I am delighted at the release of 13 detainees under the Internal Security Act, including three leaders from Hindraf.

All of them, including their cohorts, have been accused without proof being tendered of involvement in terrorist activities. They have endured this calumny with admirable fortitude.

In the teeth of the deprivation of their liberty, they held firm to the principles of their struggle and declined to acquiesce to the demands of insolent authority that their release is conditional on their submission to undisclosed curtailments of their freedom.

I congratulate the intrepid P. Uthayakumar and his comrades. It is imperative that Malaysians are informed of the actual status of the released ex-detainees given that they were detained on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities.

The just-released detainees deserve the support of a discerning public. An error-prone government, especially the Ministry of Home Affairs, must hasten to apologize for the libel visited on them throughout the period of detention, namely, that they were involved in terrorist activities.

It seems that an unjustified detention has been ended with an unexplained liberation. These random actions make abundantly necessary that the draconian ISA be repealed and consigned to the dustbin of history.

However, yesterday’s statement by the Home Minister suggests that there is no intention to repeal the Act and that the releases were allowed by reason of permissible current conditions and not because of belated awareness of the law’s obsolescence.

I’m sure I’m not alone in believing that the reprehensible behavior of BN legislators in the Perak State Assembly last week has held the government to public opprobrium and ridicule such that attention has to be diverted with a stunt like releases from ISA detention.

The BN government seeks to propitiate public odium over their flagrant defiance of the norms of constitutional governance with a diversionary tactic that purports to show their tender mercies.

But this alternation between the defiant and the propitiatory has no one fooled as an increasingly less beguiled public awakes to the reality that the BN government is morally and politically shorn of the legitimacy to govern.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

KETUA PEMBANGKANG

DEWAN RAKYAT MALAYSIA

Saya gembira sebaik dimaklum berkenaan pembebasan 13 orang tahanan Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) termasuklah tiga orang pimpinan Hindraf.

Kesemua mereka termasuk beberapa rakan yang didakwa terlibat dalam keganasan tanpa bukti – satelah 6-7 tahun ditahan telah mengharungi dugaan ini dengan penuh kesabaran.

Meski pun kepedihan dan kesengsaraan yang ditanggung amat berat, mereka tetap teguh berpegang kepada prinsip perjuangan serta tidak mahu menyerah kepada tuntutan pemerintah agar patuh pada beberapa syarat mengongkong.

Syabas saya ucapkan kepada saudara P. Uthayakumar dan rakan-rakan lainnya. Maka seharusnya rakyat Malaysia berhak untuk mengetahui apakah status sebenar tahanan yang dibebaskan walau sebelum ini mereka ditahan kerana disyaki terlibat dengan keganasan.

Mereka semua perlu mendapat pembelaan yang sewajarnya dan kerajaan khususnya Kementerian Dalam Negeri seharusnya memohon maaf kepada mereka. Sepanjang ditahan, kerajaan seringkali memutarkan fitnah kononnya mereka semua terlibat dengan aktiviti keganasan, namun tidak pula dihadapkan ke mahkamah untuk dibicarakan.

Nah! Sekarang sekonyong-konyong dibebaskan tanpa penjelasan. Jelaslah walau apapun penjelasan, juga justifikasi yang diberikan, ISA perlu dimansuhkan serta merta dan kesemua tahanan perlu dibebaskan. Undang-undang kuku besi lagi kuno ini sudah tidak mempunyai tempat jika benar-benarlah perubahan yang dihajati.

Kenyataan Menteri Dalam Negeri semalam membuktikan kerajaan sememangnya tidak berhasrat untuk memansuhkan ISA. Beliau menyifatkan pembebasan 13 tahanan semalam hanya berdasarkan keadaan bukannya kerana akta tersebut zalim.

Maka jelas terbukti lantaran tertekan dengan kebiadapan wakil-wakil rakyat BN sewaktu sidang DUN Perak tempoh hari, langkah pembebasan ini hanya sekadar satu upaya untuk mengalihkan perhatian rakyat dari isu sebenar iaitu pencabulan perlembagaan serta prinsip demokrasi di negeri Perak.

ANWAR IBRAHIM