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III. Current Detainees

As of September 2005, the Malaysian government holds 112 detainees under the ISA. Sixty-five of them are alleged members of Jemmah Islamiyah (JI), a militant group purportedly seeking to create an Islamic state encompassing Malaysia, Indonesia, and parts of the southern Philippines.¹¹ Nine are alleged members of Kumpulan Militia Malaysia (KMM or Malaysian Militant Group), which according to the Malaysian authorities wants to overthrow the government and set up an Islamic state.¹² Twenty-two are detained for counterfeiting currency and thirteen for document falsification.¹³ One detainee allegedly worked with Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to sell nuclear secrets.¹⁴ Two of the ISA detainees are women. One of them is Norawizah Lee Abdullah—the wife of Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, an alleged leader of JI and currently in U.S. custody at an unknown location. According to a lawyer for some of the ISA detainees, Norawizah Lee Abdullah is being detained because of her relationship with her husband.¹⁵

None of the detainees have been charged. The allegations listed herein have been publicized by the Malaysian government—none have been proved in any formal judicial proceeding. 

In addition to Malaysian citizens, eleven Indonesians, three Singaporeans, two Filipinos, and one Sri Lankan are detained.¹⁶ Most detainees are held in Kamunting Detention Center, but an unknown number of detainees, like Hambali’s wife, are held in Police Remand Centers.

In 2005 the government threatened to expand the use of the ISA to include diesel fuel smugglers and religious groups whose practice the government deems “deviant.”¹⁷ The most recent ISA detentions, of nine persons allegedly involved in identification card fraud, occurred in February. In May the government announced that the ISA will be used against a new militant group, but later retracted the statement that such a group existed.¹⁸

In June 2005, according to a lawyer for some of the ISA detainees, the government returned three Indonesians to Indonesia. The three had been detained in Sabah, Borneo, in September 2003 for immigration violations and were subsequently detained under the ISA in December 2003 for being alleged members of JI.¹⁹

In March 2005 the government released six ISA detainees. These included five of the “Karachi 13,” Malaysian students studying in Karachi arrested in 2003 for alleged training for future terrorist activities.²⁰ Their detention was supposed to expire in December 2005. Wan Min Wan Mat, an alleged financier of JI who was detained in September 2002 and whose detention was to expire in October 2006, was also released.²¹ The Internal Security Minister no longer considered them a threat to national security and suspended their detention. The six, however, are under a Restricted Residence Order for two years. The students have to report to the local police every Monday and may not leave their homes from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Wan Min has similar restrictions, but has to report to the police daily.²² Upon his release, Wan Min thanked the government for detaining him and said, in a widely reported statement, “The ISA is not cruel. It is necessary to tackle underground activities which are difficult to handle under the normal process.”²³ It is not clear if this statement was made voluntarily or was the product of mistreatment or coercion. Wan Min has refused to speak to independent organizations or journalists since his release.

According to the government, it releases ISA security detainees after they have undergone “rehabilitation” and are no longer considered a threat to national security. According to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, “They are put under ISA, they are given counseling and if we deem that they are no longer a threat to national security then we will release them. They are being watched very, very carefully.”²⁴