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.