Administrative Detention - Protection of The Ruling Regime

Protection of The Ruling Regime

In many non-democratic countries, administrative detention is used by the ruling regime to suppress dissent and sanction opponents of the government. In Asia in particular, administrative detention was first introduced by the British and French colonial authorities prior to and during World War II. Created as a mechanism to control political dissent, it has ironically survived and made its way into the law books of the now-independent former colonies, who legitimized its use against their own political opponents in their constitutions. In many cases, they were and codified as "emergency measures" or "internal security" acts. Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka are notable examples of such former colonies who hold political prisoners under administrative detention which has its legal roots in British colonial practices. Vietnam is an example where administrative detention was widely used by the French colonial authorities in the 1930s, to arrest those suspected of Communist activities. Post-independence, the now-ruling Communist authorities have employed very similar means to detain those suspected of ``counter-revolutionary" offenses. Some of these political prisoners, such as Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, have become known worldwide due to the detention, and their cause is championed by human rights organizations.