Gov't shoots down revival of ISA, for now
PARLIAMENT The government has dashed a BN lawmaker's hopes for the Internal Security Act to be revived.
Law Minister Nancy Shukri said the government has no plans to revive the ISA, at least for now.
"Currently, the government does not plan to revive the ISA. This is because existing laws are enough to deal with heavy crime in the country."
Nancy ( photo ) said this in a written parliamentary reply to Abdul Rahman Mohamad (BN-Lipis) who asked Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak about the possibility of bringing back the draconian law.
"The act (ISA) is deemed to be the most relevant law to deal with heavy crime," Rahman said.
The ISA has had a long history of being abused to stifle political dissent.
Najib repealed the ISA in 2011, and it has since been replaced by various laws, including the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota).
However there are still calls to bring back the ISA, most recently during the red-shirt Sept 16 rally.
For more news and views that matter, subscribe and support independent media for only RM0.36 sen a day:
Subscribe now