Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin had to mount a quick defence of the continued detention of five reformasi activists under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

While wrapping up the debate on Budget 2003, which has been going on for over two weeks in the Dewan Rakyat, Zainal said the five were being held under the jurisdiction of Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and not that of the police.

On Sept 6, a four-member panel of the Federal Court unanimously allowed the appeals of the reformasi activists Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohamed Nor and Saari Sungib, malaysiakini columnist-cum-film maker Hishamuddin Rais and FreeAnwar.com webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin to declare their detention as unlawful.

They were arrested in April last year and had subsequently filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking to be released from the ISA, which allows detention without trial.

While the court subjected the police detention power under Section 73 of the ISA to the objective test, it did not question the detention order issued under Section 8. The court therefore only ruled that detention of these activists for the initial 60 days of interrogation was unlawful.

Separate powers

The five activists are still detained because the Federal Court had not ruled that they should be released from the two-year detention order signed by the Home Minister, Zainal explained.

"The 60-day period is not under (Abdullah). It is under the police. The (Home Minister) has his own power (to detain under the ISA), although they (the powers) may seem to be overlapping" he said.

"Do not confuse the two the Federal Court has only ruled on Section 73 and not on Section 8 of the ISA."

The political activists are serving their term at the Kamunting detention camp, except for Mohd Ezam who has since been convicted of an offence under the Official Secrets Act and has been jailed at Kajang prison.

Abdullah had earlier made it clear that the government was not planning to release the five.

Opposition pushes for answers

During the debate, Mohamad Sabu (PAS-Kuala Kedah) interrupted the deputy minister and said that Section 8 (minister's power to detain) is subject to Section 73 (police detention).

"The five would not have been detained and sent to Kamunting if not for the police report. Now the Federal Court has found the detention unlawful, how is the government going to defend the further detention (under the ISA)?" he asked.

Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Keadilan-Permatang Pauh) also asked Zainal to explain why Abdullah had disobeyed the Federal Court's decision by further detaining the five.

"What about the separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive?" she asked.

Zainal appeared flustered to be on the receiving end of several questions from the opposition benches.

"How many more questions like this are going to be asked? If there are going to be many questions, I am not allowing it," he said.

He did not allow any more questions on the ISA, saying he has answered them all and that the government has made its decision.

However, he did reply Wan Azizah saying "We respect the Federal Court's decision. The deputy prime minister did not meddle in the court's decision. He has his own powers. Let us not integrate the two decisions."