With all due respect to Silent Majority who wrote ('ISA should not be abolished,' July 11) the reasons provided for the continued maintenance of the ISA are spurious and vague at best. The claim that national security is threatened is incorrect. What is threatened is Barisan Nasional's security.

It is not a basic principle of democracy that citizens elect the government of their choice at every elections. The historical and current existence of minority governments around the world, for instance, the government of Harold Wilson early in the previous century and the present government of Chen Shui Bian, attest to this.

Rather it is a basic principle of democracy for citizens to be represented in Parliament or some other similar body. This is a fine but crucial distinction.

To this end, in the previous elections, some 43 percent of the Malaysian population voted for the opposition. Why then do the opposition members of parliament number less than one third of the total number of members?

Will the government reform the system to ensure appropriate representation for ALL views and beliefs ? If the government is not mature enough to ensure such representation, it and its supporters should not point fingers at the opposition.

I will concede and gladly agree with Silent Majority that removal of a government other than by elections is not acceptable. However, governmental suppression and persecution of legitimate opposition and the suppression of alternative views and opinions is also a threat to national security.

It gives rise to a feeling of disenfranchisement and dissatisfaction which results in insecurity and instability. Such frustration when felt by a minority can only lead to violent conclusions and it is the suppressive and oppressive government which must shoulder the blame.

And in Malaysia, the disenfranchised minority is a sizeable one as evidenced by the electoral results.

Further, it seems to me, that it is not the opposition that is anti-government. Rather, the government is anti-opposition. And anti-student, anti-NGO, anti-alleged neo-colonialist, etc. If there is any hate at all, it seems to emanate from the corridors of power and nowhere else.

Finally, in championing the abolition of the ISA we champion that which is right and just. Whether or not the West agrees with us is irrelevant. Whether or not there are unjust, unrighteous or hypocritical laws in the West is of no concern to us.

We must do what is right for Malaysia. And that means abolition of the ISA.