OPS LALANG: PENGALAMAN BEKAS WARTAWAN WATAN
Oleh : Muda Mohd Muda
Oct 29, 07 12:31pm
Daripada Malaysiakini.com :
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/74091
Pada di sekitar 1980-an, akhbar tabloid politik Melayu popular - Watan - sangat laris di kalangan pembaca Melayu kerana keberaniannya menyiarkan laporan-laporan 'dari dalam kain' yang tidak terdapat dalam akhbar-akhbar lain. Tidak hairanlah, tabloid tersebut merupakan satu daripada tiga akhbar yang digantung penerbitannya dalam Operasi Lalang 1987.
Ia diterbit dua kali seminggu - hari Rabu dan Sabtu. Dua lagi ialah akhbar berbahasa Inggeris The Star dan akhbar berbahasa Cina Sin Chew Jit Poh. Keluaran terakhir Watan sebelum digantung penerbitan ialah edisi 22-30 Oktober 1987 yang memuatkan cerita utama 'Kim Sai temui MT Umno' yang dijual dengan pada harga 80 sen senaskhah .Watan beroperasi di Taman Tun Dr Ismail di ibu negara dengan jumlah edaran 60,000 hingga 70,000 naskhah setiap keluaran dan diuruskan oleh Kumpulan Karangkraf Sdn Bhd, syarikat penerbitan milik Bumiputera yang banyak menerbitkan majalah.
Bagaimanapun, bagi seorang bekas wartawan Watan - Samsuri Roslan - penggantungan permit akhbar tersebut penuh miste
ri dan sehingga sekarang masih menjadi tandatanya. "Saya tidak tahu...tetapi saya percaya ada hubungkait dengan laporan-laporan mengenai politik negara ketika itu.
Laporan telus "Laporan Watan sangat telus kerana ia tidak memihak sama ada kepada kerajaan atau pembangkang. "Watan hanya melaporkan apa yang berlaku ketika itu, terutama mengenai persaingan antara pemimpin dua komponen utama Barisan Nasional (BN) - Umno dengan MCA.
"Ketika itu, politik negara secara tiba-tiba menjadi panas apabila tercetus isu keistimewaan orang Melayu dan isu pendidikan yang dibangkitkan oleh kaum Cina," katanya dalam temubual dengan Malaysiakini. Samsuri yang kini berusia 47 tahun, mula menjadi wartawan Watan pada tahun 1985, khusus untuk menulis mengenai perkembangan politik negara, khususnya di kalangan orang Melayu terutama Umno.
Ketua Pengarang Watan ketika itu ialah Fickry Yaakub, manakala pengarangnya adalah Mohd Khairune Ali. Akhbar tersebut mempunyai hampir 20 wartawan. Selain Samsuri, wartawan lain termasuklah Azlan Ghanie, Haris Ribut, Misrom Mat Leham dan Lokman Abdullah.
Pada 1987, menurut Samsuri secara tiba-tiba tercetus persaingan politik antara pemimpin Umno dengan MCA yang turut dibantu oleh DAP, musuh BN. Beliau berkata, pemain-pemain utama ialah Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim , Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, Tan Sri Muhamad Muhd Taib dan Tan Sri Mohamad Rahmat di sebelah Umno dan Tan Sri Lee Kim Sai di pihak MCA.
Akhbar berkecuali "Kemuncaknya ialah Umno mengadakan perhimpunan di Stadium TPCA, Kampung Baru, manakala MCA dan DAP pula mengadakan perhimpunan di sebuah tokong Cina tidak jauh dari Stadium Merdeka. "Najib, Muhd Taib dan Mohamad Rahmat berucap berapi-api dengan diiringi jeritan Hidup Melayu. Bukan sahaja dalam stadium pernah sesak, tetapi kawasan sekitarnya juga dibanjir orang Melayu.
"Kedai-kedai milik peniaga kaum Cina awal-awal lagi telah ditutup, seolah-olah mereka telah mengetahui lebih awal," katanya. Samsuri berkata, ketika itu akhbar Watan baru diambilalih oleh Karangkraf dari Pustaka Antara.
