The Abolish ISA (Internal Security Act) Movement or AIM took their campaign to the Home Ministry office this morning in conjunction with the 43 rd anniversary of the enactment of the security law today.

Led by AIM secretary Yap Swee Seng, the delegation of 20 comprising ex-ISA detainees, detainees' families and anti-ISA campaigner submitted four memorandums to the ministry.

Ministry's detention department officer Awang Din received the memorandums and held a 45-minute meeting with the group.

14-point memorandum

Among present were human rights group Suaram executive director Cynthia Gabriel, recent-released detainees Tian Chua and Saari Sungib. Others were wives of detainees from the alleged terrorist groups Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) or the Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

"The event today is to present our views on the ISA and the appeals of the detainees' families to the home minister," Yap said when contacted. AIM comprised 82 non-governmental organisations.

"We reiterated our stand to the ministry that ISA is blatantly against the basic human rights principle as it allows for detention without trial. The detention subsequently brings a lot of sufferings such as financial difficulties to the detainees' families," he added.

The ISA was enacted by the British to combat the communist insurgency in 1960 but the law earned notoriety when it was used against opposition politicians and activists over the years.

The home minister holds the discretion to sign the initial detention of 60 days and a subsequent two-year detention order under the ISA.

In the 14-point memorandum presented by AIM, the movement urged the government to immediately release all the remaining ISA detainees or charge them in court.

The movement said the security act has become an "alternative act and short cut" to allow the police to discard their professionalism in gathering concrete evidence before making an arrest.

"Every detention under the ISA is the failure of the police to carry out their duty and obtain concrete evidence to hand over to the public prosecutor for further action," the memorandum said.

Suhakam recommendations

Yap also called on the government to accept several recommendations made by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) in its Review of the ISA report released in March this year.

"We urge the home ministry to respond on the report as soon as possible," he said.

In its report, Suhakam said judicial process must be brought back to check implementation of security laws and that the government should clearly spell out the offences which are considered threats to national security.

The commission also suggested for investigative detention periods to be limited to seven days, extendable by a court order for up to 29 days in total while the two-year detention period to be shorten to three months, after which a detainee should be released or charged in a court of law.

The memorandum presented by the group of wives also detailed their living difficulties after their husbands were detained.

Among other things, they said they had failed to get financial assistance from the Welfare Department to reduce their burden despite having repeatedly applied to the department.

According to Yap, the ministry replied that it would inform the Welfare Department to give due attention to their applications.

Presently, there are 91 people detained under the ISA, based on a statistic released by the National Economic Action Council (NEAC) in June.

They were alleged to be members of militant organisations. Of the group, 58 are said to be members of JI, 18 KMM, and 15 Al-Maunah.

Abolish ISA campaigners have intensified their campaign and hope for more releases after the six reformasi leaders were released in stages in early July. They have been detained for a two- year period.

They were accused of planning to topple the government through militant means, a charge which they vehemently denied.