2 Dec, 2008
Never mind the ISA is un-Islamic. Never mind the ISA violates Islamic teachings. Never mind the Quran says no one can be punished without evidence of a crime having being committed. Umno needs such laws to enable it to hold on to power.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
ISA has protected country from terrorism, says Najib
The Internal Security Act (ISA) has been instrumental in combating terrorism in Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said. He said the law has kept the nation secure from the threat of terrorism.
"There is a very strong raison d'etre for the Internal Security Act. Just look at Mumbai and you realise that we cannot take security lightly. The main reason why there have been no serious acts of terrorism in this country is because we have in place the ISA," he said on the Riz Khan Show on Al-Jazeera last night.
Najib, who is also finance minister, acknowledged however that the government needed to look into some elements of the act that troubled the people. "At the same time, what is important now is to realise that people are concerned about civil liberties... what is important is how you apply the ISA. I realise there are some controversies relating to how the act has been used lately, therefore, we intend to address them in future."
The prime minister-in-waiting gave assurance that the nation's security forces were adequately trained and equipped to face any threat to national security. "They (security forces) are competent and well trained. So far, we have not encountered any serious form of terrorist attacks on Malaysia."
Najib stressed that news reports claiming Malaysian links to the gunmen who terrorised Mumbai were "baseless and unsubstantiated". He also said the threat of extremist Islamic leanings in Malaysia was not serious, although he cautioned against being complacent.
"Generally speaking, the people are very moderate in the way they see Islam being applied in this country. But we have to be vigilant about it. There are few individuals who try to interpret Islam in an extreme and myopic way, which can mislead some young people."
Najib reiterated that the government was committed towards reform and change, in line with the wishes of the people that were reflected in the results of the March 8 general election.
"I realise that there is a new Malaysia today, a Malaysia that has evolved, a Malaysian society that is more matured and sophisticated, demands openness and its concerns relating to human rights and civil liberties. I think as the government, we have to respond to this new Malaysia." Najib said reforms to the judiciary and Anti-Corruption Agency were clear messages to the people that the government was "listening to the electorate".
He said while the government attends to the needs of the Malays and Bumiputeras who form the majority of its support base, it will also champion the rights of the non-Malays. The recent allocation of RM50 million each to Chinese, Tamil, missionary and religious schools, apart from granting government scholarships to students who score nine As and above in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations regardless of race, are examples of the government's new approach.
Najib said the view that Malaysian politics was being dominated by a proxy race was not a significant issue as the democratic process was alive and well in Umno. He also welcomed second and third generation Malays who were coming to the fore as they wanted to participate in the democratic process of the party.
"This shows that Umno is a very open and democratic party," he said when asked to comment on the heated contest between Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad, for the party's Youth chief post.
On the nation's economy, Najib said it had grown stronger and more resilient and was in a strong position to weather the current global crisis. "We are in a strategic location as a gateway to China. We also have strong links with India and the Middle East. We are in a unique position to leverage on our links with various centres in this part of the world."
To a question on his reservations regarding the media, Najib said he was more concerned with them "telling the truth".
"Whether it be the mainstream media or the new media, it is important for them to tell the truth. If they tell lies, or half-truths or baseless allegations, they should be responsible for what they say or print." – New Straits Times
“………it is important for them to tell the truth. If they tell lies, or half-truths or baseless allegations, they should be responsible for what they say or print," said Najib. Agreed! So let’s get down to the truth -- no, not MY version of the truth, but the REAL truth, not the distorted ‘truth’ of Umno and Barisan Nasional.
In 1960, Najib’s father, Tun Abdul Razak -- many whom refer to as ‘Bapak Tiga-Belas Mei’, but whom I would not go so far as to label as such seeing that this ‘dark period’ of Malaysia was not a one-man effort but a collective thing -- mooted the Internal Security Act (ISA). Allow me, therefore, to take you down memory lane so that we can better understand how the ISA came about.
There is no online version of the Malaysian Parliament Hansard records from 1960 and I am too lazy to drive down to Parliament House to conduct a manual search -- so I will have to rely on my memory to ‘extract’ what happened that day in 1960 when I was only ten years old. Forgive me, therefore, if I am not able to quote verbatim what was argued and debated in Parliament. I will try to relate, as close as possible, what was said, although it will have to be ‘lebih kurang’ and not a verbatim version of events.
Before that, for the less literate of our readers, allow me to explain what is a Hansard record. Hansard is the traditional name for the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. In addition to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the UK's devolved institutions, a Hansard is maintained for the Parliament of Canada and the Canadian provincial legislatures, the Parliament of Australia and the Australian state parliaments, the national Parliament of South Africa and South Africa's provincial legislatures, the Parliament of New Zealand, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, the Parliament of Malaysia, the Parliament of Singapore, the Legislative Council of Brunei, the Parliament of Sri Lanka, the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, the National Assembly of Kenya, the National Assembly of Tanzania, and the Parliament of Jamaica.
Tun Abdul Razak Hussein
Okay, now back to the 1960 Parliament debate. Tun Abdul Razak Hussein was then Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. He became the second Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1970 to 1976 after successfully ousting Tunku Abdul Rahman soon after the 13 May 1969 race riots -- which most historians agree was ‘engineered’ by the ‘Young Turks’ in Umno led by Tun Razak in their bid to oust the Tunku (and which worked if that was the reason for May 13).
Tun Razak was the Prime Minister responsible in setting up Barisan Nasional, which is the ruling coalition of political parties that have held power in Malaysia till today. Tun Razak, Najib’s father in case you have forgotten, is also the ‘architect’ behind the New Economic Policy (NEP) -- so this makes him an ‘engineer’ and ‘architect’ both in one.
