ISA WILL NOT BE USED IN NORTHERN STATE PERAK

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 3 (Bernama) -- The Internal Security Act (ISA) will not be
used to resolve problems in northern state of Perak, said Deputy Prime Minister
Muhyiddin Yassin.

"I don't think that will be the approach we will take, I am hoping they
(Opposition) have leaders who understand the need for peace because many among
them are lawyers.

"The know the court decisions, but their motives are nothing more than
politics and that is what they are doing. I hope they will stop taking actions
which can be deemed to be challenging court decisions," he told reporters after
chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Tourism, here Thursday.

Muhyiddin was commenting on the actions by assemblymen of the Pakatan
Coalition who have been resorting to holding "state assembly" sittings under a
tree, at a hotel besides causing disturbances in the state.

He said they had no respect for the court decisions which had clearly stated
that Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir was the rightful Chief Minister of Perak.

"As such, they should know they are only wasting their time, and maybe they
are doing it to challenge or show disrespect to the courts," he said, adding
that although he was not an expert in the law, when such actions were taken, it
was rather obvious that they were against the spirit of the Constitution.

He added that when things appear to return to normalcy, new issues kept
cropping up so that Perak was always in a state of instability.

The ISA is a preventive detention law in force in Malaysia, enacted by
Malaysian politicians after the country gained independence from Britain in
1957. In essence, it allows for the arrest of any person without the need for
trial in certain defined circumstances.
-- BERNAMA