The Internal Security Act (ISA) is being used to detain political activists because government leaders become 'allergic' or 'psychotic' whenever the local share market plunges, an opposition Member of Parliament (MP) said today.

Debating the Eighth Malaysia Plan (8MP) in Parliament, Keadilan MP for Kemaman Abdul Rahman Yusof said he spotted similar trends in 1987, 1998 and 2001 when share markets plunged and were followed by ISA detentions.

"I hope some kind of examination will be carried out on these leaders in order to save the rakyat from ISA detentions when share markets plunge in the future," he said.

Abdul Rahman said the local share market reacted when Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin recently took leave, sparking speculations that he would be handing in his resignation soon.

He noted that counters connected with the Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah showed a positive high.

"So did counters owned by enemies of the Finance Minister, such as Arab-Malaysian and Rashid Hussein Bhd," Abdul Rahman said.

Tengku Razaleigh once held the finance portfolio but in 1987 led a breakaway faction from Umno to form the opposition party Semangat 46 which he disbanded in 1996 to rejoin Umno.

Political gimmick

Abdul Rahman also said the RM3 billion stimuli package announced by the government to boost the economy was only a 'political gimmick' as he claimed the money was originally meant for reviving projects that had stalled due to the1997 currency crisis.

He further claimed the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index plunged 31 points when the fund was announced whereas the Singapore share market rose 2.8 percent while Bangkok rose 1.7 percent on the same day.

On government and private sector debts, Abdul Rahman demanded correct figures as he claimed that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and deputy Finance Minister Chan Kong Choy had given contradictory numbers.

He said on April 19, Mahathir told Parliament that government deficits totaled RM100 billion whereas Chan said in December last year that public and private sector debts totaled RM782.6 billion with federal debts at RM123.7 billion, resulting in a total deficit of RM906.3 billion.

Abdul Rahman said during the current Parliamentary session, Chan reported an increase in government deficits by as much as RM165 billion.

"This means that public and private sector as well federal government debts are currently about RM1 trillion," he said.

"Which is the right version?" he asked.

He said the rakyat needed to be well prepared for the tough times ahead and should not be duped by media reports that quote the figure given by Mahathir.