I join the chorus of calls from abroad and at home for the immediate release of Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng.

Their arrests are a breach of their Consitutional and human rights. The government in resorting to the use of the Internal Security Act, originally enacted to protect the country's internal security, for political motives contravenes its very own espoused vision of a true, just and fair nation encapasulated in the Rukunegara and Islam Hadhari.

The folly of their arrests defy our sense of decency and democracy.

While every effort has been made to stem the influence of Raja Petra Kamaruddin from his harassment, incarceration and confiscation of computers to the more recent charge of criminal intimidation the government has failed to stop this man's popularity because he is a folk hero to many Malaysians. Why? Because he tells them the truth that the government seems afraid to confront.

A wise government would have conducted independent investigations into his many allegations of executive wrongdoing and corruption so that the public will know whether the allegations are true of false. The government chose instead to punish the defiant whistleblower by arresting him and reinforces the public perception that the government has much to hide.

The suggestion that Raja Petra Kamaruddin insulted Islam is a joke when his persecutors have breached every known rule in the book. If exposing wrongdoing and hypocrisy is a crime then the teachings of religion will land us in trouble because they all teach us to forsake evil and do good and to expose all manner of wrongdoing.

The Pharisees had Jesus Christ crucified by the Romans by making false charges against him. He had upset the religious authorities and exposed their self-rigteousness, greed and hypocrisy. Does it not ring familiar in RPK's case?

Whither Pak Lah's call to the people to tell him the truth and work with him? Is this what happens to people who tell him the incriminating truth? They sign their own arrest warrants?

Teresa Kok is a diligent, responsible and patriotic politican and Malaysian. If she were a member of the Barisan Nasional her political work would have received her a string of awards and accolades from the government instead of a rude arrest and detention under the ISA.

I doubt the government will gain anything from her arrest. It will only lose further credence with voters and increase the legendary popularity and political stature of this feisty politician because it is an honour to be persecuted by your government for doing what you were elected to do and what is good for the people.

Many years ago when they put Lim Guan Eng in prison for helping a Malay girl in distress I said this Bright Star will one day shine over his captors and it has come to pass. I am no prophet, merely one with the common sense to understand that good ultimately triumphs over evil and that as long as we continue to do right and speak out for truth and justice we will prevail. And those unfairly persecuted today will be tomrrow glorified.

As for Sin Chew senior reporter Tan Hoon Cheng, how anyone can risk destroying a young person's life in the course of doing her job like this is unconscionable. My daughter wants to be a journalist, a worthy profession, but perhaps not in Malaysia. The trouble is journalism school does not include ISA 101 and how does anyone expect to get into trouble simply for being truthful?

Sadly whatever image the public may have had of him as a nice guy, a religious man and God-fearing has evaporated quicker than the ink he used to sign her arrest.

This young lass did us proud when as a sharp reporter she detected a discordant strain in a political speech and did her profession proud by reporting it. Good news reporting I once learned is something that somone somewhere does not want reported. She did hear the offensive words, she did report it truthfully, her company to their credit stood by her and now she joins the ranks of martyrs crucified for reporting the truth honestly.

So what was Najib Razak apologizing for? And what was the rogue politician suspended for? And why is Hoon Cheng in jail?

This Keystone cops administration makes the Three Stooges seem like a Greek tragedy. When are we going to see some principled governance? In a decent world Hoon Seng would have been exonerated and commended. But in Malaysia the truthful and principled like her, and not to forget, Irene Fernandez, are incarcerated or charged in court.

I have never met any of the above people but will make sure I shake their hands some day before I die. I will then tell my grandchildren that I met some great Malaysians. I will tell them that what the government tried to do after spending hundreds of millions of ringgit on a unity ministry and campaign after campaign to unite the people but in vain. This elusive unity to draw the races together the heroes have achieved overnight by their ISA detention.

It proves money, insincerity and corruption will never unite the people but love for the truth and justice and persecution for those ideals will. The arrests and detention of Malaysians such as them will not not cow the people but make them even more united and determined to remove bad rubbish.

No prison is big enough to hold the hearts and minds of the people when they are roused to expunge the corruption that masquerades as governance and pollutes every decent thing they touch.

To those persecuted heroes I say, "Thank you for making my country a better place. Some day your glory will rise and those who have done you wrong will be ashamed. Hold your head high because you are heroes of the nation, and I humbly salute you. All truth and justice believers salute you. God is not mocked. Those who call evil good and good evil and punish the innocent but acquit the guilty will themselves not escape his punishment."

I call on the government to come to its senses and stop the senseless and unjust ill-treatment of its true sons and daughters. They love their country no less than those in power, perhaps they love their country more because they dare to stand up for the truth and pay the price for their defiance.

To the government I say heaven and earth watch your every move and the day will come when if you persist in punishing the innocent your shameful nakedness will be exposed and you will find nowhere to run and cover your guilt. Soon the day of judgement will come and the people will rejoice with those you have so wrongly persecuted. (By STEVE OH/ MySinchew)