[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 30 Aug 1999
Time: 03:37:15
Remote User: -
A defiant Guan Eng back with added strength
By Abd Rahman Koya
They came with all kinds of posters and flags - red, blue, white and green. Some had even arrived as early as before sunrise. Others had to park their vehicles half a mile away and probably experienced their first ever morning jog - to the prison.
It was a historic moment as former Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka Lim Guan Eng was given a hero's welcome by thousands of well wishers outside the Kajang Prison gate.
But prison authorities, in their zealousness to prevent any welcome party, secretly released Guan Eng at 7.45 am, more than an hour earlier than expected.
Guan Eng, who Amnesty International declared a "prisoner of conscience", was left without any cash at a hotel in Kajang town. He had to borrow a handphone from a member of the public to contact his family.
"The aim was to prevent me from meeting supporters and friends. They practically threw me out of the prison," he later told reporters.
Guan Eng's whereabouts was not known to others, and by 9.00 am, about 3,000 people had already converged outside the prison, expecting him to come out from the direction of the prison gate.
When Guan Eng made a surprise appearance from behind, the crowd had swelled to about 5,000 people. Traffic was brought to a standstill as the road leading to the prison was blocked by well wishers. A defiant Guan Eng stood up on the roof of a car and punched the air, clearly overjoyed by the unexpected welcoming ceremony.
A day before his release, Guan Eng in reply to a letter by Dr Chandra Muzaffar (see Harakah, August 9, 1999) promised to walk out of prison a stronger man.
"Rest assured that I will walk out of Kajang Prison with my head unbowed, my spirit unbroken and my faith unshaken," he said.
And on that Wednesday morning, he did exactly that - head unbowed, spirit unbroken.
"Never has any prisoner in Malaysia been given such a welcome upon his release," he told the multiracial crowd, some of whom were seen unable to control their emotions and shed tears as the 38-year old politician vowed to continue speak up against injustice.
"But I feel I will not be really free unless all Malaysians who are unfairly in prison and detained by the Barisan Nasional are freed," he said, referring to jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim who now languishes in a 2 x 4 metre isolated cell in Sungai Buloh, and with whom Guan Eng had exchanged letters.
"What have I done? I had only defended an underaged victim of rape," said Guan Eng, an accountant by profession, who in April last year was found guilty of publishing "false news" about an alleged sex scandal involving a 15-year-old girl and Rahim Thamby Chik, the then chief minister of Malacca. He was further given a concurrent 18-month jail for sedition after speaking out about the government's handling of allegations that Rahim had raped a minor.
Rahim was later acquitted of the charges, but his name reappeared and implicated several times by Anwar in the political conspiracy which culminated in his arrest and assault at the hands of then Inspector General of Police, Rahim Noor.
Guan Eng's bid to be active again as a member of parliament was dashed when earlier this year the Yang diPertuan Agong refused to grant him a royal pardon which could allow him to stand for elections. This despite the campaign to free him had attracted more than 300,000 signatures, including that of Anwar, the former elected UMNO deputy president.
As Guan Eng addressed the crowd in both Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia, cheers of "reformasi" and "Hidup Guan Eng" mixed in with the deafening noise of the kompang, lion dance and Indian flute. At one point, they shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) - a familiar battlecry heard at anti-Mahathir public rallies last year.
For Guan Eng though, who was jailed weeks before Anwar was sacked and Malaysians took to the streets demanding Mahathir's resignation, it was a new experience. It was probably the first time he heard "reformasi" chants.
"A year ago I was jailed for instigating the Malay people to go against the government," Guan Eng went on, refusing to stop even when at one point his father, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, was seen telling him to end his speech..
"They condemned me as a Chinese chauvinist but I was just championing the rights of the people," he said, referring to his arrest in 1987 under the draconian Internal Security Act. "I'm neither a Malay nor Chinese chauvinist but a true Malaysian who is fighting for a just society."
Later, several MPs and alternative party leaders, including PRM President Dr Syed Husin Ali, PAS' Mohammad Sabu and keADILan Youth Head Ezam Nor, sandwiched themselves into a jeep carrying the new reborn martyr, followed by thousands who marched from behind. Also seen among the crowd were PAS Youth Chief Mahfuz Omar, DAP MP Tan Seng Giaw, former private secretary to Anwar, Azmin Ali, lawyer Christopher Fernando and political cartoonist Zunar.
The crowd became noisier as they marched back behind the main entourage, with sounds of kompang, the lion dance and the high pitched flute producing a deafening harmony of cultures. A mini van had been blasting out a Chinese song believed to be composed specially for Guan Eng. One elderly Chinese man, clearly overjoyed, began to dance to the tune as he walked back - at one point shouting "reformasi" at several uniformed policemen who were later seen shaking hands with the crowd.