Opposition attacks use of draconian law on Islamic cult

Opposition attacks use of draconian law on Islamic cult

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A Malaysian opposition party hit out at
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government on Thursday for
using a powerful security law to detain people suspected of
having links with an Islamic cult that looted an armory.

"The draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) is again being
justified as a tool for national security," Tian Chua, vice-
president of the National Justice Party (Keadilan), said in a
statement.

"Individuals who are suspected to be linked with deviant cults
are now targeted victims of the ISA." The use of ISA by
Mahathir's National Front government is a violation of basic
human rights, he said.

"We fear that the mass arrest of the alleged Al-Ma'unah
members is used as intimidation and persecution against
legitimate organizations or innocent individuals," Tian added.

The ISA allows for detention without trial. Police have the
power to detain a suspect for up to 60 days for interrogation.
Often a suspect is denied any legal representation.

During the period, the home minister can order a suspect to be
detained for a further two year period inclusive of the 60 days,
which cannot be challenged in court.

The criticism comes in the aftermath of the looting of two
army installations of more than 100 modern weapons by the Al-
Ma'unah sect in the northern state of Perak on July 2.

Cornered on a jungle hilltop the sect members surrender after
a three-day standoff during which they murdered two hostages.
Apart from the 27 arrested on the hillside, 25 others with links
to the cult have also been detained -- at least 23 of them under
the ISA.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Chinese dominated
Democratic Action Party said the stealing of weapons for the two
army camps was a shameful blot on the record of the Malaysian
armed forces.

"The government should not try to sweep the problem of the
breakdown of military discipline and security under the carpet
through the diversion tactic of creating a national scare that
the elected government was on the verge of being toppled ...," he
said in a statement.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday the Al-Ma'unah
members had demanded that "the prime minister and his coolies
step down."

Meanwhile, authorities in Bandar Seri Begawan said on Thursday
that twenty Brunei national who are members of the Islamic cult
that looted the Malaysian military armory had been arrested.

They were detained under the Internal Security Act, the
Internal Security Department (ISD) said in a statement. Initial
investigations showed the group had been operating illegally in
Brunei since December 1999, and that it had recruited 27 members
for its branch in Brunei's capital, it said.

Al-Ma'unah group leader, Mohamad Amin Mohamad Razali, is known
to have entered Brunei four times between November 1999 and May
2000, the ISD said.

Brunei's Ministry of Religious Affairs said it had studied the
cult's books and found them to contain deviationist elements.

The group began activities in Malaysia in September 1998 and
says it now has about 1,000 members nationwide and abroad -- in
Brunei, Singapore, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

It trains its members to develop "inner power," allowing
devotees to be invincible to weapons, fire and sharp objects, the
group's website says.