FOR the country’s foremost social activist Maria Chin Abdullah, the only bright note from the mass arrests under Ops Lalang was that it put her future husband firmly in her life.

It was in the aftermath of the detentions under the Internal Security Act (ISA) that Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah got to know Yunus Ali better.

Maria, then known as Mary Chin Cheen Lian, was among the country’s pioneer women activists. 

Yunus had been involved in the student movement of the 1970s, alongside Hishamuddin Rais, Kamarazaman Yaacob, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Adi Satria, Anwar Ibrahim and Ibrahim Ali.

The movement climaxed with the Baling demonstration in 1974, when university students protested in the streets of the Kedah town together with rubber tappers against poverty. It led to the arrests of Anwar, Kamarazaman, Adi, Ibrahim and others under the ISA.

Though Yunus had been part of the demonstration, he and Hishamuddin managed to flee the country, escaping police arrest. 

Yunus returned home in 1984, after 10 years of travelling through Asia, the Middle East and the United Kingdom.

Maria was not arrested in Ops Lalang but became actively involved in assisting the families of detainees and mobilising a campaign to free them, including Yunus. 

“I thought Yunus’ arrest was retaliation for his escape in 1974. At the time, his name and that of Hishamuddin Rais were on the police arrest sheet.

“Yunus was arrested three years after returning to Malaysia,” Maria told The Malaysian Insight. 

Support groups 

The support groups that Maria and her friends organised for ISA detainees 30 years ago became the basis for human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).

The idea was to provide emotional and moral support for families of the detainees. 

“We held discussions and organised support groups but not many groups came. Perhaps it was because of the shock of the scale of the arrests. Even people like Dr Chandra Muzaffar (founder of human rights group Aliran) was arrested.

“Many came from Aliran, but they were not so active. In the end, there were only five or six of us. We formed the core support group for the detainees.”

They visited as many families of the detainees as they could, she said. 

“We classified them according to groups, such as political parties, women activists, unionists, religious activists and others.

“We tried to visit the families of detainees to keep them updated. We did this as frequently as possible.”

Maria and her friends then gathered the families at the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH). 

“The first gathering was a traumatic experience. Police stormed the place, saying it was illegal.

“We shut the doors. I was tasked with dealing with the police. The police only knew to shout and didn’t listen to anything I said.

“Then they just went in and took everyone’s identity cards and recorded their names. This was a form of police intimidation.”

Running the support group was how Maria came to know Yunus’ family. She and Yunus, however, had already known each other as students in London. 

But she felt closer to him during this period, as she provided moral and emotional support to his family and campaigned for his release.  

“Yunus had to fight to continue his studies while at Kamunting. He managed to get a typewriter, paper and other materials to complete his thesis.

“Only family members were allowed to visit. I was not. The authorities were quite strict on this visitation matters.”

While Yunus was held at the Kamunting detention centre, her only contact with him was through messages passed between lawyers.

Inspired by his memory

After Yunus was released in 1989, he continued to be active with the ISA support group, sharing his detention experience. 

“After his release, I helped Yunus prepare his thesis.

“Three years after that, in 1992, we got married. We went through so much together and had the same ideas. To a large degree, our marriage came about because of Ops Lalang.”

Initially, her family were not too keen on the marriage. Maria, who was a Buddhist, converted to Islam.  

“Yunus didn’t tell his family about our relationship until we decided to get married. We returned to his kampung and met his family.

“At the time, everyone was surprised to hear Yunus was going to marry a Chinese girl. But I think Yunus’ family had long accepted that his life was going to be different from that of his brothers.”

Yunus died in 2010 from lupus.  

The couple have three sons: Azumin Mohamad Yunus, 24, Aziman Maria, 23, and Azemi Maria, 21.

Last year, when Maria was detained under Sosma (Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012) one day before the Bersih 5 rally was to be held in Kuala Lumpur, her three sons organised support groups demanding her release.

“While he was alive, Yunus always shared his experience with his sons. They were close to him.

“Our children understand what we went through. It will always be something our family will be proud of.” – October 24, 2017.