The Prime Minister has been urged to release the six reformasi activists detained under the Internal Security Act before his meeting with the United States President next week.

This, DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang said, will show that Malaysia is serious about democratisation in Southeast Asia.

Lim said today that Dr Mahathir Mohamad should free the six activists to prove to the world that the Malaysian government was also as serious on the issue of democracy as Burma , who recently made progress by freeing its opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

He said that since Mahathir had commended Aung's release from a 19-month house arrest by the Burmese military junta, the prime ministers should also make similar progress.

"It is now Mahathir's turn to show 'progress' in the field of democracy and human rights as well as good sense by releasing the six who had been detained for more than a year," Lim said in a media statement.

The six detainees are Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib, Dr Badrul Hisham Baharon, Lokman Noor Adam and malaysiakini writer-cum-filmmaker Hishammuddin Rais. They were detained last year for allegedly planning to topple the government through militancy and are undergoing a two-year detention under the ISA at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak.

Suhakam representation

Lim also urged the newly appointed Suhakam commissioners to make a special representation to Mahathir for the release of the detainees.

Lim said the new Suhakam chairperson Abu Talib Othman was bound by the sentiments expressed by his predecessor Musa Hitam who on April 11, 2001 had said that Suhakam had regretted the detention of the six activists.

He said Abu Talib should ask for a special meeting with Mahathir to urge for the six to be freed or that they be charged and tried in an open court for any offences.

Yesterday the six detainees, through their lawyer S Kulasegaran, lauded the release of Suu Kyi and asked the Malaysian government to do the same by releasing them unconditionally or charge them for their alleged crimes.