KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — As religious tension over “Allah” threatens to boil over, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang today warned of elements conspiring to create the atmosphere necessary to allow for the return of the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA).
The Gelang Patah MP’s remark came after the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday that he would welcome the reintroduction of the repealed security law to “make the country safer”.
Lim noted that Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia has now added its voice to the IGP’s call, when it wrote today that the repeal of the ISA has emboldened “certain quarters” to challenge the position of Malays and Islam under the constitution.
“These are ominous developments as there appears to be a convergence of reactionary and undemocratic forces to create a ‘hothouse’ atmosphere to justify the restoration of draconian laws like the ISA,” Lim said in a statement today.
Lim also pointed out the irony of Utusan Malaysia’s support for the return of the security law ostensibly on the grounds of safeguarding religious harmony, noting that the Malay language newspaper was responsible for broadcasting the allegation of a purported DAP plan to turn Malaysia into a Christian state.
The report was based on an unsubstantiated blog post.
“It is most ironical and ludicrous that Utusan Malaysia has joined the chorus clamouring for a restoration of draconian laws like infamous Internal Security Act when it is the most guilty of being most utterly insensitive on race and religious issues like its baseless allegation about a non-existent DAP conspiracy to create a Christian Malaysia and the lies that the DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers,” he said.
Lim also highlighted that the recent call for the ISA to be resurrected had originated from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who suggested its return to deal with an “extremist minority” threatening the country’s stability.
But Lim pointed out that Dr Mahathir has yet to speak out against extremism demonstrated by Utusan Malaysia, Umno leaders, and Malay rights group Perkasa, of which he was patron, despite what Lim categorised as “the most insensitive, provocative, incendiary and seditious statements, speeches and actions heedless of Malaysia’s plural society and stability.”
Earlier, DAP MP Tony Pua also criticised the call for the return of the colonial era law that allowed detention without charge or trial, saying that it did not gel with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s ambition to make Malaysia “the best democracy in the world.”
The colonial British law had been criticised for allowing detention-without-trial and repealed in 2011.
It was previously invoked by the Mahathir administration to round up opposition leaders in an operation in the 1980s, known as Ops Lalang, which was widely seen as a way to silence dissent.
Despite strong opposition, the Najib administration had reintroduced preventive detention clauses in several security laws.
However, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has insisted there are safeguards to prevent abuse of the clause, such as restricting its use to criminal acts.
Temperatures have risen of late over the so-called “Allah” row that remains unresolved four years after it shocked the nation and led to the worst religious strife in the country’s history.
Last week, Malay groups and Umno had threatened to protest outside churches in Selangor over Christians’ refusal to yield over the use of the Arabic word, before choosing later to rally at a stadium in Klang instead.
