So many a time I read and listen about ISA, but never really bothered to get into the nitty gritty of this Act until now. I do know roughly what ISA does, but after reading for a few hours this starts to make me realise that we are not that “free” after all.
NOTE: Do let me know if I get my facts wrong.
ISA gives the government to arrest a person without a warrant. Under the ISA, a police officer can arrest you as long as the police officer believes that you’re committing/about to commit acts which would cause harm or damage to:
a) Security of Malaysia; or
b) Maintenance of essential services; or
c) Economic life
That can make you stay in prison/lockup for 60 days. If they want to keep you a little longer, the Home Minister can issue an order of detention for another 2 years, as long he/she is satisfied that detention is necessary to prevent you from committing the acts mentioned above.
Article 5 mentioned that any person who is arrested must be informed of their offence and must have access to lawyers. Article 10 grants us the freedom of speech, the right to assemble peacefully and the right to form associations to every Malaysian citizen, but Parliament can impose restriction of these rights.
The exclusion clause of our Constitution: Article 149. This allows Parliament to cease one’s fundamental rights under the Constitution under the interest of national security or public order. This is where ISA can go around our fundamental rights ‘enshrined’ under the Constitution.
ISA gives a lot of power to the Executive since they can arrest anyone they think should be arrested. According to Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak (from Wiki), basically the ISA was created in order to be ‘used solely against the communists’. Now I don’t know, since the threat of the Insurgency is long gone.
The wording of the ISA is very vague indeed and it gives the government loads of discretion. Even if we think the person’s actions are not within the ISA, the police officer or minister may think otherwise. A peaceful demonstration albeit an illegal one may not be considered as threatening to me, but in their eyes they may think it is so.
Do you think it is fair to give them such enormous powers?
