Anwar Ibrahim disputes his former Mentor on ISA
February 18, 2010
Langkawi, Kedah Darul Aman
Greetings from Mahsuri Land
Anwar Ibrahim disputes his former political mentor, Dr. Mahathir on ISA
by Debra Chong @www.themalaysianinsider.com
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has disputed Tun Hanif Omar’s claim that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had wanted to scrap the Internal Security Act (ISA), saying today the former prime minister had never discussed it openly or in party meetings.
The country’s longest-serving national police chief had claimed today that both Dr Mahathir and Anwar had wanted the ISA abolished but the police had objected to the proposal.
“Mahathir has never supported any amendments or to scrap the ISA when I was there, whether openly or at party meetings. Tun Hanif Omar may have had some meetings in private with Mahathir but I am not aware of that fact,” Anwar told reporters during a break in his ongoing Sodomy II trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court here.
Dr Mahathir had also claimed today that he had wanted to abolish the ISA when serving as prime minister but had faced opposition from the police.
The 1960 security law allows for detention without trial and a 1989 amendment
under Dr Mahathir’s rule removed the option for judicial review, granting the home minister absolute discretion to extend or reduce detention time.
Hanif, who served as the police chief for 20 years until 1994, said the issue was first raised by Anwar at a security briefing prior to his retirement from the service. “Anwar said we should abolish ISA, Dr Mahathir said OK,” recounted Hanif at a forum on parliamentary democracy here.
He said he later urged the two leaders to reconsider their plans, and suggested they merely review the security law.
Opposition Leader Anwar said today he raised the issue at a National Security Council meeting after he entered government in 1982. He claimed to have mooted a proposal to scrap the ISA but it was rejected by the Attorney-General and Hanif, who was the IGP then.
The Permatang Pauh MP added that he tried to resurrect it in the 1990s when he became deputy prime minister. “If we can’t scrap it, why not revise it to amend some provisions to allow for appeal purposes? If you check the Hansard, it should show that when I was DPM I had said that we are willing to study and amend the ISA but it was not taken up because it had to be taken up by the home minister,” he said, referring to Dr Mahathir, who held the portfolio at the time.
Dr Mahathir also recently blamed the police for a mass ISA arrest in 1987, which led to the detention of then-Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, his son Lim Guan Eng and 104 others.
Hanif recently sought to exculpate Dr Mahathir over the crackdown, known as Operasi Lalang, saying it was done to avoid a racial riot in Kuala Lumpur.
Anwar himself has been arrested under the ISA twice, the first in 1974 soon after Hanif was appointed IGP. His second ISA arrest was in 1998 following his sacking as deputy prime minister by Dr Mahathir.
Declassify documents and get at the facts. There is Mahathir blaming the Police and saying that as Minister of Home Affairs in 1987 he was powerless and implying that Malaysia is a police state and there is Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim refuting it. Let the truth be told. –Din Merican
dinobeano - February 18, 2011 at 10:58 am
I remember Mahathir and Musa promising a more open and more liberal administration should both go on to win the elections. They did. But the ISA was never repealed as they promised it would finding, it seemed, new evidence that such preventive detention laws are still needed. Instead they diluted their original promise from outright repeal to amendment.
Instead the ISA was fine-tuned, removing the power of judicial review and with it power to the executive was made complete.
So all this claim years later is all hogwash.
Mr Bean - February 18, 2011 at 11:35 am
Look, the Internal Security Act was a convenient tool for them. So why should they want to get rid of it?
Mr Bean - February 18, 2011 at 11:38 am
Malaysia’s system is a 1-party dominant system. UMNO until recently was the dominant party and was never under any danger of losing control to the opposition. And so with a two-thirds control of Parliament, any promise to rid the country of such a convenient tool as the ISA has to be looked with some cynicism. They do not need to make such promises to remain in power.
Mr Bean - February 18, 2011 at 11:46 am
We are talking about a maniac who (a) threatened and subverted all, even judges – except for one judge (b) hid (then and now) behind totalitarian laws passed under multiple declarations of Emergency (c) contibuted the most to the destruction of this country and especially Malays.
Does anyone remember the “study leave” and scholarship that Hanif took while still holding the post of IGP?
halp - February 18, 2011 at 1:18 pm
We want to know, no, we demand to know what kind of nation we are. Are we a Police state or are we not? The public demands answers!
Kathy - February 18, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Remember Mahathir claimed once that Malaysia is an Islamic state? And the latest pearl of wisdom from him now is that Malaysia was a police state already way back in the late 1980s?
