I refer to Sgt Pepper's letter that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad was once against the Internal Security Act.

The reality is, he never was. Even when he was outside Umno. In fact, he was even more pro-ISA than any of his predecessors when they were in power.

True, when Mahathir became PM, he released almost all the ISA detainees locked up under previous governments, and these were mostly oppositionists who called for Umno's ouster at a time when the communist revolt was still in progress.

But it was largely the work of Musa Hitam, the liberal-minded deputy PM of that time. Once Musa was ousted from the cabinet by Mahathir, it was jail-without-trial time again.

Musa's opposition to the ISA made him mount a challenge against Tun Mahathir, and this was joined by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah later on.

Current Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was part of their team, so was Defence Miniser Najib Razak, Women and Family Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, de facto Law Minister Rais Yatim, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's office Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin, Johor MB Abdul Ghani Othman and Culture and Tourism Minister Kadir Sheikh Fadzir.