MIC president Datuk Seri Samy Vellu is calling for the release of the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders under ISA detention, saying two of them should be freed sooner because one is ill and the other is now an elected representative. [Bernama]
It’s funny reading how many times Samy Vellu had to stress that it’s not a political stunt; I doubt many would agree with him in this sense. He should have make the call much earlier, but it’s better late than never… political stunt or not, I don’t really mind as long as it makes a change at the end.
This raise the same old issue again… what’s the point of having ISA at the first place? It’s probably the most barbaric act we have in Malaysia. I can understand the need for certain laws to protect the nation against terrorism or racial crash, but locking up people without trial for months and years is just not right.
I would have support an act to detain a suspicious terrorist for prolonged period, say for 14 or 28 days… but if there is no solid proofs to file any charges, the suspect have to be let go. It’s one of the basic fundamentals of our constitution… that we would rather let a criminal off the hook than to put an innocent man into wrong justice.
I am not saying that the Hindraf 5 are innocent; the Hindraf memorandum still rings in my mind occasionally… truth or not it’s seditious nonetheless. However, it’s just not right to detain anyone without giving them a fair trial.
It’s not just about releasing the Hindraf 5… ISA should be abolished.
Quoted from Nuraina A Samad…
“If the government was so sure that the 5 Hindraf leaders had breached any law of the land, then the 5 should have been subjected to the processes of law. Detention under the ISA is not a due process of law. It is unjust.”
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