your say 'Despite embarking on much-awaited reforms, I can't help feeling that there is an air of arrogance in the PM's statement.'

Najib: Only BN can claim credit for ISA repeal

1M: "Speaking at Shah Alam today, PM Najib Razak said the credit should go to the BN government for listening to the people."

Why did Umno take so long to listen to the people? Why didn't Umno hear it during its heyday? The fact is that the Umno government is so arrogant that they would not listen to the people's cry, not until its position is threatened.

If credit must be given to someone, it is the people of Malaysia, not Umno and its silent partners.

Anonymous_3e86: BN takes credit for abolishing ISA? How about BN taking credit for using ISA against the opposition all these years? BN finally listens to the rakyat? After all these years? ISA should have been abolished years ago.

The: Let's look at Najib's logic: BN created the ISA and caused so much hardship to many who were jailed without a recourse to justice.

Now that BN has announced the repeal of the ISA (without any details), he is already claiming credit for it.

Credit for what? Repealing something which you should not have introduced in the first place?

Freemsia: It took Najib two years since 2009 to actually do away with the ISA. And he did this just when he was condemned for the way he demonised the Bersih 2.0 rally supporters. Not to mention, the hard-handedness in dispersing them.

And he did it right after finding out that his popularity has dipped to 59 percent. Moreover, he did it when the general election is just around the corner.

If it wasn't for these factors, does one would think he would actually repealed the ISA? Najib must think we are all born yesterday.

Joker: Has the ISA been repealed? Has anything been done or aren't all those just merely announcements and intentions? Aren't BN and PM Najib Razak counting the chicks before they hatch?

Since Najib says these are all the results of listening to the rakyat, should not Bersih 2.0 now be made legitimate, those anti-ISA candlelight vigil participants who were mobbed, crushed and arrested for singing Negaraku be compensated, while the police be censured?

Are all these being swept under the carpet?

Black Mamba: The BN, having misused ISA to their benefit and with much opposition from the public at large, is now trying to repeal the Act fearing backlash at the next general election.

The devil was them, and now they want to claim credit for repelling this outdated law.

Ksn: The opposition, Bersih, the Bar Council, the NGOs and other groups which have been clamouring for the complete withdrawal of the ISA for many, many years - a law meant for purposes other than what Umno has used for - should take all the credit.

Voice: Since Najib said only the BN government can claim credit for abolishing this draconian law, then it should take the responsibility for not listening to the people, kept the ISA, used it and inflicted it on the people in the last few decades.

Already many people had suffered and were unfairly punished under this cruel law.

David Dass: It is really not important where the idea came from or whether the decision was precipitated because of pressure from the rakyat.

The PM has explained the rationale of his government in making the decision to repeal the ISA. It was about Malaysia ‘becoming a more progressive democracy'. It was about ‘civil liberties' and balancing the rights ‘of the individual and the public'.

This is a big moment in the life of the nation. We could be making the transition to a better kind of society with more constructive political activity.

Disbeliever: Despite embarking on much awaited reforms, I can't help feeling that there is an air of arrogance in the PM's statement.

Why don't we give the opposition a try-out at the federal level? If we, the rakyat have had to endure more than 50 years of being with the ‘devil', how much worse can it get if the opposition comes to power?

Anonymous: With this statement, Najib can be likened to be taking one step forward and three steps backward. Gone now are the acclaim (if only a handful) generated soon after the announcement.

Taking its place is a confirmed suspicion that it's all just an exercise to garner votes for a coalition which has completely ran out of ideas on how to win elections other than by cheating and vote buying.

I hope Pakatan Rakyat would publicise the fact that most, if not all, of the announcements were in fact their distinctive campaign promises already outlined expressly in its Buku Jingga.

Wira: Najib, you are a joker. If BN had removed ISA immediately after the signing of the peace accord with the Communist Party of Malaya, all Malaysians would have given the ruling coalition the credit.

Certainly not after it continued to abuse the ISA for the cruelest of all reasons, ie. to threaten and quash popular dissent and people who do not share the same political ideology as them.

The arrests of Teresa Kok, RPK (Raja Petra Kamarudin) and Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng under ISA all but discredit Najib's claim.

Multi Racial: In the eye of Malaysians, it was Pakatan, NGOs and those who pressured the government that has lead to this change.

BN will never change and they have proven that for more than 50 years. We know that if the BN government did not remove ISA, Pakatan will remove it when they take over the federal government. Thank you Pakatan, NGOs and the Malaysians who did their part.

Quigonbond: Come on, Najib, grow up and be a man. If not for the constant pressure by the civil society and opposition parties, would the voters have been discerning enough to increase their votes for the opposition?

BN lost the moral high ground long ago, and not even abolishing ISA is going to bring that back, as long as MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) and the police force remain recalcitrant, and the judiciary and EC remain partisan.

Born Free: Indirectly, Najib had confirmed that BN was responsible for prolonging the ISA to silence their critics.

Without pressure from the people and Pakatan's Buku Jingga, BN would still be carrying on their intimidation of the opposition. The show is not over yet as BN is coming up with another version of ISA which will be more repressive.

Anita Shaharuddin: Correction, it is not BN but Najib himself. Najib is the leader who should be praised for this brave move. Even his deputy claims that he was surprised to have learnt of it.

 

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