INTERNAL SECURITY ACT - ISA

AKHIRNYA KENA JUGA

Akhirnya lima pemimpin tertinggi HINDU RIGHT ACTION FORCE (HINDRAF), dikenakan tahanan AKTA KESELAMATAN DALAM NEGERI (ISA) setelah diperinci oleh pemimpin tertinggi Malaysia.Demikian laporan dari media tempatan hari ini.Perkembangan terbaru dari DATO JOHARI BAHAROM yang dikaitkan dengan skandal rasuah tidak lama dahulu, menyebut bahawa kelima-lima mereka bakal dikenakan tahanan tidak kurang dua tahun demikian pula laporan yang dipetik dari TODAY ONLINE (SINGAPURA).
Tiga jam lalu, AFP melaporkan dari Washington dibawah tajuk:

US Demands Due Process For Arrested Malaysian Activists

The United States demanded Thursday that Malaysia provide fair treatment to five leaders of a rights group held under a security law that allows for indefinite detention without trial.

The five from the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), pushing for an end to discrimination of ethnic Indians in multi-racial Malaysia, were picked up Thursday and ordered held under the feared Internal Security Act (ISA).

"Our expectation as a government is that these individuals would be provided the full protections under Malaysian law, that they would be given due process, that they would be accorded all the rights accorded to any other citizen, and that this be done in a speedy and transparent manner," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Tidak menghairankan apabila Barat yang diketuai Amerika Syarikat,
campur tangan dalam setiap masalah negara membangun hatta negara mundur sekalipun.

BBC NEWS pula memulakan laporan dengan tajuk:
Malaysia Arrests Ethnic Indians

Five ethnic Indian rights activists have been arrested in Malaysia, under a rarely used security law that allows indefinite detention without trial.

The men belong to the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which organised a mass rally last month alleging discrimination against ethnic Indians.

Analysts say the arrests are likely to stoke more racial tension.

The five men are being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which human rights groups want to abolish.

The act is not thought to have been used against government critics since 2001.

Ethnic Indians - mainly Hindus - form one of Malaysia's largest minority groups.

Activists say that many Hindus live in poverty, partly because of policies granting jobs and economic advantages to the ethnic Malay Muslim majority.

But the government rejects claims of unfair discrimination.

Laporan paling terkini dari thestar Malaysia menyatakan bahawa Peguam terkemuka, Karpal singh memfailkan writ habeas corpus bagi membebaskan dua orang peguam yang ditahan dibawah ISA iaitu M.Manoharan dan V.Ganabatirau.
Laporan dari majoriti media tempatan di INDIA menyatakan tentang penahanan mereka berlima tanpa sebarang ulasan lanjut samada menyokong atau membantah kerajaan Malaysia.Malah ada laporan yang menyatakan sikap berkecuali serta mengalu-alukan usaha kerajaan Malaysia.Juga ada yang berteka-teki tentang nasib kaum India malaysia pada masa akan datang dengan mengulas 'HINDRAF TUTUP PELUANG HINDU DI MALAYSIA'.

Saya sempat bertanyakan perkembangan terbaru ini pada beberapa rakan hindu.
Mereka rata-rata membantah penahanan tanpa bicara serta melaungkan semangat untuk tetap berhimpun lagi.
Ditanya tentang kerosakan yang berlaku ketika perarakan,
mereka menyatakan 'ITU BARU SEDIKIT JIKA HENDAK DIBANDINGKAN
DENGAN KEKEJAMAN KERAJAAN SEJAK 50 TAHUN KEMERDEKAAN NEGARA'.

Ada juga yang membantah perhimpunan tersebut dengan rasa
kesal kerana tidak mengunakan saluran sedia ada.

'HINDRAF hanya seekor kucing yang garang
pada JUTAAN HARIMAU MALAYA'.
Demikian menurut salah seorang dari rakan saya.Ini menunjukan bahawa
tidak semua kaum India bersetuju dengan HINDRAF.
Malah mereka malu dengan sikap golongan profesional yang sepatutnya
membantu dengan cara lebih baik.
Dalam melalui saat-saat membimbangkan ini, jangan ada diantara kita yang menjadikan isu ini sebagai 'EJEKAN' pada kaum india kerana yang pasti bukan semua orang INDIA menyokong Hindraf.Kita perlu lebih terbuka serta berfikir kehadapan supaya tidak terikut-ikut dengan cara ala 'YAHUDI'.

Rakyat malaysia perlu ingat bahawa setiap masalah ada penyelesaian.
Jangan sesekali menggunakan kekerasan sehingga merugikan banyak pihak
yang sentiasa cintakan keamanan.


