Law Replacing ISA Must Not Infringe Basic Human Rights – Khairy

(Bernama) — The proposed new law to replace the Internal Security Act (ISA) must not infringe basic human rights, said Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said if basic human rights like access to a lawyer and to be tried in an open court were upheld, he was confident that Malaysians would accept the new law.

He also said the new law must be very specific as to who can be detained without trial under it.

“It can not be catch all…it must spell out terrorist related activities, subversive activities that are prejudicial to national security. Otherwise, people will say it is just old wine in a new bottle,” he told reporters when met at the “Merdeka Raya” open house of Wanita Umno, Umno Youth and Puteri Umno here Thursday.

The Rembau MP said Umno Youth would also be holding a roadshow to explain the decision by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to scrap the ISA and replace it with a counter-terrorism law.

Najib, when making the announcement on Malaysia Day (Sept 16), said the time had come to replace the decades old ISA, which allows for detention without trial, so that Malaysians’ fundamental liberties were protected.

However, he said a new law would be enacted specifically to deal with terrorists and subversives who threatened national security.