Hisham: ISA detainees’ hunger strike a diversion
The ISA replacement states that those currently held would not be freed unless Hishammuddin revokes their detention orders. — File picPUTRAJAYA, May 25 — A hunger strike threat by a group of Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees is seen as another attempt to hijack or distract the transformation programme brought by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
He said the people should look at the bigger picture and see what was happening in a positive manner rather than picking on individual cases, incidents and issues which at the end of the day would only divide them.
“The decision to go on a hunger strike or not is theirs. At the end of the day we go by the rule of law and there is no change. And if there are any causes otherwise, then go by the basis of the law that exists.
“You have to go through the normal process. The new law (replacing the ISA) has to be gazetted, and the new law also says that those who have been charged earlier are not affected, so I think this is just another front that people want to distract or hijack the transformation programme that the prime minister is bringing,” he told reporters after launching Y-Avenue at the Million Youths Gathering here today.
It was previously reported that a group of ISA detainees at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping was threatening to resume their hunger strike if the government does not release them or charge them in court.
Claiming that they should be released as the ISA had been repealed and replaced with the Security Offences (Special Measures) Bill 2012, they went on a hunger strike for a week before but ended it on May 18 after meeting Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) representatives. — Bernama
