We refer to the Malaysiakini report Hisham: Period of ISA detention may be reduced .

The Internal Security Act or ISA must be abolished and not amended. This is the stand of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) towards the ISA since it was introduced and enforced in1960.

The Home Minister is amending - not abolishing - the ISA to appease criticisms of the ISA by various groups locally and internationally.

Since the Barisan Nasional government had signed a peace accord with the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) in 1989, there is no need for the ISA any longer.

But the Barisan Nasional government looks for excuses to justify the need for the ISA. Since 1960, the ISA has been used against both political activists and criminals.

PRM has all the while, even on the very first day of its introduction in Parliament in 1960, objected and questioned the use of the ISA to detain without trial. Detention without trial is against the very spirit of the rule of law as established in modern human society.

This very nature of the ISA invariably leads to the abuse of power. That is the reason why the ISA must be abolished and not just amended. Fifty years of the ISA in Malaysia is a 50-year history of the incessant abuse of the ISA.

Many PRM members and cadres including PRM’s past national presidents were detained under the ISA for as long as 16 years. I myself was detained for nine years from 1976 to 1985 . I was then put under restricted residence for two years after the release from the detention camp.

PRM members have experienced the injustice of the ISA after going through long periods of detention without trial and in solitary confinement.

The writer is secretary-general, PRM.