Just not too long ago, when foreign media like Time, Far Eastern Economic Review and Economist wrote about Malaysia as a haven for Islamic terrorists, the government vehemently denied it. Spokespersons for the government even condemned the foreign media as irresponsible. Some of the foreign magazines were even banned.

But now with the detentions of 14 Malaysians under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the search for some 100 more by the police, it seems that the foreign media were right after all. The scale of the ISA arrests also seems to confirm that the government was not telling the truth when it claimed that the foreign media were out to smear Malaysia.

If the detained are seriously linked to al-Qaeda, then the government should hand them over to the military tribunal set up by the United States, and the United States government must firmly demand their extradition. At least, they should be openly charged in court to convince Malaysians and the world that they are really persons with conspiracies to use violence to get what they want. Otherwise, it sounds and looks like another big lie (to cover up previous lies) again.