Suspend ISA detention-without-trial powers for 2 years pending “comprehensive review”

“If anything, the release of more than a dozen of ISA detainees announced by the newly sworn-in sixth Prime Minister marked the return of Mahathirism as this was exactly what Mahathir did when he became the Prime Minister.”

Among Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s first decisions as the new Prime Minister yesterday were the immediate removal of the three-month suspension of Harakah and Suara Keadilan, the release of 13 detainees from ISA detention including two Hindraf leaders V. Ganabatirau and R. Kengaharan and the conduct of a comprehensive review of the Internal Security Act.

While these three measures are welcome, they are clearly not adequate and do not indicate that far from signalling a new Dark Age, Najib is ushering in a new era of democracy, freedom, justice and accountability for the country.

This is one of the SMS I received after Najib’s first official address to the nation last night as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia:

“If anything, the release of more than a dozen of ISA detainees announced by the newly sworn-in sixth Prime Minister marked the return of Mahathirism as this was exactly what Mahathir did when he became the Prime Minister.”

The sender of this SMS is very right in more senses than one.

Firstly, Najib’s accession as the sixth Prime Minister is accompanied by a very open and public return of both Mahathir and Mahathirism to Umno. In fact, Mahathir is expected to rejoin Umno in the next 48 hours and to campaign actively in the Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau by-elections to demonstrate that he is a greater asset to Umno and Barisan Nasional than the Prime Minister of only two days ago, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Secondly, the release of 13 ISA detainees announced by Najib yesterday is reminiscent of the first days of the Mahathir premiership in 1981 which saw the release of 21 detainees under the ISA – including two DAP Members of Parliament, Chiang Heng Kai (Batu Gajah) and Chan Kok Kit (Sungei Besi), former Deputy Minister now Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad and the former chairman of Parti Rakyat Kassim Ahmad.

If the release of 13 ISA detainees is a manifestation of the return of Mahathirism, then it will not rule out a major crackdown by Najib on fundamental liberties and democratic freedoms as happened during the Mahathir premiership like the 1987 Operation Lalang mass arrests of 106 opposition leaders, NGOs activists and community leaders; the unprecedented assault on the independence and integrity of the judiciary from which the country has not recovered after more than two decades and the undermining of the autonomy of major national institutions.

Read more at: http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2009/04/04/suspend-isa-detention-without-trial-powers-for-2-years-pending-comprehensive-review/