Harsh detention likely for KL rumor-mongers

Harsh detention likely for KL rumor-mongers

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Police on Tuesday banned public
gatherings and said they may detain rumor-mongers without trial
after Malaysia's worst ethnic clashes for decades.

Seven more arrests were announced, bringing the total to 190
since clashes between ethnic Indians and Malays erupted March 8.
Six people were killed and 52 injured.

Five men armed with parangs (machetes) and spiked clubs were
held, plus two for spreading rumors.

Asked if the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows
indefinite detention without trial, would be used against rumor-
mongers, the Selangor state police chief said it was being
considered.

"We are looking (at) it," said Nik Ismail Nik Yusoff, adding
that the ISA would only be used if no other law could be applied.
Hundreds of police, including paramilitaries with M-16 rifles and
riot squads, kept watch in the run-down districts but life seemed
to be returning to normal.

A minor neighborhood quarrel triggered off unrest in Kampung
Medan and other poor districts of Petaling Jaya town just west of
Kuala Lumpur.

Some 148 people were brought to court on Monday for remand.
Police said they were being investigated for a variety of
offences including murder.

Police reported three attacks on Sunday and Monday in nearby
areas but it was not clear if they were related to the ethnic
unrest.

All public gatherings and speeches were temporarily banned in
the state of Selangor, which surrounds Kuala Lumpur, following
the clashes.

"For the moment, we are not allowing any talks or public
gatherings," Nik Ismail was quoted by Bernama news agency as
saying.

Attention was turning to the cause of the flare-up, which
shocked many Malaysians. Violent ethnic disputes have been very
rare since traumatic Malay-Chinese race riots in 1969.

Opposition party leaders repeated a call for talks with the
government. Democratic Action Party secretary-general Kerk Kim
Hock said all parties must cooperate to halt tension amid
widespread rumors and the "fragility of ethnic relations."

National Justice Party deputy president Chandra Muzaffar
called for an independent inquiry, saying there appeared to be
"many unanswered questions about what really happened."

Officials and observers said ill-feeling began on March 4 when
an Indian returning home from work found the road blocked by a
Malay wedding in Kampung Medan. A fight broke out.

Instability

In another development, Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak,
blaming instability in Indonesia and other neighboring countries
on a "quest for democracy," urged Southeast Asian nations on
Tuesday to put prosperity before political reform.

"Malaysia is surrounded by bush fires, and there is some
degree of helplessness and even hopelessness," Najib told a
business conference. "It is quite obvious that the instability
that we are witnessing in our neighborhood has to do with this
quest for democracy."

Najib, speaking to about 50 U.S. and Malaysian business
executives, claimed that he saw "very little point with the
achievement of democracy without its concomitant imperative of
prosperity."

"While it is not for me to pass judgment on others, I think it
must be difficult to explain to parents that their son or
daughter had perished or that there is no food on the table, all
in the name of democracy," he said.

The minister urged the global community not to treat all of
Southeast Asia as a flashpoint for instability just because there
was political turmoil in some countries.

Malaysia is also troubled by instability in neighboring
Philippines, where a people's movement unseated ex-President
Joseph Estrada in January and where government troops are in
conflict with Communist and Muslim rebel groups.

Malaysian authorities have increased patrols along its borders
with Indonesia and the Philippines to stop illegal immigrants
fleeing instability in their homelands to the relative prosperity
of Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's richest countries.