Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak says ISA protects from terrorism.

The Internal Security Act (ISA) has been instrumental in combating terrorism in Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.
He said the law has kept the nation secure from the threat of terrorism."There is a very strong raison d'etre for the Internal Security Act. Just look at Mumbai and you realise that we cannot take security lightly."The main reason why there have been no serious acts of terrorism in this country is because we have in place the ISA," he said on the Riz Khan Show on Al-Jazeera last night.Najib, who is also finance minister, acknowledged however that the government needed to look into some elements of the act that troubled the people.
"At the same time, what is important now is to realise that people are concerned about civil liberties... what is important is how you apply the ISA."I realise there are some controversies relating to how the act has been used lately, therefore, we intend to address them in future."

These are some interesting but rather ambiguous comments from someone who is going to inherit the mantle of government. It is an implicit acknowledgement of the existence of the Internal Security Act in that it was conceived to deal with the communist terrorists. What is disturbing is its continued and arbitrary use by the authorities for purposes which have no relevance to its objectives. If indeed the ISA has been used against terrorists, then Lim Kit Siang , Karpal Singh, Anwar Ibrahim and a host of other opposition leaders would amount to " terrorists". Yet these very terrorists sit in our Parliament. It is a given fact that the ISA has been used to stifle the opposition and that its usage has more to bear with political expediencies of the ruling coalition. It is this aspect of the ISA which is rather disturbing. Hopefully the Deputy Prime Minister was referring to this aspect of the ISA. Nonetheless the continued existence of the ISA is an affront to the very notion of the rule of law. No person should be denied his freedom without an opportunity of defending himself first before an impartial tribunal.