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Malaysia frees opposition MP detained in race row
Reuters - September 19, 2008
Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia's government on Friday released an opposition member of parliament detained under the country's draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), her party said.
The arrests of Teresa Kok, an MP from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), as well as of a journalist and a well-known blogger under the Act, which allows for indefinite imprisonment without trial, brought condemnation from human rights groups and the US
"She (Kok) was released after nearly a week following irresistible pressure from the people," said Lim Kit Siang, a leader in the mostly Chinese DAP.
The arrests were made last weekend, but the journalist has already been freed. The blogger remained in detention.
Malaysia's government, which has ruled the Southeast Asian nation for 51 years since independence, faces the biggest challenge to its political leadership after the opposition won a record number of parliamentary seats in elections in March.
The authorities also issued notices to three newspapers which could see them banned after one reported comments from a junior politician from the ruling party in which he called the country's ethnic Chinese "immigrants" and "squatters."
"I see my detention as a ploy by UMNO to try to cover up the embarrassment and the outrage of the racist statements made by Ahmad Ismail," Kok said after her release, referring to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) politician.
Kok, 44, was arrested following a Malay-language newspaper's reports she wanted to ban the Muslim call for prayer in her constituency, an allegation she has strongly denied.
Kok said in a statement she planned to sue the government for unlawful detention and the pro-government Utusan Malaysia newspaper for criminal defamation.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had defended the arrests, saying they were used only when there was a threat to security and public order and that the three arrests had been made by the police, not on instructions from the government.
[Reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Editing by Jerry Norton.]
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