Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) today criticised the government's threat to use the Internal Security Act against those who oppose its plan to use English to teach Mathematics and Science in national schools next year.

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) executive director Cynthia Gabriel said the use of the ISA was now being abused to curtail freedom of speech.

"We condemn the threat [to use the ISA] because the Mahathir government is again proving that it cannot handle discussions of sensitive issues. They just use the ISA to silence the opposition.

"It is a cowardly policy to use the ISA on anything and everything," she said when contacted.

Gabriel said there should be greater freedom to discuss critical issues with more allowances for disagreements and difference of opinions.

"The whole racial issue has always been kept under wraps and true discussion has always been suppressed under the notion that (race-relations are) very fragile.

"But discussions need to start happening so that we can have a truly multi-racial society," she said.

Iron-fisted response

National Human Rights Society (Hakam) said the government's threat to use the ISA for an education issue was irrational and alarming.

"The iron-fisted response from the government to date only proves that it cannot defend its new education policy and would rather jail critics than listen to reason," said Hakam in a press statement.

It urged the government to retract its threats and work with educationists to raise the standards of education that was evidently lacking in the country.

Hakam said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tagging of respected institutions Dong Zong, Dong Jiao Zong and the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall as 'racial extremists' was "malicious and false" as they were not the only ones to oppose the plan.

It said Malay and Indian educationists have also offered criticism and recommendations on the debate as well.

Echoing a similar view was the Abolish ISA Movement (AIM) which also condemned the government's plan to use the ISA on educationists.

"We are totally against the use of the ISA in the first place. It is totally uncalled for. How can civil society discuss the issue under threat?" said AIM secretary S Arutchelvan.

"It looks like Mahathir is just bulldozing his way through," he said when contacted.

Strong resistance

The government's decision to switch to English in the teaching of Mathematics and Science in schools beginning next year met with strong resistance, particularly from Chinese educationists.

Critics slammed the plan as unworkable as it does little to improve the mastery of the language while students may find it difficult to understand the two subjects if taught in English.

Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin said yesterday that the government would use the ISA as a last resort to quell "extremists" from aggravating racial tensions over the English-language issue.

He was commenting on Mahathir's warning to "extremist groups" a day before "not to play with fire".