Umno legal advisor wants Azizah detained under ISA

(Bernama) - Umno legal advisor Mohd Hafarizam Harun has suggested that the Internal Security Act (ISA) be invoked to deal with the controversy over the 'ketuanan Melayu' (Malay supremacy) remark by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

He described Wan Azizah's remark, calling for the notion of Malay supremacy to be abandoned, which she made at the party's congress last Saturday, as a direct challenge to the provisions in the federal constitution and not a form of freedom of expression.

Now that the advice of Prime Minister Najib Razak against questioning the rights of the Malays went unheeded, he said, the ISA should be used to deal with it.

"The ISA should be invoked against PKR, DAP or PAS leaders who continue to question the special position and privileges of the Malays because it is now proven that they try to stoke hatred towards the Malays because of the special rights," he said in an interview with Umno-online.com.

He said that when the Malay supremacy, special position of the Malays and Malay rulers and anything that related to Article 153 were openly questioned, more so in a congress attended by non-Malays, it was no longer a form of challenge but an attempt to belittle the position, status and rights of the Malays and the Malay rulers.

"Article 153 is entrenched in the constitution and something which cannot be amended or questioned," he said, adding that he fully supported calls for action against Wan Azizah for her remark.

"To me, the time has come for the authorities to act, and for the Malays, either individually, or through NGOs or political parties, to raise to defend their rights," he said.

Mohd Hafarizam said police reports could be lodged against Wan Azizah, among others for uttering seditious remarks in questioning the rights, status, position and privileges of the Malays as enshrined in Articles 152, 153 and 181 of the federal constitution.

Article 152 is on the position of the Malay language as the national language, Article 153 on the special position of the Malays in terms of business permits and scholarships and Article 181 on the position of Malay rulers.

He said report could also be made to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) because the party had been fanning hatred and racial prejudice.

Deregistration would be among the actions the ROS could take against the PKR, he said.

He called on the ROS to look at the powers vested in it to see the type of actions it could take against the party.

"Umno itself had its registration revoked in 1987. Why should there be a special treatment to PKR as though they are immune," he said.