KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday rejected accusations that a decision to release 13 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees was simply a ploy to win votes ahead of three by-elections this week.
“We think (it is) in the best interests of the people and the nation,” he told reporters a day after taking office.
The move also proves that the Malaysian government was not repressive, he added at a press conference at his new residence in Putrajaya.
Critics and the opposition have questioned Datuk Seri Najib's motive in announcing the release of ISA detainees in his first speech as Prime Minister last Friday.
They accuse him of fishing for votes ahead of three by-elections – Bukit Gantang in Perak, Bukit Selambau in Kedah and Batang Ai in Sarawak – on Tuesday.
“Their release has been turned into political collateral to show a caring prime minister,” the Abolish ISA Movement said in a statement.
The group urged Najib to free about 40 other people still held under the law and to scrap the ISA to show his sincerity in strengthening democracy.
When asked to comment on such views, Najib said: “If we don't release them, they will say the government is repressive. If we release them, they will say we are populist.”
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday gave his backing to Najib's move. “I think it is a good move. I don't know if you remember but when I became prime minister, I released 21 people who were held under ISA,” he said. “So I thought if it was good for me, it must be good for Najib too.”
But opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim sounded a note of caution in his response last Friday: “Don't let them go free just to arrest them again a few years later...although I welcome the move, we want the draconian law to be abolished altogether.”
Among those freed were Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders V. Ganabatirau and R. Kenghadaran, who led street protests in November 2007.
Inspector-general of Police Musa Hassan said the 13 will be freed from the Kamunting detention centre near Taiping, Perak, today.
The Hindraf detentions cost the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition tremendous support from the Indian community, and continue to be a sore point with the community.
S. Subramaniam, secretary- general of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), said yesterday: “The PM has made a good move and this will help to boost support for the MIC.”
Kedah MIC deputy chief and lawyer S. Ganesan, 49, is running in the Bukit Selambau by-election, which has drawn a record 15 candidates, nine of them Indians.
But others like Asmuni Awi, Parti Islam's Bukit Gantang director of operations, believe that while Najib's move could sway some fence-sitters, it is unlikely to have a big impact.
Political analyst James Wong told The Sunday Times: “The ISA is not a big issue for voters in the first place.”
The state of the economy, the controversial policy of teaching maths and science in English and the Perak state government takeover are likely to find greater resonance, he said.
In a counter-move of its own, Anwar's Parti Keadilan Rakyat last night announced during an election rally that 6,000 members of a BN component party, People's Progressive Party (PPP), were crossing over. Of this number, 1,500 are within the Bukit Selambau constituency.
PPP president M. Kayveas dismissed the crossovers, saying he could count only six PPP members at the rally held in Bukit Selambau.
“It's a mere announcement without the presence of these members,” he said. - Straits Times
MI
“We think (it is) in the best interests of the people and the nation,” he told reporters a day after taking office.
The move also proves that the Malaysian government was not repressive, he added at a press conference at his new residence in Putrajaya.
Critics and the opposition have questioned Datuk Seri Najib's motive in announcing the release of ISA detainees in his first speech as Prime Minister last Friday.
They accuse him of fishing for votes ahead of three by-elections – Bukit Gantang in Perak, Bukit Selambau in Kedah and Batang Ai in Sarawak – on Tuesday.
“Their release has been turned into political collateral to show a caring prime minister,” the Abolish ISA Movement said in a statement.
The group urged Najib to free about 40 other people still held under the law and to scrap the ISA to show his sincerity in strengthening democracy.
When asked to comment on such views, Najib said: “If we don't release them, they will say the government is repressive. If we release them, they will say we are populist.”
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday gave his backing to Najib's move. “I think it is a good move. I don't know if you remember but when I became prime minister, I released 21 people who were held under ISA,” he said. “So I thought if it was good for me, it must be good for Najib too.”
But opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim sounded a note of caution in his response last Friday: “Don't let them go free just to arrest them again a few years later...although I welcome the move, we want the draconian law to be abolished altogether.”
Among those freed were Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders V. Ganabatirau and R. Kenghadaran, who led street protests in November 2007.
Inspector-general of Police Musa Hassan said the 13 will be freed from the Kamunting detention centre near Taiping, Perak, today.
The Hindraf detentions cost the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition tremendous support from the Indian community, and continue to be a sore point with the community.
S. Subramaniam, secretary- general of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), said yesterday: “The PM has made a good move and this will help to boost support for the MIC.”
Kedah MIC deputy chief and lawyer S. Ganesan, 49, is running in the Bukit Selambau by-election, which has drawn a record 15 candidates, nine of them Indians.
But others like Asmuni Awi, Parti Islam's Bukit Gantang director of operations, believe that while Najib's move could sway some fence-sitters, it is unlikely to have a big impact.
Political analyst James Wong told The Sunday Times: “The ISA is not a big issue for voters in the first place.”
The state of the economy, the controversial policy of teaching maths and science in English and the Perak state government takeover are likely to find greater resonance, he said.
In a counter-move of its own, Anwar's Parti Keadilan Rakyat last night announced during an election rally that 6,000 members of a BN component party, People's Progressive Party (PPP), were crossing over. Of this number, 1,500 are within the Bukit Selambau constituency.
PPP president M. Kayveas dismissed the crossovers, saying he could count only six PPP members at the rally held in Bukit Selambau.
“It's a mere announcement without the presence of these members,” he said. - Straits Times
MI
05/04/09
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