Voices from Prison

FUEMSSO recently received information about the plight of two Malaysian detainees, Mr. Hon Yew Peng and Mr. Lee Yik Chin. Mr. Hon, aged 31, is from Johore and has been detained for more than 6 years, while Lee, aged 33, for more than 13½ years.

In an October 1977 letter to the Malaysian Medical Association, Malaysian Bar Council and M.P.s (Ahli-ahli Parlimen), the mother of Hon revealed that her son - who is currently being detained in the Batu Gajah Prison Camp was in good health until his detention. The letter said that her son participated in the 29th Nov. 1974 hunger strike which lasted 48 days.

During that struggle, Federal Reserve Unit men were sent into the prison to beat up the strikers. As in the case of 8 other prison comrades, Hon was denied medical attention.

In August, Hon sent a letter to his lawyer complaining, "My sickness which I had reflected to you before has been worsening." He wrote that according to the "Agreement of the KPN", "We should not be handcuffed when we are going for medical treatment. But since March 10th, the camp authority and the police here have refused to send us for medical treatment if we don't want to be handcuffed."

Hon is suffering from Thyrotoxicosis Cardromypathy and back pains since the 1974 hunger strike. He was initially attended by a prison medical officer who told Hon that his sickness was beyond his ability.

After a long period of delay, a doctor was arranged. By then Hon's sickness had deteriorated. "I have diarhoea and vomiting frequently, and difficulties to swallow and breathe, and feel head-ache and heart beating very fast."

On 26th August, the doctor suggested that he should go for an operation at the Ipoh Hospital. This, however, was not [unclear: possible] if the prison authorities on handcuffing him on his way to the hospital.

At the time of writing it is not possible to ascertain Hon's medical condition.

In the second case of Lee Yik Chin who was in good health at the time of his detention in 1964, he is now suffering from rheumatism and gastric. In an appeal, the mother of Lee, a widow, said that her son was detained during the period of Indonesian confrontation against Malaysia.

Although it was the confrontation issue which resulted in Lee's arrest, Lee spent 13½ of his best years in detention while the issue of Confrontation was long dead with the establishment of close diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia.

According to the mother, Lee had been shifted from one camp to another. The son was at times put under severe psychological and physical tortures. The mother appealed to the government to release her son unconditionally.