"Correct any grammar or spelling mistakes. Then initial it.” ISD’s statement tricks.
Article #10
To be sure, not every statement that they forced me to make were finally put on paper. One day, in the first or second week, the three of them asked me about a post that I wrote on Facebook.
Usually, Roslan would do the reading. He would read my Facebook posts while shouting, making it sound as though they were written in anger. Tim and Ong would laugh.
I had written an ironical post. It was something along the lines of “Amazing that some people tell us not to rock the boat and then quote Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X”.
I wrote it as an amusing observation.
After laughing at the way Roslan read it, Tim turned to me angrily (as if a switch had been flicked) and said, “what did you mean by that? What did you mean?”
I thought it was strange that they wanted to use that post. “It was just something amusing” I said.
“What? Why?” Tim had a way of speaking loudly and dragging his last syllables when he wanted to put pressure. It sounded “what? Whyyyyy?”, like a skidding tyre.
“Because it is ironic. Gandhi, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King all rocked the boat.” He took another look at the statement and put it away.
Around the third week, the four of them (including Larsson) demanded I say that I wanted to fight in Syria. I told them that was nonsense. Prior to that they had demanded I say I had planned to move to Syria. They asked me about my Facebook conversation with AlBarra.
AlBarra was an Australian-Syrian. I read a post he wrote about his life in Syria in an Australian Muslim group. My impression about Syria during that period was that it was fully destroyed. AlBarra talked about rebuilding efforts. He wrote about trying to get their local economy started again. I was initially interested to interview him for an article on AlMakhazin.
They quoted one line in my chat with AlBarra and I was told to make the rest of it up. I had asked “how much will it cost?” when AlBarra said he was trying to fix his father-in-law’s tractor to redevelop the farm.
“What did you mean when you say how much it cost?” Tim asked.
“I think it was about the tractor for his father in law’s farm.”
“Fuck you. You’re lying” Tim shouted.
“No. Look at the conversation...”
“Shut up! Why did you ask how much it cost?”
“I wanted to help, my other friends were helping Cambodian...”
“Shut up! Why you asked how much it cost? You are asking how much it cost to live there!”
“What? No.” By then I was familiar with the way they tried to make things up. I told them to show me the full conversation, it would show what I said.
As usual, they refused. The only thing they would tell me was that one line and we were supposed to create a story from that line. After hours of interrogation on that line, I finally signed the statement.
I was able to get a compromise from them.
The statement said that I asked AlBarra about the cost to fix the tractor, but I was keen to live in Syria and I wanted to know how much it would cost to live there. From that day however, Ong would tell me almost daily that their bosses were not happy with me.
“Why do you say you were asking about fixing the tractor?” he reprimanded.
According to Ong, their bosses were going to detain me because I did not say that statement was specifically about wanting to migrate to Syria.
They tried to get me to say I was a member of Hizb Tahrir (HT). I have friends who were from HT but I have never been a member. While I discussed the concept of Caliphate with my HT friends, my views of how it could be established were very different from theirs.
From what I understand, HT believes in taking over the state system in their establishment of a Caliphate. They would then implement the Shariah from day one.
I do not believe in that. I used to tell them “you do that and the second day, the people will kick you out.” My version is dependent on the people seeking the system. Anything that is not done through the will of the people would not be legitimate. Whether it is the Vatican/ideational model or the EU model, the people had to accept and want it for themselves. (Read here)
Tim and Chang tried to get me to sign a statement saying I was an HT member. They asked me how I got to know HT members (I met one of them at a conference where they had a stall) and if I attended any events (yes I did, I spoke at a seminar with another non-HT speaker).
“What did you do at the stall?” Tim smiled.
“I talked to them about the international system” I explained.
“Was there anything at the stall?”
“Just books and pamphlets.”
“Was there any form?”
“There was a contact list, I wrote my contact details.”
“What for?”
“In case they have any events.”
Tim looked at Chang and chuckled. “What is written on the top of the paper?”
“Contact list.”
“Are you sure?” he laughed.
“Yes.”
Tim then typed out a statement and told me to sign it. It said I signed a membership application form.
I never typed any of the statements. Tim or Ong would type the statements and tell me to sign them. But before signing, they told me to read the copy first.
“Correct any grammar or spelling mistakes” Ong said the first time he told me to sign a statement.
“Don’t worry about it” I told him.
Why would I care for grammar or spelling mistakes? Those were their statements not mine. All they wanted was for me to sign them. The statements had nothing to do with me.
“No. Correct any grammar or spelling mistakes. Then initial it. Just grammar and spelling.” he repeated.
I caught on. “You just want to show as though I am actively involved in drafting the statement.”
Ong smiled.
The next time, Tim gave me the same instruction. Correct grammar or spelling mistakes, initial the correction. But don’t change what was said in the statements themselves.
By having me correct and initial the statement, ISD could claim I was the one who dictated the statements.
When Tim showed me the statement saying I applied to be an HT member, I deleted that line. I told him it was not true.
He blew up as though I committed a mortal sin. He shouted at me for trying to change the statement.
My job was just to agree with their accusations.
They did not care what I think. They wanted me to tell them what they think.
Continued in the next article.