By Jacqueline Ann Surin
jacquelinesurin@thenutgraph.com
LEST we allow our new prime minister to get away with a slick public relations exercise, here are some cold hard statistics about previous prime ministers and the Internal Security Act (ISA).
In July 1981, two weeks into office as prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamadreleased 21 ISA detainees. As he himself candidly admitted on 5 April 2009, he thought it would be good for him. It probably was for his public image then.
But what did Mahathir subsequently do during his 22 years in power? According toSuaram, under Mahathir’s administration, 1,500 people were arrested under the ISA. Most notable of these arrests were the 100-plus Malaysians who were arrested in 1987 under Operasi Lalang.
But Mahathir wasn’t the only one to start off a premiership on such a good footing. In November 2003, after almost a month of being prime minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi released 15 detainees. Subsequently, however, under his administration between October 2003 and April 2009, there were 105 new arrests.
And so, Datuk Seri Najib Razak isn’t really doing anything extraordinary as Malaysia’s new and sixth prime minister. His release of 13 ISA detainees on 5 April follows a route Malaysians should now be familiar with.
The question, of course, is what will Najib do after this?
Three foreigners — one from India and two from Myanmar — were the first to be released from ISA detention on 5 April
and were taken away in an Immigration Department vehicle (Pic by Raj Kumar, courtesy of theSun)
Let’s be real
The ISA violates human rights. No matter what the rhetoric may be about national security and public order, no government should have the absolute power to detain someone without trial for an indefinite amount of time.
And while Najib has promised a review of the ISA, it has been made clear thatabolishing it is not in his pack of cards. Worse, the new administration hasn’t even committed to a specific timeframe about when this review will be concluded. Instead, it has assured the public that it will take time.
This begs the question about the government’s sincerity in respecting civil libertiesand putting people first. Proposals for amending and/or abolishing the ISA have, on countless occasions, been submitted to the government. Even if the government cannot trust human rights groups to have the nation’s best interests at heart, they can at least trust the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).
Syed Hamid AlbarSince 2003, Suhakam has been proposing to the government that the ISA should be abolished. Indeed, then Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar indicated on 8 April 2009 that Suhakam’s report may be used as a basis for the government’s review. Hence, since the government wouldn’t need to start from scratch, it should be able to commit to a timeframe of when it will complete its review of the ISA. This, in fact, would be in line with part of Najib’s slogan, “Performance Now“.10
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