Friday, September 16, 2011

malaysiakini and the REPEAL of the ISA and other Laws?

The Prime Minister's announcement of the repeal of the ISA during his Malaysia day speech must be welcomed by many Malaysians.
However a healthy dose of scepticism exists as seen in this malaysiakini article What about the many other oppressive laws?.
Many Malaysians do not trust their government anymore as even within the same speech, the PM mentions new detention laws that allows the detention of "terrorists".
In fact, the ISA was meant to detain terrorists but the government has conveniently abused the laws for many years.
One even wonders if the term "terrorist" will be defined as "anyone or any organisation that plans to undermine the BN or UMNO power".

For me the government lost its credibility when it backtracked over the implementation of the IPCMC as that showed the PDRM was capable of defying the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry. We also witnessed how the MACC were responsible for the death of Teoh Beng Hock and no doubt the RCI was used more for damage control even as another government official also died under suspicious circumstances.

So should we all cheer this time around? Let us see the details of the proposed laws and see how it compares with the old ISA.
Also let us examine the time frame. If the laws are repugnant, do away with them now and not as an election sweetener.
Surely even Najib cannot believe his electorate are that gullible?
And don't forget to clean up the Electoral Roll and the EC before you call for elections.

Only then will I realise that you have made a serious and sincere effort to reform Malaysia for our benefit.
Happy Malaysia Day!