A senior government official defended the Internal Security Act today, claiming that the controversial law had provided stability and prevented the country from falling into a state of chaos.

"The people should be thankful to the ISA; in a scenario without the act there would be no guarantee of security in the country," said the parliamentary secretary in the Prime Minister's Department, Noh Omar.

During his talk entitled 'Detention without trial: An academic finding', Noh explained that the act was not against fundamental rights entrenched in the Federal Constitution.

"The act is actually allowed under the Section 149 of the Federal Constitution, therefore it is erroneous to say that the act is unconstitutional," Noh told his audience at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi.

While fundamental liberties are spelt out in Sections 5 and 10, Section 149 offers limitations to the freedoms accorded.

"The act should be seen positively and not be construed as being against fundamental freedoms. The government has a responsibility to maintain the harmony and the security of the country.

"The racial ties of the country should be maintained," Noh added.

On April 3, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that Malaysia would separate itself from 'international norms' to safeguard the security of the nation.

Seven days later, police launched a dragnet which saw 10 Keadilan and reformasi leaders detained under the ISA which allows indefinite detention without trial.

Early this month, the police arrested 10 individuals under the same act on suspicion of involvement in a militant group allegedly wanting to wage a 'holy war'.

"Even though the communist threat is over we still have threats like the Al-Ma'unah and Al-Arqam.

"If not (for the ISA) we would be in danger of the country going haywire like what happened to Indonesia," Noh said.

Sweeping powers

The act was originally drafted to deal with the Communist Party of Malaya in the 1960s. The movement, headed by Chin Peng, gave up its armed struggle in 1989.

During the talk, organised by the UKM Academic Staff Association, a member of the audience asked why the government had to use this controversial law instead of other laws.

He added that the ISA gives police sweeping powers, making citizens wary that the police are constantly watching them.

"Why can't the Police Act or other laws be used? The people are so afraid of the wide-ranging powers of the ISA. It's like the police are given a sixth sense through the act," the participant said.

Noh then explained that some of the cases were hard to prove and needed extra time for evidence to be collected.

"The ISA is different from the other laws as it provides for preventive detention. If we use the Police Act or the Penal Code, the crime would have to be carried out first before we can charge the perpetrator.

"With the ISA we can prevent any disturbances from happening in the first place," Noh said.

To the Human Rights Commission's (Suhakam) stand that detention without trial is a human rights violations, Noh said, "Suhakam must understand that we have a social contract with the different races and we need to protect it."