The Malaysian Insight

YOUTH activist Sarah Irdina Mohammad Ariff has shared her lock-up experience on social media. The 20-year-old was taken into police custody on Thursday over her role in the #Lawan protest. She was held overnight and released the next day
 
The co-founder of MISI:Solidariti is under investigation for sedition and for violating the Communications and Multimedia Act via her tweets about the #Lawan protest, which is taking place today. 

Young people are gathering at Dataran Merdeka to demand the resignation of  Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin over the government’s government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
Sarah posted about her experience on Instagram, calling the time she spend in lock-up “truly traumatising”.

“Just being in the lock-up was mental torture and I had only gone through this for five hours,” she said.

 Sarah said no one should have to go through it.

“The first thing I heard at Dang Wangi was that I will be arrested by the Investigating Officer. They read me my rights, then confronted me with a slew of questions, specifically about a post on MISI: Solidarity’s Twitter account,” she said.

She said she was handcuffed by police and then brought to her home, which the cops searched for devices linking her to the tweets.

“My aunt was on the verge of tears, begging the police to let me go. Having my aunt see me in that state, detained under police custody, almost tore my heart in two. But I had to toughen up: I told her I would be okay,” she said.

“The police constantly told my aunt that I wasn’t being cooperative enough. It infuriated me – all I was doing was trying my best to exercise my rights under the law when I was being questioned by them earlier.”

“These intimidation tactics were not just being used against me. They were being used against my beloved family, whom the police had clearly targeted in order to force my cooperation,” she added.

Afterwards Sarah was taken to the Jinjang police station, where she was held until morning for a remand hearing, she said.

“I was forced to strip naked to my underwear. I changed into the police lock up shirt and pants, then entered my holding cell,” she said.

She said she was the sole occupant of the cell, which was “small”.  The bed was a brick with a plank on top.

“Next to it was an open bathroom. The walls around it reached my abdomen and immediately above it was a CCTV. The grill surrounding my cells was also right in front of the open-bathroom-if anyone were to walk past my cell they would be able to watch me use the bathroom,” Sarah said.

“Privacy there was non-existent. I couldn’t stop crying.”

She said she didnt know how she would get through the night, which seemed like an eternity.

“I couldn’t even bring myself to eat and sleep… Would my life ever be the same again? What did I do that was so bad that I deserve to go through this?

“What kind of government punishes its youth for demanding justice and asking for what we, the rakyat, deserve?” she said.

Alone with her thoughts, she began to worry that the police might refuse to release her. She wondered whether she would be able to continue with her studies after this. She said she lost track of time because she didn’t have a watch and there wasn’t a clock that she could see.

“On the wall of my lockup was a single phrase, written over and over: Stay strong.

“Scattered across the cell, these two words etched by previous detainees pierced strength in my heart. I wonder then, and hope now, that the person who wrote that is okay,” she said.

Sarah said the intimidation inflicted by the police onto her and her friends were unacceptable.

“The intimidation inflicted by the police onto me and my fellow friends is unacceptable.

“This failed government’s inhumane treatment of those that fight for a better Malaysia is what keeps hurting us Malaysians, when their job is supposedly to protect it. This is why we #lawan (fight),” she said.

 Sarah said the youth will not be silenced and for everyone that falls, thousands will rise.

“Demand what is rightfully yours. A better Malaysia,” she said.

“A Malaysia that loves us as much as we love her,” she added.

She was released at 1am on July 30.

Together with Sekretariat Solidariti Rakyat (SSR), the youths are demanding for the resignation of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the convening of Parliament and the ending of the Emergency Proclamation.

#FreeSarah trended on social media while she was in detentions.

Sarah was arrested for a tweet on July 1 under MISI: Solidariti profile, listing the three demands of the black flag movement. – July 31, 2021.