Phua Kai Lit - February 18, 2011 at 1:35 pm
All this talk cannot be loosely used by the very people who are supposed to protect and serve us without consequences. What is he talking about now? Islamic state, Police state, Riots? All this needs evidence to corroborate.Not just use these terms to carry out tyranny against the people. And if it is true where is the evidence of racial riots. We need the evidence if there was to be racial riots becasue we need to examine the reasons , the conditions that can escalate into racial riots . The Govenrment must scrutinise the conditions in order to prevent racial riots from happeneing if it were true. Do not just talk . Words can be damaging, negative consequences are plenty. YOu the Govenrment are responsible for making statements and these statements have impact on the nation.
Kathy - February 18, 2011 at 1:45 pm
It is tragic that Mahathir has to lie to protect his legacy. Most Malaysians are prepared to forgive him for his mistakes if he is willing to admit them. In stead he let’s his ego get the better of him. We all know that he is not without faults, that he is no angel.So stop blabbing and start enjoying his remaining years.–Din Merican
dinobeano - February 18, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Wow, never knew that the Police could overrule the PM.
k c low - February 18, 2011 at 4:08 pm
IGP of Genting (the non-haram/halal part) Haniff Big O is quoted in today’s STAR as saying he actually proposed a much longer list which was cut down to 106 by Maha Firaun Liar.
So, by what stretch of the English language can Maha Firaun Liar claim he is not responsible for that Ops Lallang fiasco as he was IGP of Genting (non-haram/halal part) Haniff Big O’s boss?
Of course, let’s leave aside the fact that Maha Firaun Liar was also then the Home Minister who signed all the detention orders including those for the suspension of the STAR and the two-year incarceration at Kamunting of Lim Kit Siang (whom he says he met before OL) and Karpal and promised not to have them arrested!!??
‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
When we sek to deceive’!
dpp
we are all of 1 Race, the Human Race
donplaypuks - February 18, 2011 at 4:37 pm
so it was true then…
Polis Raja diMalaysia…
…and even now?
scary thought innit? coming from apanama…
hurricaneMax - February 18, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Don’t lose sight of the fact that the senile old man was elected/selected by UMNO member to be their President for 22 years, repeat , 22 years.
And he lied about his role on the ISA and now pointing the finger at the Police for the continuation of ISA.
Did Mahathir as Home Minister and Prime Minister at that time ever brought the ISA to be abolished to Parliament???
We have a Prime Minister, put there by UMNO as the dominant party that won the election, who if he did not lie through his teeth was trying to be creative with the facts of history.
Who does he think he can hoodwink???
Frank - February 18, 2011 at 4:55 pm
So stop blabbing and start enjoying his remaining years…you got it in reverse Mr Merican. Mahathir has been having a ball all the years he was the PM, robbing and plundering by using proxies and honed his skills in divide and rule to ensure UMNO/BN remains in power.
His fate soon enough would be like Ben Ali of Tunisia (reportedly in a coma in a Saudi hospital) or Mubarak who is also reported sick in Sharm -Al Sheikh resort. Mahathir has vowed to emigrate ( to Argentina where Arumugam of GE holds his assets )should Anwar ever becomes PM !!.
So people/ voters please oblige the old man by voting PAKATAN to Putrajaya even if you dont quite believe in Anwar, as you will be doing the old man one big favour !!
sham - February 18, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Mahathir used the ISA as one of his lethal weapons when he faced adversaries, but now he says he had intended to abolish the ISA. What a joke.
Operasi Lalang was in 1987, when he was in power. After that he consolidated his power by systematically removed all his rivals in UMNO to stay in office till 2003. If he was serious about abolishing the ISA, he had plenty of time, and power, to do so.
That leads me to conclude that the man is lying to his teeth.
Samy Velu@Sungei Siput - February 18, 2011 at 7:41 pm
Too much of hogging the limelight and too much of contradictory statements/comments lately have rattled old mamak kutty’s senility. So, who says selective amnesia cannot be actual fading memory in his case as he is growing older and older day by day?
FochAvenue - February 18, 2011 at 10:44 pm
Just an observation. If Dr M did indeed lie, he has perfected it to an art form. It’s true, he said to the claps of the sceptical audience.
He did not bat an eye-lid. Wonder what the body language experts have to say to this?
A real consumate politician, That’s why I admire him.
Some of our politiicians can’t even tell the truth without people thinking they are lying. Have not learnt the art of convincing the masses.
BTW Din, why are the datelines of the past three stories from Langkawi? Is the PKR having a convention there or what.
Or is Langkawi the PKR’s new HQ? Marah Mahathir tau – that is his fave island and he has developed it. Kahkahkah
Pak Abu - February 19, 2011 at 9:27 am
Din,
This is what happened in Mahathir’s cabinet during the faithful day when operation lalang was initiated
Din,
Mahathir is singing this
When I can sing thig song to BN
looes74 - February 19, 2011 at 11:58 am