No other means could be seen as a "humane" approach to deal with the Internal Security Act (ISA) apart from scrapping the security law, the Bar Council human rights committee reiterated today.

Its chairperson Cecil Rajendra said the Bar has constantly demanded that the ISA be repealed, not just a review, as the security law which allows for detention without trial is against the spirit of the law.

"We can't humanise any human laws, it is a high time to repeal the ISA because it is totally against the rule of law," he told reporters after a forum at the Bar Council in Kuala Lumpur today.

"We shouldn't even do that (detention without trial) to a dog," he added.

He was commenting on the statement by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim yesterday that the ISA will be reviewed with regard to human rights in order to make the law more "humane".

The de facto law minister said his department's law review committee is working on this aspect and vowed that the government will "repair" several controversial laws which consider less of the desired human rights aspects such as the ISA and the Restricted Residence Act.

Positive comment

Elaborating, Rajendra said despite Rais' comment is "positive" but the government should work more closely and gather opinion from the Bar when drafting or amending any legislation.

He said the ISA which was enacted during the colonial British era to combat the communist insurgency in 1960 is outdated. The law earned notoriety when it was used against opposition politicians and other dissidents in recent decades.

"There is a very sad thing about the ISA. There is always the danger it would be abused against the establishment's political enemies, among others," he stressed.

National Human Rights Society (Hakam) secretary-general Elizabeth Wong echoed Rajendra's sentiments.

"Finally the government has admitted that the ISA is inhumane and acknowledged that detainees were tortured during detention," she said when met at the same venue.

"There is no way to make detention without trial humane or inhumane. A person deprived of his or her rights (for an open trial in court) is a gross violation of human rights," she stressed.

Despite Rais' statement yesterday, a parliamentary reply from the Home Ministry in September this year said changes are unlikely on the security act. The ministry said it was conducting a review in which a decision would be made by year-end.

"The review is to make sure that the ISA will continue to be relevant and comply with the government's objective to ensure peace in the country," the ministry said in a reply.

National campaign

Meanwhile, Rajendra also revealed that the Bar Council will launch a national 'No detention without trial' campaign in January. The campaign was proposed by the human rights committee and it was approved by the council last week.

"We want to create a public awareness on the danger of detention without trial and we will explain to them in layman terms the impact of such a detention," he said.

"The whole world seems to be using terrorism as an excuse to justify detention without trial, but we should not simply start pointing fingers at people and abuse such a legislation.."

He said badges, brochures and car stickers would be distributed to the public.

"At least, we want our 11,000-odd lawyers nationwide to put up the free car sticker which carry the slogan 'No detention without trial' to disseminate the message to the public," Rajendra said.