Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's 20th year anniversary today as the country's leader has been marked by number of 'ominous incidents' over the past few weeks, says DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang.

Lim said that yesterday's mass arrest in Kamunting of 41 people protesting the Internal Security Act (ISA), the ISA detention of student leaders and attempts to blame the Dewan Tunku Canselor (DTC) fire on student activists were 'ominous signs for the future of democracy and human rights in Mahathir's third decade as prime minister'.

"Until last week, in his 20 years as prime minister, the ISA had never been used against student activists even when it was invoked in the 1987 Operation Lalang mass arrest against opposition leaders and civil society dissent," said Lim said in a press statement.

He added that the ISA was now being used to 'browbeat campus dissent and politicise the DTC fire by blaming students for arson although investigations have unearthed no such evidence'.

"If none of the three agencies had given arson as a probable cause of the DTC fire, it is most irresponsible for the prime minister to declare that student sabotage was still a possibility without making clear it was strictly his personal view," Lim said.

He stressed that without evidence on the arson and sabotage theory, the authorities could create a panic atmosphere that university campuses have become a hotbed of "militant anti-government" student activists out to bring down the elected government by force.

"The three investigation reports by the Fire and Rescue Department, the police and the Chemistry Department should be immediately made public so that Malaysians can judge for themselves the outcome of these investigations and whether the government had over-reacted in its crackdown against student activists,," added Lim.

Dated wiring

The June 29 pre-dawn fire which gutted the 35-year old hall at University Malaya caused damage amounting to RM12 million.

Following the fire, several politicians, particularly from Umno, blamed 'militant students' for torching the DTC as a sign of protest against the government.

A 33-page report from the Fire and Rescue department last week was reportedly cited a short-circuit and overloading, and dated wiring as the probable causes for the fire.

Mahathir, however, told the media on Saturday that the three agencies involved in the DTC investigation, including the police and Chemistry department, could not reach a consensus on the cause of the fire.

The prime minister said investigations by the three agencies were not conclusive as yet and that the possibility of arson could not be dismissed.