Dr M on ISA and Ops Lalang

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wrote on his blog where he clarified some issues involving the ISA and others. On the ISA, he wrote "Having released people and having detained people under the ISA, I think I know something about this act and its application."

It was important that the ISA be used to silent dissent although it was meant to be a preventive law.

He also wrote on the highly controversial Ops Lalang in 1987 where he justified "At this point visitors to this blog are likely to say I did the same. I admit I did detain people under the ISA in the 1987 Ops Lalang. But it was not because they were members of the opposition. The police had informed me that there was likely to be racial clashes over the issue of Chinese education and the intention of some Umno members to hold a million-strong demonstration in Kuala Lumpur. The people detained were not only members of the opposition but included Umno members. As soon as the threat passed, the detainees were released. The issue was not political opposition to the government but the threat to national security,"

He also wrote about how George W Bush and Tony Blair, who had been critical of the ISA detained some so-called suspects. He added in his blog, "They were so critical about our ISA before but not only did they detain thousands of so-called suspects, they actually tortured the detainees when they felt threats to their security. The so-called protagonists of human rights were clearly critical when others resorted to preventive detention. When they felt threatened they not only detained people but they did this without any law which provided for such an act. Without this threat, racist extremists would undermine the stability of this country. That extreme racialism could lead to violence was not something we could take lightly. We must value our stability because it has made it possible for this country to develop much faster than other countries,"

On the review of the ISA, he stated "I don't think it should be done away with but there must be a clear cut provision as to when it could be used. We cannot have people being detained for three days and then released because the detention was for the detainee's safety,"


comments


Mahathir the ex-dictator of Malaysia, controlled us through, racial politics, media black-out and the ever powerful ISA; has SPOKEN again!

Well, at least he brought prosperity to the selected few, right?