Bipartisan talks on ISA

By Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin today invited Pas Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub to meet and address the Internal Security Act in a bipartisan approach.

Salahuddin, the Kubang Kerian MP, made the call in Parliament for the ISA to be repealed and replaced during the Budget 2009 debate.

Khairy (BN-Rembau) then invited Salahuddin to discuss the matter with him outside the Dewan Rakyat if it could be agreed that preventive detention was still relevant.

Salahuddin welcomed it "on the condition that the ISA is abolished”.

Met outside the House later, Khairy said he would write a formal letter to Salahuddin "from one MP to another" so they could reach a consensus and bring back the suggestion to their respective coalitions.

Khairy added that he felt this was possible as "Kubang Kerian never said that preventive detention was out of the question”.

"He wants it to be repealed and replaced with a new law whereas I believe we only need to amend the ISA to ensure it will not be abused for political purposes," he added.

Khairy, who is seeking to be Umno Youth chief in the party's elections in March, said that such a meeting could depoliticise the issue.

"A caucus is political and nobody wants to cross the aisle because it appears to be organised by a particular party," he said, referring to the anti-ISA parliamentary caucus headed by the opposition which has not seen any participation from Barisan Nasional MPs.

The legislator felt that the reason the ISA had become such an issue was that the law was not transparent.

He also called the recent ISA arrests of Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin and journalist Tan Hoon Cheng "dubious”.

"Nobody should be detained for political purposes and the ISA is not acceptable because people believe it is used that way. The legislation does not allow for transparency," he explained.

He also said another issue that needed to be addressed was the right for a detainee to a habeas corpus trial as legal recourse to end such a detention.

Khairy also stated that in light of current economic and political challenges, bipartisan solutions should be pursued when possible as "it is ridiculous to claim, as some of my colleagues do, that we won the elections and therefore the public supports us”.