Deconstructing the Language of the ISA Concept
Today, 24th April 2010, compatriots of mine in the struggle for a just Malaysia will gather outside the Malaysian Tourism Office in Trafalgar Square, London to protest the existence of the ISA, the most repressive law in Malaysia. They aim to show the world that Malaysia is still far beneath the level of a pure democracy and must rid itself of the ISA as a step towards that goal. The ISA is in its 50th heinous year and although reforms have been promised, none have been delivered. 10,000 people have been detained and most of them clearly because they posed a threat to the reigning politicians, not to the nation itself.
By Farouk A. Peru
To comemmorate my compatriots, I’d like to write about the very concept of ISA. The ISA falls under the category of the age-old trick of language manipulation. Examples of this trick are like the sharia laws which supporters claim are ‘from God’. When we deconstruct their statement, we find that ‘from God’ actually means ‘mediated by scholars who basically devised an oligopoly over religious laws so they may attain control over the flock’. Language becomes the tool by which this control is exerted. As a point of interest, the Quran shows this link between linguistic manipulation and power in the person of Firaun and his magicians.
The ISA law was devised and executed along the very same lines. Language is used to create a illusion of authority and righteousness. This language once deconstructed, will show that human judgement is behind the mechanism of the ISA itself. I will deconstruct two key poinnts to highlight the lack of substance of the ISA institution.
Read more at: Deconstructing the Language of the ISA Concept