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MALAYSIAN ACTIVISTS HELD UNDER SECURITY LAW

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Malaysia said Thursday it has arrested five leaders of ethnic Indian rights group Hindraf under controversial security laws that allow for detention without trial.

Hindraf enraged the government last month by mounting a mass rally alleging discrimination against minority ethnic Indians in Malaysia, which is dominated by Muslim Malays.

Police used tear gas, water cannons and baton charges to break up the street protest which drew 8,000 people, and came just two weeks after another rare demonstration organised by electoral reform campaigners.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Mohd Johari Baharom confirmed the five were held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which human rights groups are campaigning to have abolished.

"They can be held for two years for sedition and also for carrying out activities that threaten national security," he told the state Bernama news agency.

A Hindraf spokesman said the arrests of P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, R. Kenghadharan, V. Ganabatirau and T. Vasanthakumar would not silence the movement, which the government has accused of stirring up racial tension.

"Regardless of the arrests this struggle will move on. We have many leaders who are waiting to take over and we will not go backwards but move ahead with the fight for the rights of Indians in Malaysia," S. Jayathas told AFP.

The ISA is currently being used to hold more than 100 people, including about 80 alleged Islamic militants.

It is not thought to have been used against government critics since 2001, when Malaysia was under the iron grip of former premier Mahathir Mohamad who used it to quell a reform movement triggered by the arrest of his deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang condemned the government's move and said that if the Hindraf leaders had committed any offence they should be charged and tried in an open court.

"It is deplorable, the use of the ISA is completely indefensible," he told AFP.

"To resort to detention without trial is a regression to the dark days of human rights violations and is something that will bring further shame to Malaysia's international image and reputation."

Three of the Hindraf leaders have already been charged with sedition for speeches in which they criticised preferential treatment for Muslim Malays who make up 60 percent of the population and control the government.

Malaysia is also home to ethnic Chinese, who make up 26 percent of the population and dominate business.

Ethnic Indians, who make up 8.0 percent, complain they run a distant third in terms of wealth, opportunities and education.

Abdullah has for several weeks been threatening to invoke the draconian legislation against Hindraf, which authorities have accused of having links with Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers. The group denies the charges.

Malaysia's ethnic Indians are mostly Tamils -- the descendents of indentured labourers brought here by the British in the 1800s.

Lawyers and human rights group have warned that the use of the ISA will only inflame the protest movement, which is airing grievances that have been bottled up for many years.

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar from the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) said the government's move was regrettable and unnecessary.

"The ISA detention will have the unfortunate effect of now stopping genuine attempts on the part of the marginalised Indian community to have their grievances addressed," he told AFP.

The legislation -- which dates back to the British colonial era when it was used against communist insurgents -- provides for two-year detention periods that can be renewed indefinitely.

Malik Imtiaz said that the opposition figures detained during the "Reformasi" movement of Anwar Ibrahim were mostly held for about two years before being released.

--AFP.GOOGLE.COM--

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ETHNIC INDIANs ARRESTED FOR 'POSING RISK TO SECURITY'
Venkatesan Vembu
Thursday, December 13, 2007 20:53 IS

HONG KONG: Malaysian authorities on Thursday arrested five top leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) under a draconian internal security law that provides for indefinite detention without trial.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom said the five leaders – P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, R. Kengadharan, B. Ganabathi Rao and T. Vasantha Kumar – had been detained “for carrying out activities that threaten national security.”

Hindraf is spearheading a campaign to protest the race-based discrimination and economic marginalisation faced by ethnic Indians, who account for 8% of Malaysia’s population of 27 million. On November 25, a Hindraf-led rally drew 30,000 ethnic Indians, the largest anti-government gathering in decades.

The government of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denies Hindraf’s charges of racial discrimination and has in turned accused the group’s leaders of fanning ethnic divisions. Just last week, Malaysia’s top police official claimed that Hindraf leaders were linked to “terrorist groups,” an allusion to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is fighting for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka.

The arrests were widely condemned by Opposition leaders and human rights activists, who see them as a desperate action by the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government, and as marking a return to the dictatorial ways of the Mahathir Mohamad era.

“We condemn these arrests,” said Lim Guan Eng, head of the Democratic Action Party, the largest Opposition party. “It is a desperate act of last resort and if the government has any evidence, it should charge them in an open court.”

For now, however, Hindraf’s second-rung leadership is calling for calm. “We appeal to all our supporters to remain calm and do not listen to any rumours or untruth that may be spread to break our unity,” a Hindraf statement said.

--DNAINDIA.COM--