Permit dimiliki oleh bekas seorang pemimpin Umno, Tan Sri Mohd Khir Johari yang pernah menjadi menteri pelajaran. Walaupun Watan mahu menjadi akhbar berkecuali, namun ia tidak disenangi oleh para pemimpin Umno dan pembangkang.
"Pernah dalam perhimpunan agung Umno, perwakilan mencadangkan permitnya digantung, manakala pembangkang pula menuduhnya sebagai akhbar adu domba," kata Samsuri lagi. Beliau berkata, anehnya dalam kemelut politik negara itu, PAS tidak terbabit tetapi entah bagaimana dua pemimpinnya - Mohamad Sabu dan Mahfuz Omar - turut ditahan di bawah ISA.
Berikutan itu, beliau beranggapan isu itu tercetus apabila pemimpin Umno mahu mencari publisiti, kononnya mahu menjadi pembela kepada orang Melayu. Isu pendidikan Manakala, pemimpin MCA dan DAP pula, katanya, mahu dilihat sebagai pejuang kaum Cina, khususnya dalam isu pendidikan kaum tersebut.
"Ahli dan penyokong Pemuda Umno telah menyambut kepulangan Anwar dari luar negeri di Lapangan Terbang Subang," katanya. Samsuri berkata, beberapa pemimpin utama Umno ketika itu memberi jaminan kepada akhbar Watan bahawa ia bebas membuat laporan dan tiada tindakan akan diambil.
Bagaimanapun, keyakinan tersebut mula berubah apabila editor yang menemui seorang pemimpin Umno di Bangunan Parlimen, memberitahu akhbar Watan akan digantung permit penerbitannya.
Berikutan itu, semua kakitangan diminta mengadakan solat hajat dan tahajud bagi mengelak sebarang kejadian yang tidak diingini. Katanya, apabila penerbitan akhbar The Star dan Chew Jit Poh digantung, kakitangan Watan sudah mula dapat merasakan akhbar itu akan dikenakan tindakan serupa.
"Satu hari, pegawai polis Bukit Aman datang ke pejabat Watan, berjumpa dengan pengarah dan memberitahu supaya akhbar itu ditutup tetapi tidak diketahui berapa lama. "Selepas itu semua wartawan diarahkan berkumpul dalam sebuah bilik sebelum dimaklumkan bahawa operasi Watan ditutup," katanya.
Operasi lalang Samsuri berkata, sebahagian wartawan Watan telah diserapkan ke bahagian majalah terbitan Karangkraf manakala yang lain terpaksa diberhentikan dan akibatnya ada yang terpaksa bekerja di pasar malam.
Katanya, apa yang mengecewakannya ialah pemimpin-pemimpin besar yang terbabit secara langsung dalam isu politik negara itu, bebas dan mereka berada di luar negara ketika Operasi Lalang diadakan. "Sebab itu saya percaya ada perancangan pihak tertentu. Saya juga merasakan Lee Kim Sai seolah-olah diberi laluan untuk mempertikaikan hak-hak istimewa orang Melayu.
"Bagi saya siapa yang buat salah perlu dihukum dan bukannya diambil tindakan ke atas orang kecil sahaja," katanya. Samsuri berkata, isu tersebut berlaku kerana pemimpin-pemimpin politik hendak menjadi juara kepada kaum masing-masing. Katanya, ia perlu menjadi pengajaran kepada wartawan politik khususnya supaya lebih berhati-hati dengan janji-janji pemimpin-pemimpin politik.
"Dalam kes akhbar Watan, pemimpin politik bersungguh-sungguh memberi jaminan tiada tindakan yang akan diambil tetapi semuanya tidak boleh dipercayai. "Saya merasakan Watan terleka dengan janji-janji bahawa tiada tindakan yang akan diambil terhadap akhbar itu.
"Kerajaan tidak memberi amaran kepada Watan sebaliknya terus tutup," katanya lagi. Samsuri berkata, isu itu selesai selepas para pemimpin politik ditahan di bawah ISA.
