Controversial law will be applied if necessary, warns Malaysian leader
MALAYSIA'S Prime Minister yesterday hinted that the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for years of detention without trial, could be used against street protesters.
'The ISA is a preventive measure to spare the nation from untoward incidents that can harm the prevailing peace and harmony and create all sorts of adverse things,' Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said.
'The ISA will be there. When it is appropriate to use it, it will be used,' he told reporters on his return from an overseas trip.
Thousands of Malaysian Indians staged the minority community's biggest anti-government protest at the weekend to complain of racial discrimination. The protest was organised by an NGO, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
Two weeks earlier, another crowd of about 10,000 rallied in the capital to demand electoral reform.
The rallies were the biggest street demonstrations in a decade.
Asked to comment on political talk that the government should use the ISA against such demonstrations, Datuk Seri Abdullah, who is also Internal Security Minister, said: 'I am surprised there are people who wanted the ISA to be used. I thought they do not want the ISA.'
The ISA, started by the British in colonial times, is a controversial law because it allows the government to detain people for years without having to produce them for trials in court.
Rights groups and the opposition say they are often used to silence government critics. But the government say the detention laws are necessary to battle terrorism and other grave threats to the nation.
The government last used the ISA against five men in September when it nabbed them for allegedly spreading rumours via SMS of a race riot ahead of independence day celebrations on Aug 31.
Over the years, the government has jailed suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiah terror group, opposition leaders and even leaders of deviant Islamic teachings.
Police said yesterday that eight men who claimed to be members of Hindraf assaulted two restaurants workers after refusing to pay for their food.
'The men then took out machetes and an iron rod and assaulted two of the workers. They also damaged furniture in the restaurant before fleeing in two cars...which we later found were using false registration numbers,' said police chief Sulaiman Junaidi of the Brickfields district.
Meanwhile, Umno vice- president Muhyiddin Yassin said claims by Hindraf that Indians were marginalised and lived in abject poverty were baseless and inaccurate.
REUTERS, BERNAMA
MALAYSIA'S Prime Minister yesterday hinted that the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for years of detention without trial, could be used against street protesters.
'The ISA is a preventive measure to spare the nation from untoward incidents that can harm the prevailing peace and harmony and create all sorts of adverse things,' Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said.
'The ISA will be there. When it is appropriate to use it, it will be used,' he told reporters on his return from an overseas trip.
Thousands of Malaysian Indians staged the minority community's biggest anti-government protest at the weekend to complain of racial discrimination. The protest was organised by an NGO, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
Two weeks earlier, another crowd of about 10,000 rallied in the capital to demand electoral reform.
The rallies were the biggest street demonstrations in a decade.
Asked to comment on political talk that the government should use the ISA against such demonstrations, Datuk Seri Abdullah, who is also Internal Security Minister, said: 'I am surprised there are people who wanted the ISA to be used. I thought they do not want the ISA.'
The ISA, started by the British in colonial times, is a controversial law because it allows the government to detain people for years without having to produce them for trials in court.
Rights groups and the opposition say they are often used to silence government critics. But the government say the detention laws are necessary to battle terrorism and other grave threats to the nation.
The government last used the ISA against five men in September when it nabbed them for allegedly spreading rumours via SMS of a race riot ahead of independence day celebrations on Aug 31.
Over the years, the government has jailed suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiah terror group, opposition leaders and even leaders of deviant Islamic teachings.
Police said yesterday that eight men who claimed to be members of Hindraf assaulted two restaurants workers after refusing to pay for their food.
'The men then took out machetes and an iron rod and assaulted two of the workers. They also damaged furniture in the restaurant before fleeing in two cars...which we later found were using false registration numbers,' said police chief Sulaiman Junaidi of the Brickfields district.
Meanwhile, Umno vice- president Muhyiddin Yassin said claims by Hindraf that Indians were marginalised and lived in abject poverty were baseless and inaccurate.
REUTERS, BERNAMA
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