Maria: No idea where I was held

KUALA LUMPUR: Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah was kept in solitary confinement with no contact with the outside world.

Each time she left her cell, she was blindfolded with large, blackened goggles. She also did not know where she was held in the first place.

Those were some of the conditions faced by Maria during her 10-day detention at an undisclosed location under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.

Maria was released late yesterday after she was brought to Bukit Aman.

“I didn’t really know where I was. This was meant to scare me because it is in an undisclosed place. The interrogations happened every day for long hours.

“But I think the saving grace was when Suhakam came and I want to thank them,” she told reporters at Dataran Merdeka.

Maria said the human rights watchdog helped reduce the type of tough interrogations that she had to go through.

She said she would continue with her work with Bersih.

“There is a possibility of another detention as they have started a second investigation on me.

“If they do it, they are really silly to continue harassing us. The rally went peacefully,” she said, adding that the whole money story did not hold water.

She said the police knew it and they had her organisation’s bank account statements.

“They have everything. We have even published them on our website,” Maria said.

Meanwhile, during her address at Dataran Merdeka, she denied receiving funds from the Soros Foundation.

“Bersih doesn’t take money from the Soros Foundation.

“They don’t believe me. They think we have an account with RM3.2bil,” she said, adding that her detention was meant to frighten them so that they would not go ahead with the rally but the people had become brave.

“They went ahead. I hope all of you continue to support Bersih and our demands,” she added.

“We want clean elections and to reform the institutions in our country.”

Her children – Azumin, Aziman and Azemi – said they were extremely happy now that their mother had been released.

“We really did not have any idea that she would be released today.

“When mum’s lawyer Datuk S. Ambiga called us and we heard her voice, we couldn’t contain our happiness.

“The whole family is overjoyed,” said Azumin Mohamad Yunus.