your say 'We have heard all this before. The PM announces a ‘surprise' to the delight of all. Perkasa starts making noise. The DPM keeps silent. Same script...'.

ISA replacement laws to be tabled next year

Lexicon: Minister in the PM's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said that the Umno government needs "to ensure those held under the various acts and who need to remain under detention are still held" so they cannot repeal these unjust acts next month.

What a load of rubbish. This circular argument means the ISA and its mutant cousins can continue to exist, and the prisoners can continue to languish in detention without trial for as long as the BN pleases.

There are plenty of other laws to charge them under. Ever heard of the Penal Code and proving a charge in court? This is a blasé confirmation that Umno intends to call for elections before the ISA is ever repealed, and then renege on its promises - as usual - if it wins again.

Docs: It sounds like PM Najib Razak's plan to repel ISA is purely to appease the public and hope to garner more votes for Umno-BN and himself.

His move in abolishing ISA has nothing to do with the BN government being just and transparent. Once GE13 is over, the ISA will be re-introduced under another name.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) did the same with the ACA (Anti-Corruption Agency). People were disgusted with ACA's lack of action against corrupt BN politicians and BN lackeys. Pak Lah promised that he would revamp ACA and the new body would be more effective in combatting corruption.

Out of the ashes of ACA rose MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission). Today, MACC is viewed as "even worse" then its predecessor.

Will Najib's replacement laws to ISA be like MACC, even worse then its predecessor? After all, Umno has used ISA to silence it critics and keep the opposition in check. So, why would Umno want to get rid of their trump card?

Ferdtan: Will the intention to abolish ISA get cancelled out before becoming reality?

It may happened just like the intention to implement the police reforms - IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission), during the ex-PM Abdullah's time when it was called off, bowing to pressure from the police force.

The police then threatened to go on strike, and the seemingly weak ex-PM capitulated, much to the dismay of many Malaysians.

The question is whether Najib is politically strong enough to withstand the kind of pressure his predecessor had. All it needs is a few external pressure groups such as Perkasa, the Support ISA NGO and some Umno members to make Najib turn his back on his words.

Heaven forbid, we hope that this is not exactly the plot planned by the government in not keeping its promises.

Joker: Announcing the intention of repealing ISA but leaving the loophole of having repackaged ISA-type laws after the election is the usual trick by the BN government on every eve of the country's GE. I, for one, am holding back my champagne popping for now.

Anonymous: Did anyone notice, the ISA replacement laws are going to be tabled next year, which could be after GE13? So the message is, ‘vote for BN so that we can do it - or not'.

The: We have heard all this before. The PM announces a ‘surprise' to the delight of all. Perkasa starts making noise. The DPM keeps silent. Nazri buys time. The ‘surprise' becomes a U-turn. Same script, same outcome.

Jeremy Tankh: So all these changes can only take place after the next GE. But who will be the PM by then: Najib, his deputy or someone from Pakatan Rakyat?

If Najib is no more the PM, then Umno doesn't have to keep the promise he made. But if he wins big, Umno's track record shows that such promises never get implemented.

With Umno, there are always flip-flops, twists and turns. Obviously, many of Najib's key Umno leaders disagree with him on many things, including this one.

Hello: My suspicion is that this is just another ruse by the BN government to allay the fears of the people and to buy time for the people to back BN-Umno. And when they win the election, all this talk of repealing/abolishing the ISA, Emergency Ordinances, etc, will go into the NFA (no further action) shelf.

And even if they do come up with new legislation, they will put draconian clauses into these Acts. Nothing in the history of Umno and its politicians have engendered any trust from the public, starting from the time of Dr Mahathir Mahathir to the present PM.

It will better if the rakyat elect Pakatan into government. Only then we will be assured of change.

Borg Kinaulu: I was so ready to vote for Najib when he said he would abolish the ISA, then - deja vu! It'll have to wait until after GE13. So, at least now, we have promises from both sides that ISA will be abolished.

The voters will have to decide which side is more likely to follow through with the promise. In any case, whoever wins the next general election, Najib's bold move shall go into history as a positive contribution to the development of democracy in Malaysia.

With a sitting BN PM promising to abolish ISA, there should be much less resistance from BN politicians and the bureaucracy if Pakatan takes over Putrajaya and do the same. Thank you, Mr Prime Minister.

RR: Najib must ensure that the new laws on public order are not another ISA under another name. Of course, in today's world an Anti-Terrorist Act is a must in any nation, for we do not want to see innocent people blown to pieces.

David Dass: We must remember the objections that were taken in both the United States and Britain to such draconian anti-terror legislation.

We must remember our own opposition to such legislation. We must remember Guantanomo and the reports of torture. We must remember the racial profiling that resulted from the paranoia created by the suicide bombers in the US, UK and Europe.

Harsh and oppressive laws bring about the very result we fear. Prevention of terror activities is best achieved by effective border controls, vigilant surveillance of terror networks within and outside the country, interception of communications between terrorists, efficient intelligence gathering and the building of resistance within the local population to such acts of horror.

We should also counteract the ideological basis for terror attacks by rejecting the politics of religious and racial hatred. Preventive detention is the worst way to detect and destroy terror cells.

WeCANLive: Bold move, Najib. But let's hope these new terror laws do allow trials and inquiries, otherwise, the ISA and the emergency laws are just being morphed into other draconian legislations.

Quigonbond: BN is a coalition without principles, except one involving perpetuation of self-serving interests. With anticipated general elections in November or even in March 2012, repealing the ISA, etc, and then putting in place the same laws under different names, the announcement pre-Malaysia Day is nothing more than an elaborate PR exercise calculated to sucker the rural folks.

Nazri can promise anything now, like fashioning the new legislations after Patriot Act, but that's six months down the line and it's the prerogative of BN federal government then whether they want to make it like Patriot Act or stick ISA up Malaysians' collective behinds once again.

Najib may not even be PM by then if BN wins miserably and they have an excuse to sweep this aside. Like I said, Pakatan should continue to focus on what it does - to wake the rural folks up to see BN as what it really is - corrupt and decadent - so that BN does not come to power after the next general election.

SusahKes: Najib has cried "wolf" one too many times.

Najib's move sparks Perkasa's racism warning

Dood: At least, Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali is right when he said that there are still a lot of racist groups in the country. He should know, given that Perkasa is one of the biggest of such groups.

Onyourtoes: Is this announcement by the PM going to end up like his New Economic Model (NEM) where one after another of the proposals get watered down due to right-wing extremist groups' pressure?

If Najib can't see Perkasa and Mahathir Mohamad as his main problem to bring about a greater inclusive Malaysia, then he is not fit to be our PM.

Milosevic: I support Ibrahim Ali's opposition to the expansion of more freedoms in Malaysia. Ethnic fascism requires national myth-making as well as coercion. It is more important that this coercion be applied to members of the chauvinistic group than to ethnic outsiders.

In Malaysia's case, the opening of political discourse will lead to more plural understandings of being Malay and Muslim, which will blur the enforced boundaries between the races. Malays cannot be allowed to steer away from ethnic fascism. The ISA is ultimately vital for this purpose.

So comrade, Ibrahim Ali, please make sure that the ISA is never repealed or else make sure that its replacement is merely a cosmetic version of the old. Fight on and keep racial divisions alive. If we fail, not only will you be irrelevant but also my dream will collapse.

Kgen: Is Ibrahim Ali saying that ISA is still needed to keep racists like him in check?

 

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