KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 —The Magistrate's Court here today rejected a police application to remand a woman activist whom they had arrested yesterday under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
The 26-year-old Suaram (Suara Rakyat Malaysia) member was picked up for allegedly spreading false information that could have sparked public disorder over the demolition of vacant houses in Kampung Baru Plentong Tengah.
She is expected to be released tonight released after her statements are recorded by the police, who had taken her in at about 10.30 pm yesterday under Section 28 of the ISA.
Her counsel, Norman Fernandez, when contacted, said he had objected to the application for the remand order on the grounds that she had co-operated with the police.
He said "we argued that she will also report to the police station as well as attend court proceedings should she be released on bail".
Fernandez pointed that his client had merely uploaded her police report onto the Johor police Internet portal.
Cheng Lee Whee, a volunteer for the rights group Suaram, was detained late yesterday when she went to the police headquarters in Johor to explain a complaint she recently filed, the PKR said on its Malay-language website.
Police informed Cheng's companions that she was being held under the Internal Security Act, which is invoked against people regarded as threats to national security, the report said.
The ISA generally allows indefinite imprisonment without trial, but Cheng was held under a provision that requires police to obtain a court order for her detention within 24 hours.
Police officials familiar with the case could not immediately be contacted.
Cheng reportedly lodged a police complaint earlier this week accusing authorities of abusing their power while evicting 300 families from an illegal settlement in Johor on Wednesday.
Police arrested more than 20 people who sought to halt the demolition of homes.
Cheng's arrest comes amid mounting calls by opposition groups, lawyers and rights activists to abolish the ISA. The government insists the Act remains needed to safeguard peace and stability.
The de facto law minister, however, resigned in protest last month after authorities detained a political blogger, an opposition lawmaker and a journalist under the ISA. The politician and the journalist have since been freed.
The law is a holdover from British colonial days when it was used against communist insurgents. Independent Malaysia's post-colonial government has kept it in the statute books and about 60 people are detained without trial under the law. They include alleged Islamic militants and leaders of Hindraf who have been accused of inciting racial hatred. — Agencies
TERKINI: AKTIVIS SUARAM DIBEBASKAN
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