De facto Law Minister Dr Rais Yatim today said the 'Safe America Act 2001' formulated by the United States recently was more "controversial and extreme" compared to the Internal Security Act.

Rais said the new US security law allows detention of suspicious foreigners for months without trial and permits harsh conditions to be imposed such as cutting off their telephone lines or monitoring their calls.

Despite America's criticisms against the ISA in Malaysia or Singapore, the US is now more extreme in taking precautionary measures, he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

"Another anti-terrorist act in Britain against the North Ireland also contained provisions which are more severe compared to the ISA," he told reporters in Kuala Klawang, Negeri Sembilan.

According to the minister, comparisons are drawn between Malaysia and both the US and Britain as a reminder that the laws safeguarding national security is necessary.

"Every nation in the world when faced with security problems must save themselves, and Malaysia is no exception," he said.

"All this while, US criticised other countries with strict laws on security, now they (the US) themselves have to come up with laws which are even more severe than the ones we have," he said.

Amending laws

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government may amend existing security laws to deal with "modern-day" terrorism.

Abdullah, who is also the home affairs minister, said the amendments would not necessarily only involve the ISA.

"We are not confining ourselves to only certain laws. We need to have a wider perspective because modern-day terrorism... needs to be tackled with a broader range of action, not specific and not restricted only to certain agencies," said the deputy premier.

Earlier today, Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak said the ministry is prepared to help the government look into legal adjustments that can contain modern terrorism more effectively.

The minister said all-round co-operation is necessary because "terrorists are using more sophisticated methods and have connections with terrorists in other countries and are international in nature".

Terrorists now have at their disposal modern tools such as cell phones and the Internet to facilitate communication in the course of planning and carrying out their destructive acts, he said.

"As such, all efforts must be intensified so that we can face the terrorist threats more effectively,"stressed Najib in a Bernama report.

However, opposition leaders fear that the government may harp on the Sept 11 attacks to tighten security laws for future clampdown on dissidents.