ISA: The Sword of Damocles

My second article for The NutGraph, the Sword of Damocles is now up.  It's about the threat of ISA that we opposition leaders faced, practically on a daily basis.  In fact, I remember quite a few times on my blogs, both on Education and here, where I've been "warned" by concerned readers to be careful with my comments because we have a ruthless and unjust government.

Was I concerned?  Not really.  But now with Teresa's arrest... possibly life will just be a little different.

I AM breathing a little easier now. Teresa Kok, Member of Parliament (MP) for Seputeh and state assemblyperson for Kinrara was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) on 12 Sept 2008 for some fictitious crime. She was released after being detained for seven days, when the police found no basis for detaining her any longer. [...]

But for a few hours and days after her arrest, my heart was beating just a tad faster. In my line of work, the ISA is like the sword of Damocles hanging over the head, ready to drop at any time. For opposition politicians like me, we tend to ignore the fact that it's there. I personally take comfort in the fact that I'm not as big a fish as I'd like to think. [...]

Teresa's arrest, however, changed all that. It demonstrated that despite not having committed any crime, as long as there are parties that wish to frame you for "crimes" you never even committed, the threat of the ISA is real and immediate.

For the full article, check it out here.