Organisers of an anti-ISA protest have vowed to proceed with its plan to hand over a memorandum to Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at his residence tomorrow despite dire warnings from the police.

"We will carry on with our plans but we will ensure that it is carried out peacefully. It is now too late to cancel," said secretary of the Abolish ISA Movement (AIM)'s working committee S Arutchelvan after a 45-minute meeting with the police this morning.

According to Arutchelvam, deputy city police chief Dell Akbar Khan and CID chief Hadi Ho told him and working committee co-ordinator Zaid Kamaruddin that while the police would allow the memo handover at 3pm, a gathering would be banned.

"They (police) indicated that they would be deploying riot police and putting roadblocks to stop people from coming but we will try to work it out with the police to smooth over the handover process," said Arutchelvan.

In a dragnet beginning April 10, the police arrested 10 reformasi activists whom police chief Norian Mai alleged were involved in a 'militant attempt' to overthrow the government.

Four detainees have since been released, while four are in the Kamunting detention centre in Perak and two remain under police custody.

Abdullah, who signed the Kamunting detention order, is empowered under Section 8(1) of the ISA to detain individuals for a period of two years, after which their detention could be further extended.

'Forced to do this'

Arutchelvan added that a delegation comprising AIM's committee, opposition leaders and NGOs would hand over the memorandum to Abdullah.

He added that his group has decided not to apply for a police permit.

"We did not apply for a police permit because we are just giving him (Abdullah) a memorandum. We are also encouraging people to hand over anti-ISA postcards and protest letters to him," he said.

Arutchelvan also expressed his disappointment with Abdullah for not personally accepting a similar memo that was sent to his office in Putrajaya last month by family members of ISA detainees.

"We have sent him a letter on June 5 that we would be coming to his residence (on Jalan Bellamy). We are forced to do this as we could not meet with him in Putrajaya. If we had been treated differently we would not be here," Arutchelvan said.

AIM consists of over 80 NGOs and political groups that are campaigning for the release of all ISA detainees and the abolishment of the Act which allows detention without trial.

Asian observers

Meanwhile, two members of the Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia (ARDA) have announced that they will be observing the handover.

Cambodian member of Parliament Tioulong Saumura said, "I implore the government to show restraint and let the people exercise their right to peacefully demonstrate."

"I hope that the government will take the time to listen, rather than impose silence with strong-armed tactics," agreed ARDA vice-chairperson and Mongolian MP Dr Sunjaasuren Oyun.

Three ARDA delegates came to Kuala Lumpur yesterday to investigate the status of the ISA detainees.

They will issue a press statement of their findings on Monday.

ARDA was formed in October last year and consists of politicians, activists and academics from 13 countries in Asia "to support democracy and human rights on a regional basis".