SIX MONTHS OF TEARS FOR A FATHER, HUSBAND

MONTHS OF TEARS FOR A FATHER, HUSBAND
- malaysiakini Monday, June 16, 2008 at 11:30 PM Posted by jatt


On Dec 13, 2007, the day my husband - Hindraf secretary T Vasanthakumar.was arrested, I had to meet the police at my doorstep after spending many hours at the Bukit Aman police headquarters searching for information on his whereabouts.

When the police came to the house to inform me of the arrest, I had to send my two daughters upstairs because I didn’t want my children to see a group of policemen at my house and get a wrong impression of their father.

It may forever be embedded in their young minds and I didn’t want that. That was the moment I realized my precious, cosy and comfortable married and family life would come crashing down.

Refusing to admit defeat, I dragged my two girls all the way to Kamunting the next day, Dec 14. 14. They were asleep when we left KL at 5 am. At that time, I thought his detention would only be for a short period.

But as days and months passed by, it ended up being a Sunday ritual dragging the girls - even in the rain - to meet their father. They cannot imagine why he is there and why he is not coming back home yet. I have lied to them, telling them that he is hospitalised.

On Jan 1, I spent it without my husband after eight years of marriage. I was working on that day because for me it was no celebration. The beginning of the new year had to pass without him and while the whole world was celebrating, my girls and me were in the bed,.

I had no words of comfort for my small ones that night.

Over the months, many celebrations have been conveniently ‘forgotten’ such as our Ponggal (Harvest Festival), the Hindu New Year, our wedding anniversary and soon it will be the girls’ birthdays, the first one without their father around.

He has been a good and loving father, it is just not right to deprive the family of him when he is not guilty. Instead, noble men like my husband are charged under ISA when those who committed greater crimes threatening society and harming the peace are free out there.

The emotional pain seems too much to bear, I just do not know where to begin. I am suffering mentally and financially as a result of this injustice.

My husband’s 60 year-old mother who had raised him up as a single mother is pining for her son. He is her only son, his father had passed away when he was two years old. She worked as labourer to bring him up and she still suffers in body and health.

She is crying day and night in the fear that her life may end during her son’s detention and she unable to see him free. A mother her age should be spending her aging life happily with her son and grandchildren.

All my husband wanted was to end the suffering faced by people in a similar siutation his mother was in - the poor and the neglected. To help the poor Indians in the suburban and rural areas by acting according to his conscience.

He did not murder or steal. To detain him under the ISA is too cruel.

Today, June 13, marks six months since my husband’s detention. The emotional suffering and pain remains the same since Dec 13. All I want is for my family to be together again.

My children and I deserve the happiness and peacefulness that most other Malaysians enjoy. The whole thing is too much for me and my children to bear. Please release my husband and the others.

I am making an impassioned plea to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong to please release my husband and others from detention as they are not a threat to the nation.