Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim will broach the issue of the five reformasi leaders' detention under the Internal Security Act in the weekly cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Rais, who is de facto law minister, was responding to reporters on the recent Federal Court ruling that their initial 60-day detention by police was "unlawful" at the Parliament lobby today.

He added that he will also bring up the matter with Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Rais said that on the question of law, once the court has made its decision, it is "incumbent on us to follow and to abide by it".

As for the authorities concerned, such as the police, he said they will have to improve on their actions based on the comments made by the court.

Proper assertions

Rais said if the affidavits of the five detainees, which were presented by the police, are not in order or in conflict, those who prepared them must come back with the proper assertions.

"After all, that is one of the grounds which was brought up,' he said, adding that he will also touched on the question of technicality of the court decision in tomorrow's cabinet meeting.

Yesterday, Rais was reported in the media as saying that the police should uphold the Federal Court's decision on the five detainees, who are currently serving a two-year detention order under the ISA in Kamunting, Perak.

A four-member Federal Court panel unanimously ruled last week that the initial detention of the reformasi activists Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohamed Nor and Saari Sungib, malaysiakini columnist-cum-film maker Hishamuddin Rais and FreeAnwar.com webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin was "unlawful".

The group had filed a writ of habeas corpus to seek their release from ISA, which allows detention without trial, after their arrest for being "threats to national security" in April last year.

However, while the Federal Court the country's highest court had subjected the police detention power under Section 73 of the ISA to the test, it did not apply the same principle to the minister's two-year detention order under Section 8 of the same Act.

'Bigger burden'

Commenting on Rais' statement in the New Straits Times yesterday, legal counsel for the five, Cheah Kah Peng said it is more meaningful for the minister to direct his statement to Abdullah as the latter has a "bigger burden" to uphold the court's decision.

"Abdullah can do justice to the five by revoking their detention order and releasing them unconditionally," said Cheah, who is also a Keadilan's supreme council member.

Cheah, who met the reformasi leaders in Kamunting yesterday for 90 minutes with fellow legal counsel Gooi Hock Seng, said the group were "quite happy" with the court's decision.

"They said right from the beginning they were never a threat to national security, that their detention was unjust and they should not be detained for even another minute," said the lawyer.

Meanwhile, Cheah asked the advisory board who will meet three months before the two-year detention expires, to "re-advise the Yang diPertuan Agong" on the five leaders' detention.

He said when the board met in June last year to review the detention, they too, have made their decision based on the police report, which the court has now found unlawful.

"Like Abdullah, the board has been misinformed and misled by the police. This is a serious miscarriage of justice if it remains uncorrected," said Cheah.

"We hope the board will re-advise the Yang diPertuan Agong and seek for the release of the detainees as His Majesty is the highest fountain of justice in the country," he added.