The government has been urged to summon an emergency Parliament meeting next week to deliberate and explain the use of Internal Security Act on blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin today.

"The onus is on the government to justify the blogger's detention without strong evidence," said Ipoh Barat member of parliament M Kulasegaran.

The best forum to do it is the Parliament, he said, calling on the government to own up its public accountability and ministerial responsibility.

He believed the government crackdown on media and bloggers, and Raja Petra's detention was a scare tactic to create a ‘chilling political atmosphere' in the country, and depicted it as "hiding behind a legal shield to instil fear on everyone".

He said many Malaysians regularly surfed Raja Petra's website Malaysia Today to gain first hand information on current happenings much to the government's dislike.

"The government should learn to agree to disagree," he told Malaysiakini .

raja petra and internal security act Raja Petra's sudden detention without trial under the draconian Internal Security Act has sent shock waves across the country and drew sharp criticisms from politicians and civil rights activists alike.

Meanwhile Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh urged Raja Petra's wife Marina Lee Abdullah, children and lawyers to take immediate steps to ensure safety of the detained blogger.

"They should immediately seek access to him at the detention centre and secure the government assurances on his safety.

"Anything could happen," he said.

A fresh crackdown?

Civil rights activist BK Ong feared Raja Petra's detention could be the beginning of the repeat of 1987 Ops Lallang crackdown on the civil rights and liberty movement currently gaining momentum across the country.

"The Umno-led government could use ISA as its last resort to launch a nationwide crackdown to restore its waning power.

penang watch ong boon keong 290808 "It could be used as a deadly weapon to crackdown on the mushrooming civil groups in order to stay in power," he said, calling on activists to exercise restraint and not to react to government provocation.

He called on the civil activists to collectively organise rational forums and use cyberspace effectively as their tools to derail the government's efforts to disintegrate the current nationwide uprising towards a change for a freer and liberal country.

"Activists should encourage the people to lead a collective movement for a change away from government's notorious crackdown operations and rigid application of draconian laws," he told Malaysiakini .

Penang-based Hindu Action Network coordinator G Mugunthan also blasted the government's deployment of ISA on the prominent blogger as a desperate act.

"If the government has evidence to prove RPK's wrongdoings against the nation's interests, it should charge him in the court of law.

"ISA is not the solution," he said.

MCA leader wants explanation

DAP veteran politician S Neelamekan said Raja Petra's detention, recent blocking of websites and issuance of show cause letters to three newspapers were results of Umno internal political chaos.

He criticised the Umno government of reverting to its old style of cracking down the media and civil liberty when it's power had been weakened.

Penang MCA deputy chairperson Lau Chiek Tuan called on the government to explain and legitimate the reasons behind the use of ISA on Raja Petra.

"The authorities must immediately convince the public to justify its action," he said.