Five ex-Internal Security Act detainees held during the Ops Lalang, exactly 15 years ago today, still believe that the government is abusing the security law for its own gains.

They urge Malaysians to be vigilant against detention without trial, especially at a time when many governments are using recent terrorist incidents, like the Sept 11 attacks in the US and the Bali bombings, to justify enacting such laws.

The 'Ops Lalang' crackdown in 1987 saw a total of 107 arrests and the temporary closure of three newspapers English daily tabloid The Star , Malay tabloid Watan and Chinese broadsheet Sin Chew Jit Poh .

The ex-detainees strongly believe that if enactments or amendments of preventive detention laws are left unchecked, the governments will not only detain suspected terrorists but also those perceived to be anti-establishment.

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said, the current bad times following the recent terror attacks in the US and Indonesia have provided a fertile ground for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to take a hardline.

"I think people are not so much in support (of the ISA) but are less concerned now because pre-Sept 11, the ISA elicited more concern and outrage from Malaysians," he said in a telephone interview on Friday.

"But post-911 and the worldwide crackdown on terrorism, the degree of concern for the ISA has suffered somewhat," added the ex-detainee.

State terrorism

Explaining that the ISA first enacted on Aug 1, 1960 was a form of state terrorism, Lim said the meaning of terrorism should also include this.

"Unfortunately, people have misconceived the role of the ISA and overlooked its consequences as a tool of state terrorism, where the state is party to the suppression of the people," he said, adding that Israel's act of terrorising the Palestinians was a much worse than Malaysia.

Another ex-detainee Meenakshi Raman, the legal advisor for Consumer Association of Penang, said only those who have been through ISA detention will feel strongly against the law regardless of the circumstances.

She said Malaysia was not a homogenous society, the middle and upper-middle classes, particularly, may be unable to relate to the sentiments expressed by ex-detainees of the ISA and similar preventive detention laws.

"These are people who only live in their own little world, whom I call the comfort-zone group, and who are only concerned about their own interests," she said when contacted in Penang.

"Having gone through the ISA detention myself, there is no way I can defend it as necessary, even in these trying times and extenuating circumstances."

Meenakshi saw no need for the government to resort to the ISA using terrorism as an excuse as there were more than enough laws and wide police powers to conduct detailed investigations.

"We should be careful not to play right into the hands of the US government by readily classifying people as terrorists and by using the ISA. We should be a critical society and not easily waver," she warned.

Fight must continue

Social activist Dr Nasir Hashim, also the pro tem chairperson of Parti Sosialis Malaysia, feels the media's emphasis on worldwide terrorism acts and bombings have somewhat influenced the public perception of the ISA.

"People's perception (of the ISA) depends on where the message is coming from. The politically-controlled Malaysian media have been emphasising on terror acts to show that laws like the ISA are justified in prevailing circumstances.

"The media's role as a powerful communications tool and the public sentiment must be considered together," added the former Ops Lalang detainee.

He said the greatest fear is the government's plan to "tighten the ISA" as reflected in the statement made by de facto law minister Dr Rais Yatim on Oct 3.

Rais had said that Section 73(1) of the ISA will be amended to prevent detainees and enforcement officers from divulging national security secrets in court.

Political scientist Dr Chandra Muzaffar, also the president of the International Movement for a Just World, said that such an amendment will make it impossible to have any form of judicial review.

"I think it will make the ISA more draconian. I think the Malaysian public should be alert to this and oppose the move."

Echoing Lim's sentiments, Chandra said compared to four years ago, Malaysians today have become less concerned about the ISA.

"After Sept 11, it is not inconceivable that the ISA will be used only against individuals thought of as threats to national security, though still unproven, but also against those who challenge the global hegemony of Washington.

"Therefore, all of us should continue to fight against the ISA for these reasons," he said.

Key government officials, such as Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, have also said following the Bali bombings that such an incident would not have happened if Indonesia had the ISA.

Founder member of the Women's Development Centre and the All Women's Action Society, Dr Chee Heng Leng, thinks recent events have not changed the fact that the ISA is a law incompatible with human rights.

"Or that it is implemented without any checks and balances within the system. It is an instrument of repression and in the context of present day Malaysia, it suppresses the development of civil society and full-fledged democracy," she said in an e-mail response.

She argued that because the ISA allows suspects to be detained without adequate evidence and presentation of that evidence, it could also be used to cover up incompetence.

Even in the aftermath of Bali and Sept 11, she said people suspected of either having committed or of being about to commit acts of terror should be charged, and have the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law.

"Why should that change?" she asked.

Though unsure of whether Malaysians were generally more or less supportive of the ISA, Chee felt that the dominant argument presented by the authority and in the media was to use terrorism as a justification for the existence of the law.

"The refutation of this argument has not been so clearly presented nor widely disseminated in the media," she added.

Other Ops Lalang ex-detainees include Suaram director and Chinese educationist Dr Kua Kia Soong, PAS Youth chief Mahfuz Omar and PAS central working committee member Mohamad Sabu, former Baram MP Harrison Ngau, Universiti Putra Malaysia retired assistant professor Dr Cecilia Ng, women's issues activist Lim Chin Chin and Sahabat Wanita's Irene Xavier.