96 Malaysia
The exact number of men and women imprisoned without trial in West and Eas Malaysia is not known, part of the problem being that lists of detainees are no longer published in the parliamentary records. It is thought, however, that several hundred alleged communists and communist-sympathizers are detained under the provisions of the Internal Security Act in West Malaysia, and that most of them have been, or are being, moved to the new Kamunting camp in Perak. Since June 1973 over 70 persons who were held awaiting deportation are believed to have been released and authorized to stay in Malaysia, leaving about 12 people still held under banishment orders in Seremban Prison.
In East Malaysia, while Amnesty International has taken up the cases of only a few prisoners who, it seems clear, have had no involvement whatever in violence, it is known that there has been a sharp decrease in the number of detainees following the surrender of nearly 500 communist guerrillas in Sarawak. A government spokesman announced on 3 May 1975 that only 81 men and women were still under detention in Sarawak, although it was reported the same day that 62 people had been arrested in April for allegedly giving food and money to guerrillas in their area.
In October 1974, two leaders of the opposition Sarawak National Party and eight others were arrested under preventive detention laws. These arrests followed the detention in August, shortly before general elections were due to begin throughout the Federation of Malaysia, of members of the opposition Social Justice Party in neighbouring Sabah. At least three Social Justice Party candid- ates are believed to be still held without trial. AI has received no reply to a letter sent on 21 November 1974 to Tan Sri Muhammad Gazali bin Shafie, the Minister of Home Affairs, in Kuala Lumpur seeking information on all these detainees.
Early in December 1974, there were large-scale demonstrations in various parts of West Malaysia by students protesting primarily against the government's handling of the problems of rural poverty and high prices. Over 1,000 demonstra- tors were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly after clashes with police. At one point para-military police entered the campuses of the University of Malaya and the adjoining National University to conduct room-to-room searches. Apart from those charged with unlawful assembly, who were later released on personal bonds pending trial, at least 18 people were arrested in December under the Internal Security Act, which authorizes detention without trial. These included student leaders, a prominent youth leader and three lecturers of the University of Malaya. A number of people were also detained under the Internal Security Act in the months after December, including a lawyer who was arrested two days after he had begun the defence of 48 squatters and students charged in September with unlawful occupation of state land. Although there have been many releases in the meantime, nine such cases are currently under investigation and three prisoners have been adopted.
Besides the cases of persons detained in or after Decemer 1974, Al groups were active on the cases of 17 men and women who have been held without trial in Malaysia for periods ranging from nine years to less than one year.