Once the Internal Security Act was invoked when Malays were incensed; now when Umno is. What once was a useful, indeed required, law to prevent the overthrow of the government, it is now brought to rein in political opponents.

In the recent crackdown, now standing at nine, all are political opponents of Umno. However you look at it, the ISA is enforced on questionable assertions of an armed revolution planned.

In the past, when the ISA is justified to detain perceived enemies of the state, it was viewed two ways: good riddance to bad rubbish; and, paradoxically, the concomitant fear that walls have ears and we had better shut up. In other words, it silenced dissent. In the latest crackdown, neither view surfaced, except amongst the very paranoid.

Instead, Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai had to threaten further arrests. The deputy minister of home affairs had to distance the government from the police action - he said the government did not know whom the police intend to arrest.

The government used the ISA on its deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998. It was Anwar's second brush with the ISA; he was detained for two years in 1973, amidst student demonstrations to protest the famine in Grik.

His arrest is a watershed in the ISA's bite. Arresting the deputy prime minister under the ISA shook the government to its roots, and the fallout continues to haunt it to this day. The Malay is no more afraid of it. Neither the government nor Umno nor the police can explain this dramatic shift in perceptions, but think it can be invoked to put people in their places.

The government had promised the ISA would not be used on political opponents. Both Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the deputy prime minister and home minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, were categorical about this. But eight Keadilan members were picked up, and if Norian Mai is correct, more would be.

That he says so suggests the ISA is used for a political purpose; if the subversives were known, the police would have just detained them without further ado. So, why is Norian Mai warning those he wants arrested for anti-national and subversive activity?

The Anwar fallout

The fallout from Anwar's arrest under the ISA in 1998 forced the government to eschew it to rein in political opponents. When it cracked down on dissent, refusing permission for rallies or otherwise, the opposition resorted to massive demonstrations. The police is petrified with each and overreacted. But it kept coming.

So, however good a case it can mount to justify the arrests, it is now disbelieved. It now raises the ante. The ISA is brought back with a vengeance. But the anti-Umno and anti-government Malay is unconcerned. The more the ISA is used to crush dissent, the more the government is under notice.

The issue is not, as the government claims, if demonstrations and overt anti-government activity would develop into a continuing confrontation between government and opposition. But it this lack of political space for those who have a view different from the government that brings this confrontation about. The government insists, however, that that right is theirs only at elections.

But for democracy to function, there must be this continuing clash of opinions on politics and how the country should be governed. The Malaysian government does not allow it. It could when it wrought its will, politically and culturally, on the Malay and Malaysia. Not anymore. The Malay, with a view different from Umno, wants the right to be heard, and explain his view.

He does not accept the restraints, and is prepared to ensure it in what way he can. He has drawn the line beyond which he would not withdraw. It is, in many ways, a political awakening. Umno fights to retain the support it has, as the Malay, especially the young, reject it. It is in this light, the ISA is used to contain this growing resurgence of Malay cultural hegemony.

Umno is in flux. These Malay pressures come as it tries to reorient itself back into the Malay mainstream. But tired, arrogant, self-serving leaders realise in shock if it is allowed to continue, it could consume them and Umno.

Umno itself breaks into factions, with the centrifugal hold on it fraying at the seams. Umno does not accept it, and fights tooth and nail, against immeasurable odds, to prevent it.

The Fauzi fallout

The Umno divisional elections did not go as the leaders expected. The Fauzi fallout could still bring about the resignation of the man he accused of corruption - former Pahang mentri besar and now information minister and Umno secretary-general.

The prime minister threatens to bar the rich from party positions. The finance minister, Daim Zainuddin, goes on leave for two months, when he is most needed in Parliament to shepherd the Eighth Malaysia Plan through.

The mainstream media, quick to cover Umno functions not in depth but to blanket with it, is strangely reticent on how branch and divisional meetings fared. The full details are not known, but the Anwaristas are returned in force, with the Fauzi affair putting Umno on the defensive.

The prime minister's men have come home, though several, especially those involved in the conspiracy against the jailed former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, lost. But the divisional heads must assert, revitalise the divisions, rekindle lost support.

That cannot be done by having the ISA used on the opposition. It would still not prevent Umno members joining other parties. Umno was shocked to its roots when a former Umno state executive councillor formed a PAS branch on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and a few hundred turned up to grace the occasion.

What Umno needs is a reformasi of its own, and the ISA is not how to achieve it.