Interview with Yang Berhormat Tian Chua

(CHUA Tian Chang) Member of Parliament for Batu (in Kuala Lumpur), Senior Leader and Chief Strategist for Parti Keadilan Rakyat

Biography:

Tian Chua is a chief strategist of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and is one of the most senior political colleagues of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Tian Chua is an Australian and Dutch educated social activist, former Australian student leader, frequent arrestee, former political prisoner, prominent blogger and senior Malaysian political leader, and Member of Parliament for the federal electorate of Batu. Tian Chua has had a controversial and high profile political career, utilising blogging and other new media to get his message out; he has also put his own personal safety on the line to publicise and build sympathy for the PKR cause.

While studying in Australia, Tian Chua was an active student leader involved in the student movement under the Network of Overseas Student Collectives (NOSCA) and Left Alliance. Upon return to Malaysia in 1990, he joined a leading Malaysian human rights organisation SUARAM in the campaign against Internal Security Act (ISA). He also began to be involved in labour movement in Malaysia. In 1992, he joined Hong Kong based Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC), a regional labour research NGO.

After his time in Hong Kong, he studied a M.A. in Employment and Labour Studies at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, the Netherlands. Tian returned to Malaysia in 1996 and in 1997, Tian was appointed the director of Labour Resource Centre (LRC), founded by a group of trade unionists and labour activists. He was also in the Board of SUARAM.

As a human rights worker, Tian fought for the rights and welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Malaysia and in other countries. In 1997, he assisted Marie Fe Ocampo, a Filipino domestic in Malaysia who alleged that she was raped by Croatian Ambassador Kresimir Znidaric. Tian helped form the Justice for Maria Fe Ocampo Solidarity Committee which fought for Ocampo’s rights to stay in Malaysia so she could pursue justice.

In 1998, SUARAM initiated a forum comprised of NGOs and opposition parties known as Gagasan Demokrasi Rakyat Malaysia. The forum was officially launched during the saga of Anwar Ibrahim and Reformasi. Tian was elected the chairperson of the movement.

In 1999, Tian Chua was invited to join the newly founded Parti Keadilan Nasional headed by Dr Wan Azizah. He was then elected the national vice president. In April 2001, Tian and several associates were arrested under the Internal Security Act (the ISA, which enables the Malaysian government to arrest and detain a person indefinitely without trial).

From 2001 to 2003, Tian Chua spent two years as a political prisoner. Snatched by police, Tian’s disappearance resulted in his family mounting a search for him. For two months, Tian Chua was held incommunicado in a police watch house in Kampung Baru, KL with no access to family, lawyers or doctors. He was held in solitary confinement, and later locked in a small windowless cell in the basement with 24 hour artificial lighting. In an interview after his release, Tian Chua said "The solitary confinement was the most torturous. It was killing me. I was blindfolded and handcuffed every time I left the cell. I could only hear the sounds of others, but could not see them. The isolation was so bad that I ended up looking forward to the interrogation."

After his transfer from solitary confinement in KL to the infamous (but preferable) Kamunting prison, Tian Chua kept himself busy by dabbling in his love for drawing and painting. He drew the insects that entered his cell and made over 100 Hari Raya and Chinese New Year cards for friends and family. He had much time to read (including heavy tomes like Homer's Iliad), and learnt Thai, Norwegian, Arabic, French and Sanskrit, which he claims he has mostly forgotten now. Alleged beatings, malnutrition and segregation took its toll. In 2001, an Amnesty International document reported that Tian Chua looked sick and was unable to walk steadily.

In 2004, KeADILan merged with Parti Rakyat Malaysia and formed Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Tian served as information chief before becoming chief strategist.

Since 2004, Tian Chua has maintained a very busy and spartan PKR service centre in Sentul, the heart of the electorate of Batu. Batu is a lower socio-economic federal electorate in Kuala Lumpur, where he retains enormous popularity. On March 8 2008, Tian Chua defeated the Barisan Nasional incumbent for the federal seat of Batu by an enormous margin. However his term as Member for Batu is now uncertain.

In 2007, Tian Chua’s car was prevented from entering Parliament to deliver a petition. No stranger to physical beatings, Tian Chua was put in a headlock and dragged out by police. In full view of the media, a police officer punched Tian Chua in the face several times as he was being dragged away. Numerous posts of footage of the notorious incident can be viewed on YouTube. The police officer who assaulted Tian Chua was never charged, however, Tian Chua was charged with biting police, and on the 22nd of October 2009, Tian Chua was convicted. Magistrate Mohd Faizi Che Abu sentenced Tian Chua to six months jail and a fine of RM3,000 but granted him a stay of execution pending his appeal to the High Court. The magistrate admitted that the alleged biting incident was not captured on film. This is despite the presence of dozens of journalists, photographers and camera crew during Tian Chua’s arrest and beating outside the Malaysian Parliament, however Tian Chua was found to be guilty as charged.

Because he is extremely unlikely to receive a pardon, the sentence will most likely be upheld. If this transpires, Tian Chua will be disqualified as the Member for Batu because the magistrate happened to impose a fine greater than RM2000. According to recent blog reports, eight other opposition federal MPs face the same fate for ‘illegal assembly’ in the Bersih rally against corruption and may eventually be removed from the parliamentary seats they won at the last elections.

 

This video is still in post-production. The final version of this video will be uploaded to YouTube and made available through this website.