Sunday September 14, 2008
Opposition slams ‘ridiculous’ reason for using ISA
PETALING JAYA: Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar’s statement that Sin Chew Daily journalist Tan Hoon Cheng had been arrested “to ensure her safety” was “downright ridiculous”.
DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said Parliament had to meet to amend the Internal Security Act (ISA) to provide for such a “new provision to protect the safety of reporters”.
“If not, that is not the purpose of the ISA,” he said.
He added that there had been no basis for Tan’s detention, and that the other two detainees – Malaysia Today news portal editor Raja Petra Kamarudin and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok – should be “released immediately and unconditionally.”
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was also present at the press conference, stated that the Home Minister “cannot protect Malaysians by detaining them.”
He also said the DAP was very upset with Kok’s arrest as she was “a duly-elected representative, an MP, and a state assemblyman.”
PAS secretary-general Kamaruddin Jaafar also condemned the arrest of the three individuals under the ISA “in the strongest terms”.
Kok’s lawyer S. Sankara Nair said he was refused permission to see Kok, who has been held at the Wangsa Maju police station since Saturday night.
Sankara said he managed to see Kok from outside the police station gates together with DAP members of Parliament Tan Kok Wai and Gobind Singh Deo. She appeared to be in good spirits despite her arrest.
“She remained cheerful and waved to us from the police station compound,” he said.
Gobind, who is also the party’s legal bureau chairman, said the DAP would submit a habeas corpus application to the court for her release in the next few days.
In Shah Alam, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said the arrest of elected representatives under the ISA would not solve problems and would only give the country a bad name.
“On behalf of all the elected representatives, I want to voice our protest over the arrests and hope the Federal Government will release her (Kok) soon,” he told a press conference.
Khalid said Kok had never shown any bias towards any race during state-level discussions and was mature in discussing and seeking solutions to problems faced by the people regardless of their race or religion.
“We (state government) made all our decisions collectively and Teresa (Kok) was part of the discussions which were frank and fruitful.
“This is the first time that an elected representative at the state level has been detained – it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.
Khalid said the arrests were a political move to scare the people and prevent Pakatan Rakyat’s efforts to topple the Government.
Related stories:
Sin Chew reporter goes home a day after ISA arrest
Emotional return for Tan
Journalist groups decry arrest of Sin Chew reporter
Reporter’s life was threatened
Explain arrests, cops told
Group: Charge them in court, don’t use ISA
Zahid: Blame the detainees
Stop playing the race card, Pakatan Rakyat tells Umno
MCA: Don’t use ISA on newsmen
Act cannot be used to ‘protect’ detainee, says Liow
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