‘ISA enhances political careers’

Malay Mail

THE ISA was abolished because it did not help the Barisan Nasional-led government politically, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“If you put someone under ISA it doesn’t kill them politically, instead it enhances their political career,” he told civil servants in Putrajaya yesterday.

Without naming names, Najib gave the example of some ex-ISA detainees whose political profile he said skyrocketed after being detained.

The prime minister said this while delivering the keynote speech at a dialogue with civil servants by the Razak School of Government, reports Malaysiakini.

He said the Emergency Ordinance (EO) had to be done away with as technological improvements had rendered exile less than useful as a deterrent to crime.

“In the old days, it was easy, if someone was bad, we just catch him and send him to places like Pasir Puteh, or maybe Jerantut.

“But nowadays, it is useless as no matter how far you send them, with their cellphones, they can still do their work (commit crime).”

Najib said the police must now change the way they work. “Now police must train themselves how to look for evidence.”

He said instead of just catching suspects and chucking them into EO detention, police must now provide evidence to charge them in court, adding this was something he wanted the police to do well.

The EO was a preventive law that allowed detention without trial used by police to hold criminals with shaky evidence against them or for time-sensitive cases, though critics said this was misused by cops to just dump in suspects without even opening investigations.

Najib said the challenge to police was one faced by all civil servants as they faced a more competitive global environment and rising public expectations.

He said in the face of this, one important role for civil servants was to work to create wealth so that the extra bounty could then be distributed to the rakyat.

He said it was only the creation of new revenues via higher income tax revenues and from the Customs Department that allowed goodies like the BR1M and other payouts to the rakyat to take place.

The abolishment of the ISA, EO and redistribution of wealth to the rakyat via various handouts are cornerstones in the reforms touted by Najib, but critics had said the payments were just one-off goodies, while pointing that replacement laws were more draconian than the repealed ones.