Appalling Facts About The ISA

1. The ISA is an instrument used to silence dissent.
   The Act was first enacted in 1960 in the context of a national emergency, and was intended for a very narrow and specific purpose, i.e. to be used against alleged “communist insurgents”. However, the government has consistently used the Act for its own political purposes. More than ten thousand Malaysians, including trade unionists, political activists, women and NGO activists, academicians and religious groups have been arrested under this draconian Act. For example, under Operation Lallang of 1987, there was a massive crackdown on opposition leaders, academicians, religious, social, women and environmental activists. Presently, it is used to detain religious leaders/activists and key leaders of the pro-reform movement and opposition political parties.
2. The ISA violates the fundamental rights of a person, goes against the principles of justice and undermines the rule of law.
   The Act allows and provides for arbitrary arrest and detention without trial for an indefinite period. It also allows for a detainee to be held under solitary confinement for as long as 60 days and denies her/him of any contact with lawyers and families.
3. The ISA has no checks and balances.
   When the Act was enacted, judicial review was instituted into it. Since then, the ISA has been amended over 20 times, and this provision for judicial review has been removed. This gives absolute power to the Minister of Home Affairs to detain people at his will.
4. The ISA denies an independent and impartial trial.
   Under this Act, a detainee is seemingly presumed guilty as s/he is detained without trial. This is in total contravention of the principle of justice of “innocent until proven guilty”. No person should be deprived of her/his rights and privileges nor be subject to condemnation or punishment until and unless s/he is given an opportunity to defend her/himself to the full extent of the law and is heard in an independent and impartial court.
5. The ISA is immoral and cruel.
   The Act condones violence, torture and humiliation. The ISA also allows for enforced kidnapping of citizens. People who are detained are subject to the whims and fancies of the police. They are kept in isolation in small container cells in a secret location and have no access to the outside world for extended periods of time. The police use various dehumanizing ‘methods’ to attempt to ‘extract confessions’.