A rights group has rejected a government proposal to shorten the interrogation period allowed under its draconian security law, saying the legislation should be scrapped instead.

The government is reviewing the harsh Internal Security Act (ISA), originally designed to combat a communist rebellion half a century ago, and said last week it could halve the period a person may be held for initial interrogation to 30 days.

As the law stands, a person can be held and questioned under the ISA for up to 60 days, after which he may be released or issued an ISA detention order. The ISA allows for indefinite renewal of two-year detention orders without trial.

The Movement to Abolish ISA rights group said that even if the detention period were shortened, the law would still violate human rights and not respect a person's right to trial and the role of the judiciary.

"The ISA should be abolished in totality rather than patching it as it violates basic human rights and constitutes gross injustices to the detainees with regards to the right to an open and fair trial... and to be presumed innocent before proven guilty," it said.

Torture

It said detainees were normally subjected to mental and possibly physical torture in the first or second week of their detention under the ISA and the shorter detention period could lead to this torture being intensified.

Also, the history of the ISA had shown it was widely used against dissidents and the opposition and transparency and accountability were sorely lacking, the group said.

It also questioned reports that the government planned to incorporate the "oriental context and Malaysia's methodology" in amending the ISA, saying indefinite detention without trial and torture were not values condoned by a Malaysian or oriental society.

It urged the government to make public the report of the ISA review committee and to seek public feedback.

"If Malaysia... aspires to become a developed and civilised country that will be respected by the world, then it is high time to get rid of the barbaric ISA and other similar legislations," the group said.

The government maintains it still needs the ISA as a first line of defence against terrorism.

Malaysia has detained more than 80 alleged Islamic militants under the ISA, a number of them allegedly members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah group blamed for a series of deadly attacks in the region, including the Bali blasts that claimed 202 lives in October last year. - AFP