Scrapping ISA won't happen: Nazri
Published on: Sunday, August 02, 2009
Papar: The Federal Government will never abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) in the country but will be willing to consider reviewing the Act, said Minister in the Prime Minister Department, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.He said there would be no compromise on any demand or request to do away with the Act and urged the opposition not to day-dream. "We are very firm in our stand to maintain the ISA for political stability, harmony and peace in the nation as long as Barisan Nasional (BN) is in power."If there are any requests or demands to abolish the ISA, we would totally not agree and I can assure you that abolition of the Act will never happen.
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However, we are prepared to review certain provisions in the Act that had given room to power abuse," he said.Nazri, who is also an Umno Supreme Council member, said this after opening the 24-hour Futsal Championship, a campaign aimed at recruiting new members for Papar Umno Youth Movement and registration of new voters among the young generation at Datuk Salleh Sulong hall, Saturday.Papar Umno Youth wing organised the event to attract youths in the district to be involved in healthy activities. A total of 114 teams participated in the 24-hour futsal championship that would end at 3pm on Sunday.The winner of the competition would bring home RM3,000 cash followed by RM2,000 cash for second place, RM1,000 for third place and RM500 for fourth place.
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Among those present were Papar Umno Divisional Chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail, his deputy Datuk Ghulam Haidar Khan Bahadar, Treasurer Juil Nuatim, Papar Youth Umno Chief Armizan Mohd Ali, Exco Umno Youth Member Jamawi Jaafar, and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President cum Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister Datuk V.K. Liew.On reviewing the ISA, Nazri has assured that only certain sections in the Act that can lead to the practice of power abuse would be addressed accordingly.
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On any attempt from the opposition to bring up the abolition of ISA in Parliament, he replied that the opposition never does so but they frequently highlighted the issue in their debate speeches to give feedback on the policy address of Yang DiPertuan Agong and national budget.Following this, Nazri said he would regularly stand up to explain and give responses on behalf of the Government."The opposition often brings up the matter of abolishing the ISA to twist and confuse the people's minds not to support the BN government especially now under the leadership of our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak."Najib has taken proactive actions that make the people support the present government and this is clearly shown in the survey of Merdeka Centre where more than 60 per cent of people interviewed supported BN."Hence, the opposition will always find ways and means to confuse the people with their own propaganda when their attempts have failed to do so." For instance, Nazri said DAP tried to direct the opinion and minds of the people to blame the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the death of the late political aide Teoh Beng Hock that is yet to be investigated.He said DAP has purposely raise anger particularly among the Chinese community to make MACC responsible for Teoh's death.However, Nazri said when the Government announced for an inquest to be carried out on Teoh's case, DAP turned to the ISA issue to rock the boat.Meanwhile, Papar Umno Youth Chief Armizan Mohd Ali said the wing would totally support the Government move to maintain ISA and related provisions as preemptive measures to curb any action of quarters to threat national security.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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