Raja Petra's arrest under ISA in 2001

Found this 2001 article on Raja Petra Kamaruddin by his wife Marina Lee Abdullah on his arrest under ISA.

The Nightmare Goes On...

I pray that no one will ever go through our ordeal again

by Marina Lee Abdullah

I am Marina Lee Abdullah, wife of Raja Petra Bin Raja Kamarudin, the Director of the Freeanwar Campaign (FAC) web site, one of the detainees arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA). He was detained on 11 April 2001.

We have been together for 33 years. I met Raja Petra at the age of 14 and we have been married for 28 years. Our wedding anniversary: 14 April (Black 14).

Under Arrest

At 9.30am on 11 April 2001, as we were leaving my eldest daughter’s house heading for home. I was driving when a white car cut in front of us and and about five burly men got out of the car. My immediate reaction was to lock the car-doors; I thought we were being robbed. These men pounded on the car for me to open the doors.

When I looked around, we were surrounded by about 15 to 20 people; some were on motorcycles. We had created a traffic jam, but not a single soul stopped to come to our rescue. They just looked and drove by.

The men who stopped us were in plain clothes and their cars were normal vehicles. There were no police signs on the cars. When I unlocked the car doors, they opened the door on the passengers side and asked my husband whether he was Raja Petra and when he said ‘yes’, one of them said, ‘You are under arrest’.

I immediately intervened and asked him, ‘Why are you arresting my husband?’ He replied that Raja Petra was being arrested under the ISA.

He then identified himself as a police officer. My youngest daughter was in the car and she was frightened and in tears. Her father asked her to sit in the front seat and he managed to give our daughter a hug and me a kiss.

They then whisked him into their car. I followed them until they reached the Damansara Utama police station. I waited outside the police station and frantically called my children and everyone else who I thought could help.

Where is Raja Petra?

petra My daughter came and we waited for about 30 minutes. They brought Raja Petra out and got into a car. We then followed them again, my daughter in her car and me in mine. They drove him to Bukit Aman knowing we were following behind.

From then on, we did not know of his whereabouts or his well being until 23 days later, when I was told that the immediate family only could see him at IPPK Wilayah on 3 May 2001 at 3.00 pm.

Seeing him after 23 days, I found that he had lost a lot of weight. He wanted to know about the children and his cats, all 10 of them. He asked me to take care of the children and myself as he assured us that he was fine and getting medical treatment. Our visit lasted about 1½ hours.

It has been a nightmare for us ever since my husband’s detention and the nightmare goes on. To date, we have not been told when we can have our next visit or whether any more visits will be allowed.

It is a very lonely and frightening experience not knowing what the future holds for you. I pray that no one else should ever go through the ordeal that the families of the 10 detainees are going through. The only thing we can do is to pray for the 10 detainees’ early release and their well-being.

My religious teacher once told me that ‘in every good there is a bad, and in every bad there is a good’ but at this point of time I cannot see any good in the bad that is happening to my family.

Raja Petra was released on 2 June 2001 after 52 days in detention