KISAH KE DUA
OPS LALANG'S 20TH YEAR: BURY THE ISA
Oleh : Bede Hong
Oct 27, 07 4:33pm
Daripada Malaysiakini.com : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/74075
It may be 20 years ago but to those incarcerated under the ISA during Ops Lalang (Operation Weeding), memories of the difficult event are still fresh.
Some of them re-lived their days of horror in a public forum in Kuala Lumpur today.
The Internal Security Act - which allows detention without trial - is an affront to humanity, said former detainee Khalid Samad. “This right can only be refused him when he is found guilty of a crime through due process which among others allows him the right of defence in an open court. The ISA, by its very nature, guarantees abuse and the miscarriage of justice,” he told the forum. Two decades after the Ops Lalang sweep, detainees still speak bitterly of having being detained without trial - some for over two years - under the ISA. Ordered by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the mass arrest of 106 opposition politicians, trade unionists, activists and Chinese educationists is now widely described as having severely curtailed the nation’s civil liberties and judicial independence.
'Mr ISA' in the dock In a theatrical tit-for-tat, ‘Mr ISA’ – in the form of a black cardboard – was put in the dock in a forum held in the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall this morning. Judging the proceedings were detainees and the lawyers who represented them. The attending public members acted as jurors. The forum was organised by Suaram. Also speaking at the forum were former ISA detainees, Mohd Yusof Husin and former DAP MPs Dr Kua Kia Soong and Lau Teck Gee. PKR vice-president and former ISA detainee lawyer Sivarasa Rasiah and lawyer Ngeow Yin Ngee gave a legal breakdown of the Act. Khalid spoke on how he felt after being arrested at the Subang International Airport, after which he was questioned in the Petaling Jaya police station. “We were then brought to a place in a Black Maria (police truck), if I remember correctly. I could not see where the place was but judging by the time it took, it was probably in Kuala Lumpur.
"On arrival we were all given our ‘prison clothes’ and brought to our detention cells but only after ‘special designer’ dark glasses were put over our eyes preventing us from seeing the surrounding area. The cells were small rooms with a built-in toilet and a brick-and-cement platform with a plywood top used as a bed. “I was placed in this cell with no interaction with anyone besides the ‘jailer’ who would open the ‘window’ of the steel plate to put in the nasi bungkus. Not a word was spoken.
During this period I could hear the other detainees being brought out of their cells to meet their IOs (investigating officers).
"I was however left for five days on my own and no IO appeared. I was beginning to think that after having placed me there, if they were then to forget all about me, throw away the keys, no one would be the wiser,” he said. Khalid also spoke of the feeling of helplessness during his detention.
Reverse psychology“I was not physically tortured. The basic facilities, including sleeping on the bare plywood ‘bed’ without a mattress, pillows or a blanket for the first few days is to my mind, not worth complaining about.
"I have roughed it out before. I suppose the most difficult part for me to accept was the total helplessness which I felt, being put at the mercy of the IOs who would act as judge, jury or executioner,” he said. “They could paint you yellow, red or green or any colour they chose and you would have no avenue to challenge their judgement.
"Alternatively, they could report you as being completely harmless and of no threat to anybody but you would still be detained if the powers-that-be decide to do so anyway,” he said. Khalid added that during the period of detention in Kamunting, the favourite phrase of the rehabilitation officers were “the detention order is for two years, it can be less, it can be more”, “your two-year detention can be further extended for another two years”, “it’s up to you, we don’t want to keep you here longer than necessary” and “the knife is in your hand, the cucumber is in your hand - whether to cut, slice or slash it’s up to you."“This reverse psychology aimed at making us blame ourselves for our detention was both an insult to our intelligence...
“Emergency laws, the category presumably within which is the ISA, should only be revived for the use only when the country is in a state of emergency. The country must be at war or in another form of emergency before an emergency law can be used,” he said. “Even then, all must be done to ensure that the principles of justice are observed at all times by ensuring an independent,” he added. After the question-and-answer session and an open discussion, the jurors not surprisingly found 'Mr ISA' guilty.
“SELAMATKAN RAKYAT DAN SELAMATKAN NEGARA”
“PROTES SAMPAI TURUN”
Sekian. Wassalam
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