Repeal of ISA a victory for civil society, rakyat: Ambiga

The Sun
by PAULINE WONG

KUALA LUMPUR: The repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA) is the victory for civil society and the rakyat, and not any one organisation.

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) steering committee chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan yesterday said the legislative reforms have been the work of civil society for many years. 

“The rakyat should also take credit, because the rakyat never gave up,” said Ambiga.

She was commenting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement last 

week that the ISA would be repealed, to be replaced by two new laws that would provide for shorter detention periods. 

“The repeal of ISA doesn’t come as a surprise to me because the prime minister has mentioned it since 2009. What I was pleasantly surprised about was the revocation of the emergency declarations, which I think is a very significant step,” said the former Bar Council president. 

She said that the two new legislation to replace ISA must be carefully studied, and that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) must be consultants to the new laws. 

“Suhakam have actually come up with a draft legislation to replace ISA. So the work is done. I believe these changes can come as quickly as the next parliamentary meeting,” she said. 

Najib also announced the review of the Printing Presses and Publications Act and Section 27 of the Police Act with regard to public demonstrations.

“The review to the PPPA is not satisfactory, because as long as the power still remains with the home minister to revoke the printing licence, it makes no difference whether it is a yearly licence or a licence which can be revoked. For greater freedom of press, they should do away with licensing entirely,” she said.