Gerakan opposes detention without trial
By Gan Pei Ling, The Nut Graph
Gerakan has reiterated its position that detention without trial is unjust and has called for the Internal Security Act (ISA) to be replaced.
"It (the ISA) is an outdated law. It is unfair to the detainees to be detained without trial," Gerakan deputy president Datuk Chang Ko Youn said in a phone interview today.
In its place, he said, Gerakan is suggesting an Anti Terrorism Act instead.
Chang, who is also Gerakan's human rights and law bureau chairperson, said the Anti-Terrorism Act would deal specifically with terrorist threats.
"The ISA has been conveniently applied to people who were not involved in security matters," he noted.
Yesterday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein announced in Parliament that the ministry would table amendments to the ISA, which allows for indefinite detention without trial, in the next parliamentary sitting.
