Nizar, Guan Eng call for end to preventive laws - The Star

IPOH: Two Pakatan Rakyat state leaders have called for the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA).

While Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said certain provisions Act at least needed to be reviewed if not repealed, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng went step further, asking for the Official Secrets Acts (OSA) to be done away with as well.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar had on Saturday said that preventive laws, including the ISA, would not be abolished.

Commenting on a claim by PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that Pakatan Rakyat would abolish preventive laws should it rule the country, Syed Hamid had said that such laws serve the purpose of maintaining public order.

Lim said he regretted Syed Hamid's decision.

“The fact that you have the ISA and OSA (shows that) you want to frighten the people,” he told a press conference at the Mount Miriam Hospital “Ho Chiak” Charity Food and Fun Fair in Penang yesterday.

[More at http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/28/nation/21083406&sec=nation]