Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been urged to demonstrate his democratic credentials by dismantling the mindset, apparatus and institutions of a police state which had been put in place by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamed.

With the 19th anniversary of Operation Lalang in mind, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said in a statement today that he agreed with Mahathir that the country is a 'police state' .

Mahathir had told Abdullah in their two-hour meeting last Sunday that Malaysia had become a police state as "every time anybody invites me to give a talk, they would be called up by the police and warned, called up by the police and told to withdraw the invitation".

This then prompted Lim to question whether things would be any different under Abdullah's tenure as a whole arsenal of repressive laws and institutions to perpetuate one's political survival are still in place.

"If I am asked whether I could be detained without trial for a third time under the Internal Security Act (ISA) not for any crime but for political dissent [...] I cannot state with absolute certainty and confidence that this is now an impossible and unthinkable proposition with Abdullah as prime minister," he said.

Lim was detained for 17 months in the Muar Detention Centre under the ISA for the first time immediately after his first election as MP in the 1969 general election.

His second detention under the ISA was for another 18 months with seven other DAP politicians under Ops Lalang where he was later released in April 1989.

In 1987, the infamous Ops Lalang resulted in the mass arrests of 119 people from a broad spectrum of Malaysian society, including the members of Parliament, political activists, educationists, trade unionists, church workers, environmentalists, social activists, academicians and intellectuals.

The printing permits of three newspapers were suspended and all forms of political gatherings and meetings were banned.

The Ipoh Timur MP said that Abdullah should not have denied that Malaysia is a police state after his Hari Raya open house in Kepala Batas.

Should have agreed

"Abdullah should not have denied the undeniable. He should have agreed with Mahathir about Malaysia as a police state but reminded the former prime minister that this was his legacy after his 22-year premiership."

"In fact, Abdullah should have also reminded Mahathir of the criticisms and opposition of two former prime ministers to Mahathir in the late 1980s [...] for turning Malaysia into a police state," he stated.

Lim then asserted: "In other words, I must be able to say and believe with absolute confidence that I could not be incarcerated without trial for a third time under the ISA for no crime whatsoever but for legitimate criticisms which the powers-that-be cannot stomach."

He then concluded that if Abdullah is serious and sincere in instilling democracy with no need for a police state, he should:

repeal repressive laws like the Internal Security Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Police Act, the Sedition Act; and

restore the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary by re-opening a full inquiry into the 1988 judicial crisis through a Royal Commission of Inquiry.