Try ISA terror suspects in court, says DAP leader at Manila meet

comments     Susan Loone     Published     Updated

Suspected terrorists detained under the Internal Security Act should be tried in an open court to proof that the threat was real and not merely an excuse to clampdown on the opposition, said a DAP leader at a meeting in Manila yesterday.

Speaking at the Socialist International Asia Pacific Committee Meeting at the Philippines capital, Tan Kok Wai said the Malaysian government must produce concrete evidence to convince the world about the seriousness of the threat.

"There is a tendency in the part of the ruling government to link these suspected terrorists to the legitimate opposition party PAS," added the opposition member of Parliament.

Tan was referring to the detention of Al-Maunah and Malaysian Mujahidin Group (KMM) members under the security law last year.

Al- Ma'unah earned notoriety following an arms heist and brutal murder of two policemen. Several of its members were charged and found guilty of waging a war against the king. Sentencing varied from death to imprisonment.

Authorities have detained several of the group's members under the ISA.

Meanwhile, scores of alleged KMM members, including the son of PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat, were held under the security law for alleged terror activities.

The group was also said to be part of a regional terror movement Jemaah Islamiah, which is linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Unjust stereotyping

However, Tan told delegates that his party does not condone terror nor tolerates the use of force to meet political objectives.

He said the hypothesis that a strong regional Islamic network which is prepared to use violence to set up a pan-Islamic region in Southeast Asia should not be taken lightly.

On the same note, Tan stressed stereotyping Muslims as potential terrorists and bias treatment against them was "unfair and unjust and will further divide the understanding between the world's two great civilisations — Islam and Christianity".

The ISA came into existence in 1960 to deal with then communist threat but was also invoked against political leaders, unionists and others whom the government viewed as a threat to national security.

In April last year, the security law was used to detain several leaders from the opposition party Keadilan for allegedly plotting to topple the government through violence.

Six of them, serving a two-year detention, are currently staging a hunger strike to protest their continued incarceration.

Meanwhile, another DAP leader Fong Kui Lun when addressing the meeting said the Sept 11 attacks on the United States provided Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad with an excuse to justify past and present undemocratic policies.

The member of parliament added that since the attacks, the government had used allegations of terror to discredit the opposition, especially during election campaigns.

Citing last month's Ketari by-election in Pahang as an example, Fong said the government "unashamedly made full use of its machinery to campaign for its candidate".

"The Information Ministry was fully used to propagate the opposition as violent and extreme," lamented Fong who is also DAP central committee member.

In the by-election, the ruling Barisan Nasional candidate Yum Ah Ha defeated DAP's Choong Siew Onn with a whopping majority of 2,204.



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