BERSIH 2.0 has slammed Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali for saying that Malaysian Chinese would not take part in the electoral watchdog’s rallies if the Internal Security Act (ISA) was still around.

The Bersih 2.0 Steering Committee said it was shocking that the Malay rights group leader felt that the repealed law should be used to intimidate people who assembled peacefully.

The group’s chairman, Maria Chin Abdullah, said ISA and laws that allow detention without trial had no place in any vibrant democracy.

“They must be abolished. Bersih 2.0 stands firm that national security laws should not be used as an excuse to restrict the rights of the people in exercising their freedoms of expression, movement and peaceful assembly. 

“The ISA was a draconian law permitting arbitrary detention in alleged cases involving national security. 

“It is shocking that Ibrahim Ali feels that this law would apply to, or be used to intimidate people who gathered peacefully at Bersih’s rallies, especially when he had a taste of ISA under Ops Lalang,” she said in a statement.

Ibrahim had said being detained under ISA had taught him of the need for a powerful law to safeguard national security and keep the peace in Malaysia. 

He said ISA would have stopped large numbers of people, specifically the Chinese, from gathering in Bersih’s demonstrations.

Ibrahim spent 58 days in detention, and was among the 106 people picked up in 1987 under Ops Lalang, which police claim was to prevent racial riots.

ISA was enacted in 1960 when the Communist insurgency in the country was at its peak. But critics say the law has been used to silence activists and opposition members.

The law was repealed in 2012 by Prime Minister Najib Razak in a bid to burnish his reformist image internationally. But two new laws to fight terrorism and organised crime, and to safeguard peace and public order provided for sweeping powers similar to ISA.

The Special Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) and Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) both allow arbitrary detention. Pota and the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) also give police the power to detain people without trial.

“Today, draconian national security laws, such as Sosma, Pota, and Poca, and the absolute powers granted to the prime minister under the National Security Council, are arbitrary tools at the government’s disposal,” Maria said.

In November last year, the Bersih leader herself became the first activist to be detained under Sosma pending investigation under Section 124C of the Penal Code that prohibits “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”. – October 24, 2017.