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Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia invoked a tough internal-security law yesterday to indefinitely detain five ethnic Indian activists from a group that staged a mass anti-government protest last month.
The deputy internal security minister said the five, from the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), had been detained for up to two years because their actions threatened national security.
Early last month, Hindraf stunned the government by bringing more than 10,000 ethnic Indians on to the streets of the capital to complain of racial discrimination.
"They can be held for two years for sedition and also for carrying out activities that threaten national security," Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama.
Sedition
One of those detained was a Hindraf leader, lawyer P. Uthayakumar, who had already been charged with sedition for alleging Malaysia practiced "ethnic cleansing" of Indians, who make up about seven per cent of the population.
"They said they were arresting him under the ISA (Internal Security Act), but they didn't say where they were taking him," said Shantha, who answered Uthayakumar's mobile phone after news of the detentions and said she was his secretary.
The Hindraf website named the other detainees as M. Manoharan, R. Kengadharan, B. Ganabathi Rao and Vasanthan.
"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," said a statement on the website. "We call upon all supporters to organise nationwide prayers in temples, houses etc. for the speedy release of our leaders."
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who came to power four years ago promising more transparent and open government, said this week he would have no trouble signing a detention order to ensure public security and national stability.
The Hindraf rally was one of two mass protests last month. A separate crowd of around 10,000 people had earlier turned out on the streets of the capital to demand fairer elections, amid expectations of a snap poll by March 2008.
But the Indian rally, though largely peaceful, aroused deep concerns within government, and also among many ordinary Malaysians, because of the country's history of tense and sometimes explosively violent race relations.
In 2001, five people were killed and 37 wounded in riots between majority ethnic Malays and Indians which began after an Indian kicked a chair over at a Malay wedding. In 1969, hundreds were killed in rioting between Malays and ethnic Chinese.
A source in the Special Branch, the police force's intelligence arm, said yesterday that Hindraf's protests and allegations of 'ethnic cleansing' at the hands of a Malay-dominated government had angered many Malays.
Police were keeping a close watch on Malay activists and mosques, the source said.
FACTS: Internal security act
- Passed in 1960, three years after Malaysian independence, the Internal Security Act (ISA) was designed to curb a perceived communist threat. It grew out of emergency regulations that were part of then Malaya's campaign against the Malayan Communist Party in British colonial times. Neighbour Singapore, once part of Malaysia, kept the ISA after leaving the Malaysian Federation in 1965.
- The act allows for the arrest and detention for an indefinite period of a suspect judged as "likely" to commit an act deemed dangerous to national security. Detainees can be held for 60 days without legal counsel, and preventive detention can then be renewed every two years.
- Amended dozens of times, it also has provisions to restrict freedom of assembly, expression and movement, among others. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities, it has been used to lock up dozens of suspected militants. Most ISA detainees are kept at Kamunting prison in northwest Perak state.
- The Human Rights Watch has said governments have consistently used the ISA for their own political purposes to detain thousands of citizens, including political opposition leaders, academics, trade unionists as well as religious, social, environmental and women's rights activists. Rights groups criticise the ISA as a draconian violation of international human rights standards, and a tool to stifle peaceful political dissent.
- In October 2007, opposition figure Abdul Malek Hussin became the first person to win a significant payment for illegal detention under the ISA. He was awarded nearly $750,000 (Dh2.7 million) in damages for his September 1998 detention, for addressing a "Reformasi" demonstration calling for political reform.
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