Spirit of ISA Lives On

There are no terrorists, saboteurs and spies under the beds or in the trees. There are only people walking down the streets – for democracy. So, two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. – EM Forster The Internal Security Act is dead. But the spirit of ISA lives on. The dreaded law is reborn and has taken another form more horrible, more frightening, more abhorrent. In its unremitting drive to crack down on “enemies” of the state, the government has come up with a heavier weapon that gives the police extraordinary power to deal with so-called “security offences”. Now they can detain a suspect for 28 days without getting the approval of the court. To inflict more pain, the suspect is barred from seeing a lawyer for 48 hours after his arrest. To tighten the screw further, the authorities can delay informing the suspect’s next-of-kin. To instil fear into ordinary citizens, Big Brother can open their mails and messages and listen to private conversation – all in the name of the much abused term “national security”. If the Security Offences (Special Measures) Bill is an assault on basic human rights, the amendments to three criminal laws – Penal Code, Evidence Act and Criminal Procedure Code – cast a long intimidating shadow over human freedom. Civil society has been dealt a double blow by a government that has not abandoned its hostile strategy to devise more repressive laws. Under the guise of working for a so-called progressive future, the devious minds of the political conspirators running the country have cooked up a brew more venomous than the draconian law of old. If the ISA has served its spiteful purpose of causing untold suffering and misery to the victims, the thrust of the new law is merely to prolong the physical agony and mental anguish of the enemies of the state. The newfangled law will be in place in time for the biggest battle pitting an insatiable power-hungry incumbent against an invigorated opponent. It is not difficult to guess the gameplan: the all-powerful, all-encompassing, all-pervasive, open-to-abuse law is specifically targeted at clipping the wings of the challengers as well as NGOs itching to stage walks, sit-in, marches. The steel dragnet will sweep them all into the same dreary cells that had imprisoned and broken so many souls in years past. The new architecture erected to herald the dawn of a liberal era has all the hallmarks of a police state. The long spiky arm of the law can now strike out at anyone deemed a threat – minor or major – to national security. Planning more Bersih rallies? Haul in the organisers for threatening public order. Going on roadshows to expose corruption at the highest level of government? Detain the ring leaders for inciting voters to hate the government and causing unrest. Calling for press conferences to produce documents on multi-billion-ringgit projects gone awry? Shackle the spokesmen for breaching secrecy rules. Holding ceramah to attack government policies and initiatives? Charge the trouble-makers with threatening parliamentary democracy. Publishing foreign reports implicating the prime minister in some shocking scandals? Read the charge under the Penal Code and handcuff the editor. Sending e-mails or dialling someone to pass damning information about the love affair of a minister? Intercept the communication and pull in the perpetrators for revealing sensitive information. Every indiscriminate action of the police will be music to the ears of the political bosses controlling the life of the country. Indeed, the police will be acting on the orders of politicians who have everything to gain from a clampdown on the opposition. With all their enemies behind bars, the way is cleared for victory at the ballot box. But the snag is, the repressive laws will fuel public anger and lead to more unrest and demonstrations. Street protests are part and parcel of parliamentary democracy and is the most effective way to show the government the door. Yet the government wants to be the sole custodian of democracy and interpret whichever way it deems fit. The democracy it has in mind is a government of the party and for the party. The democracy the people have in mind is a government of the people and for the people. Never the twain shall meet because one uses laws to crush dissent while the other uses marches and sit-in to oppose state threats to human liberty. It is the common citizens who will have to bear the full brunt of state power in this one-sided contest. The government wants to weed out terrorists, saboteurs and spies who all represent a grave threat to national security. But there are no terrorists, saboteurs and spies under the beds or in the trees. There are only people walking down the streets – for democracy.