Malaysia detains politician, reporters under security law (Roundup)

Sep 13, 2008, 12:19 GMT

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police on Saturday released a local reporter a day after arresting her under a draconian security law, along with an opposition lawmaker and a controversial blogger.

Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, who runs the popular Malaysia Today website known for its anti-government articles, was the first to be detained Friday at his home in the central Selangor state under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

Hours later, police arrested Tan Chee Hoon, a reporter with the Chinese-language daily Sin Chew, in the northern Penang state, followed by veteran opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok near her home in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

However, police released Tan on Saturday after she was questioned by authorities, Penang police chief Wira Ayub Yaakub was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

He said Tan was sent back to her parents home.

Last month, Tan had reported on comments made by a Malay Muslim ruling party politician last month who described ethnic Chinese minority as 'immigrants.'

The comment drew calls from community leaders for the politician to be punished.

Friday's arrests come amid rising tensions in local politics as Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi battles dissent from within his own party, while facing a threat from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to topple the government by September 16.

Opposition leaders and rights' groups denounced the detentions as a crackdown on press freedom and human rights.

'The ISA is used to quash dissent and smother those who in exercising their right to free speech voice opinions contrary to the preferred views of the ruling clique,' Anwar said in a statement.

'Invoking the ISA just days before September 16 is clearly an attempt to engineer an atmosphere of fear and instability that would justify the government's heavy-handed tactics against those aligned with the political opposition,' he said.

Anwar said the arrests revealed a leadership that was 'desperate' to hold on to power, and echoed calls to free the trio.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar confirmed that Raja Petra had been detained as some of his articles were deemed a threat to national security and offensive to Islam, the official religion of the country.

Raja Petra, whose website and articles have a large following, was charged with sedition in May for allegedly implying that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was involved in the gruesome murder of a Mongolian woman.

He has been accused by the government in the past of spreading lies and false rumours in his often sensational articles. His arrest came one day after Malaysia's authorities lifted a two-week ban on the website.

Kok has allegedly complained about the noise of morning prayers from a mosque in her electorate.

Syed Hamid said Saturday there would be no more arrests under the law.

'We are not making arrests just for the sake of arrests.

'We will not make any more arrests under ISA as long as there is no more disturbance to peace and public order,' he said.

The arrests underscore an increasingly unstable political climate, with premier Abdullah fending off criticism and calls by leaders of his United Malays National Organization party to step down following the ruling coalition's huge losses during the March 8 general elections.

Abdullah, who did not comment on Friday's arrests, has promised to resign by June 2010.

Anwar led his three-party opposition alliance to unprecedented gains during the elections, denying the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority in parliament and taking control of five out of the country's 13 states.

'The government's last-ditch efforts to paralyse the voice of the people prove to us that their time is nearing an end,' Anwar said Saturday.

The widely criticized ISA, which was drafted almost 60 years ago under British colonial rule to fight a communist insurgency, allows for citizens to be detained without trial if they are believed to be a threat to security.

Critics have called for the law to be abolished, claiming the government is using it to shut out dissenting views in the name of preserving national security.