believe in because I always believe that a man is born to die and before he dies he (should do) something for the human race and I want to do that.

And I also request the regime of Mahathir to be fair to people. Treat human beings as human beings - they should look back and realise that the truth lies among love and caring and sharing and not by victimising and vandalising people’s lives. People who want to do good do it solely because they believe in it. There’s nothing that can be done by Mahathir or the government to stop this and I hope Mahathir will realise this and that the Barisan Nasional government will abolish the ISA.

The ISA is detention without trial, which is not relevant at all. If they don’t abolish ISA, then they should take off Article 5 (3) from the Federal Constitution where a detainee is supposed to have the privilege to refer to his lawyer of choice once he is arrested. So I hope people like Rais Yatim repent – he wrote a book about abolishing the ISA – and today he is propagating ISA….

AM: What was the most frightening moment? And how did you get the mental strength to overcome it?

Gobala: The most frightening moments were the worries about my family. Even though I was assaulted by officers whom I can identify now, that was not frightening. But because I am a family man - the worry for my family, my wife…when the officer told me that he would look after my wife. At one (point), the officer who interrogated me told me that just the day before he (had gone) to my bakery and he (had seen) my wife, and pretended to purchase a cake from my wife… So if he could enter my business premises and interact with my wife (it meant) they could do many other things…

One of the arresting officers told me that he (could) even react in the manner that is done by the (name of a certain South Asian country withheld) police: that is to throw me off the ship (while I was) handcuffed. If they can talk (like) this, I am sure they can practise much worse than that. So that was the worrying moment.

But mentally I was very focussed because I did chant a lot of my mantras. Every morning, I chanted about (a) thousand and eight times of each and every mantra…Ohm triyam bhagam yajamahe sukanti… (continues a few lines of chanting)

AM: What does that mean?

Gobala: (Those are) the mantras in Sanskrit where we praise Lord Shiva and Shakti and also the Ohm Shuklam, which praises Lord Ganesha …Ohm shuklam baratanam Vishnu…(continues chanting)

And on the day I was released, I chanted this mantra, “Ohm namasivaye subam subam guru guru Sivaye namahe Ohm” ten thousand and eighty times. And, if I am not mistaken, when I finished this mantra I heard something sounding like thunder. And the people in the court, when the judge was writing the judgment, also said that there was thunder. And the judge looked up and he just wrote the judgment. So I believe all the prayers offered by my friends in the struggle, the prayers offered by the party supporters, the human rights people…all these prayers also helped in getting us released.

AM: During your detention, did you have a strong sense that God was with you or did you feel isolated and abandoned?

Gobala: I always believed during my detention that God was always there with me, because ... physically I was weakening day by day, but mentally I got stronger and stronger every day. So I believe the mantras, the chanting - all this helped me. The mantras actually kept me mentally focussed… That is one of the reasons why the interrogators denied me my family visit even though some of my friends had their first family visit within 10 days.

I was never allowed a family visit for 47 days because every day I was mentally very focussed on what they were doing…Even when they asked me to write confessions, and they brought paper, I never wanted to go along with them. It’s not because I was physically strong; I was mentally very focussed. And I never worried about myself.

I hope in future - if there are any detentions - I hope those detainees will keep themselves mentally focussed. Because the day they run out of focus, that is the time the police will take advantage. Also, ... every time they interrogate us, (the police) say that they will only give us something, even a pillow or slippers, only if we cooperate with them. Even decent food - only if we cooperated with them. Cooperating with them means admitting to whatever they say. So if we are not mentally focussed, we will be admitting to everything that they say - because we are under pressure, under tension. I hope these dirty tactics by the police will not be used on people who are fighting for justice. The justice that the government is supposed to give the people is denied; that is why, day by day, a lot of people are coming out to fight for justice.

AM: How do you draw a connection between your spiritual faith and your politics and your struggle for justice?

Gobala: I believe that each and every human being must have their spiritual faith and the spiritual faith is the thing that keeps them in line with humanity. As for politics, we in the opposition, we are sincerely (in) politics to serve the people, but we also do our politics for the people because of spiritual faith. I believe if you go and (get) a consensus of the politicians, most in the opposition...mostly they are very spiritual in their faith. They follow their faith very well. It doesn’t matter whether (he or she) is a Muslim, Christian or Hindu. Politics is just an activity…to create some policies to help the people. That’s where the opposition comes in - when (government) policies are not created to help the people.

Biodata: Gobalakrishnan Nagapan 1960: Born in Sitiawan, the seventh of nine children Studied in SRJK (Ing) Gandhi Memorial School in Sitiawan, SM Tok Perdana, and SMJK Nan Hwa, Sitiawan 1978 - 1981: Studied electrical engineering at Kolej Sultan Ahmad Shah (ILSAS, Bangi) 1984: Married former national athlete Vasanthi Ramalingam after a two-year courtship. They met while both were involved in athletics and now have three children. 1981-1993: Worked in Tenaga Nasional 1993-1999: Fulltime politican with the MIC. (Last post held: Secretary-general, MIC National Youth) April 1999 - Joined Keadilan Nov 1999 - Stood as candidate in the Teluk Kemang parliamentary seat but lost July 1999 - Nov 2001: Vice-chairman of Keadilan Youth Currently Keadilan Supreme Council Member

AM: Is reformasi dead?

Gobala: Reformasi can never die. A person can die, but reformasiwill never die because reformation will be talked and talked about every day. Every individual will want to bring about reformation. If there’s a person who says that he doesn’t want to bring about reformation, that means the man is brain-dead. So everybody, in our day-to-day (lives), we have to bring about reformation. We are thankful that reformation, reformasi was brought to Malaysians as a movement – as a movement where each and every individual who wanted reformation came together; they all combined forces. That is why the government wants to put (it) down. They can put down the organisation, they can put down the gathering of the reformists, but reformation (itself) can never die, and the government can never kill reformation.

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