PUTRAJAYA, 2 Dec 2008: The Internal Security Act (ISA) will not be amended or repealed despite threats by certain quarters, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said today.
He said the legislation was being used with prudence and fairly and it was not misused. ISA would only be used when there was a need to ensure public security and order, he added.
“I am stressing again that the act also is not used for political tastes,” he told reporters when asked to comment on the People’s Progressive Party’s threat to pull out of Barisan Nasional if the government does not amend ISA before the 13th general election.
Syed Hamid said that presently, 48 people were detained under ISA compared to 75 previously and they could be released any time if they were found to have been rehabilitated and not a threat to national security.
Earlier, he received a visit by a Singaporean delegation led by Law Minister K Shanmugam during which ISA was among the agenda discussed.
“Both countries do not have any regret for having ISA as a preventive law because it has been able to maintain security and public order,” he said.
Other issues discussed during the meeting were the freedom and role of the media and human rights. — Bernama
