ISA againsts international law, IBAHRI said
By Debra ChongThe International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) wants Malaysia to repeal its Internal Security Act (ISA), which it claims has breached the rule of law and affected a person’s basic right to defence in a democracy.
The trial of controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, who had been detained under the ISA, showed that Malaysia was using the law as a state tool to limit the freedom of expression, the world lawyers’ group said.
“Malaysia’s use of the Internal Security Act as drafted severely curtails individuals’ rights of defence and amounts to an arbitrary exercise of state power,” said Martin Šolc, co-chairman of the London-based IBAHRI in a media statement.
“Due process and rights of defence are an essential component of the rule of law itself, which is the foundation of the democratic state.
“As the IBAHRI’s trial report into Raja Petra’s trial shows, the result is a chilling of free speech,” he added.
IBAHRI had recently published a report, “Malaysia: the delicate balance between security and due process”, based on its close observation of the detention and trial of the Malaysia Today online portal editor popularly known as RPK.
It noted that RPK was accused of publishing articles on the website that allegedly tarnished the leadership of Malaysia and maligned Islam, the official religion.
In its summary of the report, the association voiced concern that the ISA, in its present form, is being used to detain a person for an unlimited length of time, remove the person’s right to the due processes of the law and a fair trial, punish a person for offences for which they were not originally arrested and have not been tried.
It also observed the ISA was being used to limit the freedom of expression and silence the peaceful debate necessary in a democracy, besides limiting the freedom of assembly.
The trial observation report, “Malaysia: the delicate balance between security and due process” can be found from the IBA website at www.ibanet.org.
IBAHRI, which is part of the 63-year-old International Bar Association (IBA) that has over 40,000 members worldwide, noted suggestions had been sent to revise the ISA but urged the Najib administration to abolish the law.
The group stressed that only such a move could ensure Malaysian citizens are protected from future misuses and contraventions of international law.
RPK was arrested on September 12 two years ago allegedly because he was a threat to national security, after publishing several articles linking Datuk Seri Najib Razak — who was then the deputy prime minister — and the latter’s wife to the scandalous murder of a Mongolian model in 2006 and a submarine deal.
The home minister later signed an order for the 60-year-old to be held another two more years at the Kamunting camp.
But the Shah Alam High Court ordered his release on November 7, 2008, after ruling the ministerial order was unlawful.
RPK fled the country soon after despite the authorities’ best attempts to bring him back on sedition and criminal defamation charges, which he claimed was a second attempt to detain him under the ISA.
On November 1 this year, Malaysia’s highest court finally struck off the home minister’s appeal against a habeas corpus application in a bid to again detain RPK.
