on the unjust detention of Nathaniel Tan
To: [Amnesty International]
Hi there,
I'm writing to express my concern for my friend and acquaintance Nathaniel Tan, who was detained incommunicado by the Malaysian police several hours ago at 4.25PM Malaysian time (GMT +8), Friday 13th July 2007. Since graduating from Harvard, Nat's been an active staff member and blogger of the main opposition party here in Malaysia, and the scant information that's been leaking out from his sister's blog, an online socio-political youth magazine and an independent online news site in Malaysia suggests that he's been detained for unspecified violations under the Official Secrets Act, which vests the government with the right to detain, investigate and suppress dissenters and distributors of "state secrets" (whatever those are deemed to be).
This incident is a gross breach of rights and press freedom in a country that's becoming increasingly (in)famous for such transgressions. Nat is not the first blogger to become entangled with the government in this way, and it's likely that he won't be the last. I was hoping that Amnesty might be able to help. I am St Catharine's college representative for Amnesty in Cambridge, and I've CC'd this email to Harvard Amnesty, Malaysia's Amnesty branch, as well as to Reporters Sans Frontiers in Asia. Any advice you could give, or help and publicity you might be able to marshall would be invaluable.
I have attached the breaking news story on Nat's detention by Malaysiakini, an independent online newspaper that frequently covers stories that would otherwise slip between the cracks of self-censorship in the mainstream Malaysian press. It's a PNG attachment, because Malaysiakini is subscriber-only, but I am willing to verify and stand by all information supplied in this email.
Yours sincerely,
[rAchel]