Simultaneously, Nadia constantly endured police harassment, wiretapping and disruption of our e-mail and bank accounts. Some of our friends were met with the same fate and were compelled to abandon us when we needed them most. But, in attempting to scare off and alienate my friends, how terribly mistaken were Malaysian autocrats in aping gross Gestapo tactics. How they underestimated the temper of freedom in so many places around the world, above all among friends in the West. Floodgates of human compassion were opened when the futurist author Alvin Toffler, who Mr. Mahathir asked to advise him on a pet high-technology project, sent a message of protest to the Malaysian leader within 72 hours of my capture.
Neutrality helps the oppressor.
Never the victim. Never the tormented. Friends and strangers alike took a stand and support began to mushroom everywhere. Against all odds, two prominent Malaysian lawyers, Manjeet Singh Dhillon and Balwant Singh Siddhu, offered their services unconditionally. The core group of Naseer Ahmad, Basir Hai, Safir Rammah, Jamal Mubarak and Naeem Siddiqui mounted a media campaign with phenomenal success.