Six former Operasi Lalang detainees from the DAP called on the government to immediately release all Internal Security Act detainees and not to exploit the Sept 11 terror attacks on America to justify their continued detention.

The detainees were all members of Parliament then, namely national chairperson Lim Kit Siang, deputy chairperson Karpal Singh, vice-chairperson Dr Tan Seng Giaw (current MP for Kepong), Lim Guan Eng, V David and Lau Dak Kee.

Their joint statement read: "All over the world, as an immediate aftermath of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, human rights and civil liberties are in retreat and authoritarianism is on the ascendance."

They said in the United States, a "panicked" Congress has approved US President George W Bush's "sweeping" anti-terrorism legislation that civil liberties groups said could violate the constitution and basic rights.

"The new anti-terrorism law greatly expands federal agencies' authority to conduct surveillance and wiretapping operations and secret searches against terrorist suspects while reducing judicial oversight.

"Many of these laws have been resisted for years by the civil liberty lobby, which has been in retreat since the terror attacks on US cities on Sept 11," they added.

White paper

The group said in Malaysia, the authorities will be emboldened by an increasingly "authoritarian atmosphere in the international scene to crack down even harder against legitimate dissent and the democratic opposition".

They added that this will not only be used to widen the dragnet of ISA detentions but in incarcerating the detainees for a longer period than originally intended before the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.

To them, Operasi Lalang 14 years ago was the "Black October" in Malaysia as it marked the mass arrests and detention of 107 dissidents, educationists, as well as political, religious and civil rights activists under the ISA.

The six, and the late P Patto, were served with a two-year detention order and sent to the Kamunting Detention Camp.

Meanwhile the group also called on the government to issue a White Paper on the ISA detentions of six reformasi activists and members of the Kumpulan Mujahedin Malaysia or KMM, who allegedly sought to topple the government via militant means.

This should be done especially with the clarification by the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently that KMM has no connection whatsoever with the suspected mastermind of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, they added.

Yesterday, DAP national assistant treasurer Ngeh Koo Ham also criticised the government for using the terrorist attacks and the "purported subversive activities" of the KMM to justify the existence of the ISA

Referring to the KMM 'threat', Ngeh said: "The other existing laws are sufficient to preserve law and order in the country.

"If there are reasonable grounds to believe that they are involved in arms, ammunition and explosives, the charge against them will carry the death penalty or life imprisonment. . .bail will normally not be granted and therefore, there is no worry that these KMM members will still be lurking around causing trouble or chaos.

"In a court proceeding, the accused is at least allowed to tell his or her side of the story. The people then will know whether the actions of the government are in fact political persecution or otherwise."

Ngeh, who is also the Perak chairperson, called the ISA "a threat to the very foundation of democratic Malaysia" and urged for its abolition.