Saturday, September 13, 2008

Protection, not Detention....

Just a few weeks after PM Badawi told Malaysian journalists to do their job without fear, a young female reporter is arrested and detained for 24 hours before being released today. The reason for her arrest under ISA, according to the Home Minister, is for her own protection.

It is incredible that the Government can offer up such farcical explanation for the arrest. One can only draw 2 conclusions from this excuse given - either the government is totally clueless as to how absurb the explanation sounds OR it is a veiled message to the people that the ruling party has near totalitarian powers such that it need not give valid justifications for acting against its own citizens.

The ISA, by allowing the police to detain anyone swiftly and without due legal rights accorded to the detainee, should only be invoked under the most dire circumstances where the country's internal security is so compromised that without drastic and quick action, it will descend into utter chaos if the alleged perpetrator is allowed to hide behind the laws of the country while continuing his or her threat against national peace.

Such immense power should be exercised with great caution, what's more when it is used against one's own citizens. Sound-minded Malaysians must be wondering how is it that the Malaysia's peace can be so fragile, or that the Malaysia's legal system is so porous, such that three law-abiding citizens, has to be detained without trial.

It pains me to see the parents of Theresa Kok, who tearfully appealed to the authorities to disclose the whereabouts of their daughter. And mind you, Theresa is an elected Member of Parliament. She has denied any involvement in the allegations made by Selangor's former MB, and there she is, detained without any legal means to defend herself while the accuser is not even being investigated.

If the arrests are meant to project strength and control, it hasn't. Instead it smacked of desperation and despair.Any last ounce of goodwill that this current Badawi Administration has among the peace-loving, forward-looking Malaysians has just evaporated together with this unjustifiable ISA detentions.Come next elections, the party that has the courage to discard this archaic piece of legislation will win my vote; and I dare say, this is the same sentiment shared by millions of young Malaysians out there.