But May 13 and the NEP are not the only things we can ‘credit’ Tun Razak with. In 1960, Tun Razak tabled a proposal in Parliament to enact the ISA, a draconian law that allows for detention without trial. The Umno argument that the ISA is an ‘old British law’ is therefore not true. Malaya was granted independence or Merdeka from Britain in August 1957. This means the ISA was made into law three years AFTER Merdeka. So how can it be an ‘old British law’? That is a lie which Umno has been perpetuating for a long time and in the spirit of ‘telling the truth’, as Najib said, let us therefore tell the truth.
D.R. Seenivasagam, a lawyer and founder of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), who was the then opposition leader in Parliament, stood up to oppose the proposed ISA. This law was too draconian and too ‘loose’ to be allowed.
Tun Razak then explained that the ISA will only be used against the Communist Terrorists (CTs) in the government’s effort to combat terrorism perpetuated by the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). It will be for that purpose and for only that and for no other purpose.
There are about 500 CTs operating along the Malayan-Thai border and another 200 plus in the Pahang jungles, explained Tun Razak. The ISA will be used only against these 800 or so CTs in an effort to end terrorism in Malaya. With that explanation and assurance, even the opposition supported the ISA and Seenivasagam, plus all the other opposition Members of Parliament, voted in favour of introducing the ISA into law.
We must remember that Malaya, then, was under a state of emergency, which was declared by the British in 1948. However, twelve years later, in 1960, the Emergency was lifted. Therefore, when the ISA was proposed in 1960, Malaya was no longer under a state of emergency. So why the need for an ‘emergency’ law like the ISA? This is something that escapes me. If there was no longer a state of emergency why do we need an emergency law? Furthermore, the British Emergency Ordinance (EO) was never repealed (and which is still used till today). So the ISA was an additional law.
In 1989, almost twenty years ago, the Communist Party of Malaya signed a Peace Treaty with the Malaysian government in Haadyai, Thailand. Officially, the ‘war’ had ended and Malaysia was no longer under a state of emergency (which had been lifted in 1960 anyway). But the ISA remains and continues to be used.
Since the signing of the Peace Treaty in Haadyai in 1989, the ISA is no longer used against the CTs. It is now used against the ‘new Communists’, the Islamists -- plus of course those opposed to Umno. Back in the 1990s the West had declared -- after the break-up of the USSR in December 1991 and when Communist Russia no longer posed a threat -- that the ‘new Communism’ is Islam and Malaysia, a so-called Islamic country with Islam as the official religion, agreed with the West that Islam is the ‘new Communism’. So the ISA, which used to be used against the CTs of the MCP in the old days, is now used against the ‘new Communists’, the Islamists.
So much for Islam Hadhari.
The Malaysian government, therefore, has cheated the rakyat. The ISA is a law that is a SPECIFIC law meant to combat terrorism perpetuated by the Communist Party of Malaya. It is not meant for anything else. And the target of the ISA was the 800 or so CTs operating along the Malaysian-Thai border and in the jungles of Pahang. But that threat no longer exists. The ‘war’ ended in 1989 with the signing of the Peace Treaty in Thailand. There is no longer a state of emergency in Malaya, which the British lifted in 1960 anyway. But the ISA remains and is used against those who oppose Umno and against the so-called ‘new Communists’, the Islamists.
Umno says that Malaysia’s government is a ‘Malay’ government. Umno claims to be the largest Muslim party in the world. Umno says that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia. But Umno, the so-called largest Muslim party in the world in a country that legislates Islam as the official religion of this country, upholds laws that violate Islamic teachings. That is the reality of the situation. And Islam has a word for this. This word can be found in the Quran. And that word is munafiq, which means hypocrite.
In Surah Nur of the Quran, it specifies the punishment for the crime of adultery. No one can be accused of adultery unless there are four witnesses to the crime. And if the accuser is not able to prove his allegation, then he is to be punished instead. Yes, the accuser and not the accused must receive punishment in the absence of evidence. That is what the Quran says.
But those Muslims from the largest Muslim party in the world -- who foam at the mouth when they perceive in their very narrow minds anyone ‘insulting’ Islam and who scream that Islam is the official religion of this country -- violate the Quran’s edicts. We need the ISA, say these people, for the sake of preservation of national security. Never mind the Quran says no one can be punished unless there is evidence of a crime. Never mind the Quran says the accuser instead of the accused must be punished if the allegation is not supported by evidence. The Quran can say one thing. Umno will do the opposite.
This, Islam calls, munafiq.
Last night, 30 or so Malays aligned to Umno demonstrated outside the Bar Council in Kuala Lumpur. These 30 or so were demonstrating their support of the ISA. It was a pro-ISA demonstration. And they were protesting the anti-ISA forum being held inside the Bar Council.
The forum started at 8.00pm. The pro-ISA demonstrators came after the Ishak prayers. This is probably because they first went for their Ishak prayers. And this also probably means they do not miss their mandatory five times a day prayers. And, when they pray, they recite verses from the Quran. And they also probably recite verses from Surah Nur of the Quran. But, last night, after their Ishak prayers, they assembled in front of the Bar Council in support of the ISA and in violation of the verses of the Quran.
This, Islam calls, munafiq.
And Najib, too, wants to retain the ISA, a law that his father mooted back in 1960. Never mind the ISA is un-Islamic. Never mind the ISA violates Islamic teachings. Never mind the Quran says no one can be punished without evidence of a crime having being committed. Umno needs such laws to enable it to hold on to power. So it may not be the Islamic thing to do. So what? Power is more important than Islam. The ISA is more important than the Quran. This is what matters.
This, Islam calls, munafiq.
All together now, repeat after me……..munafiq…...munafiq….….munafiq.
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