Bullies in the schoolyard

UPDATE: Nat Tan has released a statement documenting his experience of being detained under OSA for four days. You can read it here. I was going to quote certain passages but on second thoughts, have decided not to. It is a remarkably succinct and cool-headed account that needs (deserves) to be read in its entirety. Although he details how he was repeatedly denied access to legal council and how he was physically and mentally intimidated by the police, he also notes that 'the substandard and rushed nature of this investigation is the result of political meddling and pressure in police affairs.'

I don't know what this means for bloggers like me who write about their favorite candy and weekend trips to the waterfall. One cannot help but feel that events like these have no bearing on day-to-day life in good ol' KL. They seem to exist in another realm, a realm so far removed from the MNG Sales or your next career opportunity. This realm is locked in oppositional orbit with state power - they whirl around each other to create a planet whose gravitational pull sucks those in who touch it.

I'm reminded of three different passages: one is the closing lines to Kam Raslan's eloquent essay 'A river runs through it' accompanying the upcoming exhibition Selamat Datang ke Malaysia (which I'm showing in! Don't miss it! Opening 22 Aug at VWFA): '...we're all looking for a place where we can be safe and feel at home. We're all so different, and our artists must be our rivers'.

Another is by Primo Levi: 'It is the duty of righteous men to make war on all undeserved privilege, but one must not forget that this is a war without end.'

And the last by South African novelist Andre Brink: 'The totalitarian order depends for its very existence on a precarious equilibrium. Without the heretic, the rebel, the writer, the state crumbles: yet by tolerating him, the ruler equally well seals his fate. As least by implication, Big Brother's mighty system disappears because he wanted to eradicate the dissident - but could not do without him'.

Fellow South African writer J.M Coetzee examines Brink's politics of dissent: '..two ways in which the writer can betray his mission: first, by subordinating his own aesthetic standards to lust for battle; second, by succumbing to the lure of uttering the forbidden simply because it is forbidden.'

May all writers and artists hold true to walking that fine, precarious line.

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We get the government we deserve.


From CIJ (Center for Independent Journalism) website:

Nathaniel Tan was taken for questioning by three plainclothes police officers since 4:45pm on 13 July. The policemen, believed to be from the Special Branch, were said to have requested for Tan to follow them to the Bukit Aman police headquarters for questioning and did not provide any reasons as to why Tan was asked to follow them. Police confirmed at 10:00pm on 13 July that they have taken Nathaniel Tan.

July 14, 2007:

Police have remanded blogger Nathaniel Tan for four more days to investigate him under Section 8 of the Official Secret Act (OSA), according to lawyer Latheefa Koya. Nat was alleged to possess documents relating to corruption charges against the Deputy Minister of Internal Security [Mohd Johari Baharom].

CIJ was told that the police's investigation arises from a comment left on Nathaniel's blog about Johari, who was mired in allegations of accepting bribery for the release of high-profile criminals. Johari was recently cleared of the charge by the Anti-Corruption Agency. It was said that someone made a police report against Nathaniel over the posting.

Section 8 of OSA penalizes possession and communication of official secret. OSA is a widely criticized law because its definition of state secret allows unlimited amount of information to be classified. A person found guilty under OSA can receive a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or hefty fines.

Don't be sidetracked by the details of whether Nat Tan should have been detained or not. Don't forget that what this shows is how police can come into your house or office and take you away without telling you why. They can hold you for hours before arresting you or allowing you to consult a lawyer. This is unlawful, unconstitutional and a gross abuse of power. Nat's friends and family were frantically searching for him for 6 hours before finally being told that he was held at Dang Wangi Police Station.

Local blogger Jeff Ooi of Screenshots is keeping close track of developments. Human rights lawyer Malik Imtiaz blogs about how the OSA is unconstitutional, here. You can sign an online petition here. You can get updates and the Free Nat Now banner (above) from Mob's Crib, here.