• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

ISA will not be reviewed: PM

By Deborah Loh and Ng Boon Hooi

October 18, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 Oct 2008: The government has no plans to review the Internal Security Act (ISA) despite strong calls by two Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, the MCA and Gerakan, at their annual general assemblies.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said there would be no review of the ISA as he was focused on three bills to set up a judicial appointments commission, an independent anti-corruption commission, and a special complaints commission on law enforcement officers.

“At the moment, I am concentrating on three bills to table in Parliament. So I am not dealing with the subject of the ISA at the moment,” he said at a press conference after opening the 55th MCA annual general assembly today.

The three bills Abdullah is pushing through are part of his list of reforms before he steps down as Umno president, and by extension, as prime minister, in March 2009.

Out of date

In his speech today, outgoing MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting called for the government to review the ISA. The Act, enacted in 1960 to deal with the Emergency, allows for indefinite detention without trial.

Ong also suggested that it was out of date, as the communist threat for which the Act was meant to counter, no longer existed.

Last weekend, the Gerakan annual general assembly also made a similar call, and passed a resolution for the ISA to be replaced with a specific law to counter terrorists.

Asked if reviewing the ISA could be part of his reforms, Abdullah said reforming the law would not exonerate those who have been detained under the ISA for the wrong they had done.

“Reforms do not mean that…whatever wrongs done, are no longer wrong. That is not the way.”

He said that while there were no plans to review or amend the Act, what was more important was that it was used wisely.

“This is a law that must be used carefully so that there is absolutely no abuse of power. That is more important.”

He noted that other countries were also using similar laws, citing the US and Britain.

Abdullah declined to answer a question as to whether his successor, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, would review the law once he became the new prime minister.

The MCA annual general assembly tomorrow is expected to pass a resolution calling for the ISA to be reviewed and for a check and balance mechanism to be adopted in its use.

Both the MCA’s Youth and Wanita wings also passed resolutions on the same matter at their respective assemblies yesterday. TNG favicon

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph