Rights activists yesterday condemned the arrest of a Malaysian opposition lawmaker and two journalists, accusing the government of trying to avert an opposition bid to seize power.
The sudden spate of arrests on Friday under the Internal Security Act (ISA), a widely criticized law allowing indefinite detention without charge or trial, sparked fears of a major government crackdown on dissent.
Police gave no reason for the arrests.
PHOTO: EPA
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been battling renewed calls from his ruling party to resign. Tensions have also increased over a threat by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to topple the government by Tuesday.
“The Malaysian government apparently thinks it can only maintain power by jailing journalists and opposition politicians,” Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“Such tactics have no place in a modern democracy. The government should free these three people at once or risk irreparable harm to Malaysia’s already fragile reputation,” she said.
Online commentator Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, a well-known anti-government activist, was detained on Friday at his home after infuriating authorities by publishing numerous claims about alleged misdeeds by government leaders on his Web site, Malaysia Today.
Hours later, police arrested reporter Tan Chee Hoon in northern Penang state after earlier warning her employer, the Chinese-language daily Sin Chew, that it could be shut down for its coverage of sensitive issues.
Tan had reported comments by a Malay Muslim ruling party politician last month who described the ethnic Chinese minority as “squatters” and accused them of hungering for power. The remarks sparked outrage nationwide, and the politician was suspended by Abdullah’s party.
Opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok was the third to be detained near her home in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. Kok has allegedly complained about the noise of morning prayers from a mosque in her electorate.
“Invoking the ISA just days before Sept. 16 is clearly an attempt to engineer an atmosphere of fear and instability,” Anwar said in a statement, referring to the date by which he has said he would secure enough defections from the ruling coalition to seize control of parliament.
Anwar said the arrests revealed a leadership that was “desperate” to hold on to power, and echoed calls to free the trio.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar confirmed that Raja Petra had been detained as some of his articles were deemed a threat to national security and offensive to Islam, the official religion of the country.
Raja Petra, whose Web site and articles have a large following, was charged with sedition in May for allegedly implying that Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was involved in the gruesome murder of a Mongolian woman.
He was accused by the government in the past of spreading lies and false rumors in his often sensational articles. His arrest came one day after Malaysia’s authorities lifted a two-week ban on the Web site.
The arrests underscore an increasingly unstable political climate, with the prime minister fending off criticism and calls by leaders of his United Malays National Organization party to step down following the ruling coalition’s huge losses during the March 8 general elections.
Abdullah, who did not comment on Friday’s arrests, has promised to resign by June 2010.
Anwar led his three-party opposition alliance to unprecedented gains during the elections, denying the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority in parliament and taking control of five out of the country’s 13 states.
“The government’s last-ditch efforts to paralyze the voice of the people prove to us that their time is nearing an end,” Anwar said yesterday.
The ISA, which was drafted almost 60 years ago under British colonial rule to fight a communist insurgency, allows for citizens to be detained without trial if they are believed to be a threat to security.
Critics have called for the law to be abolished, claiming the government is using it to shut out dissenting views in the name of preserving national security.
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