Published September 16, 2008

Malaysian law minister quits over ISA arrests

Abdullah yet to accept resignation; move indicates cracks in Cabinet

By S JAYASANKARAN
IN KUALA LUMPUR
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MALAYSIA'S Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim quit yesterday in protest at the government detaining three people - an MP, an Internet blogger and a newspaper reporter - under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

People's protest: Demonstrators holding candles during a vigil for the release of blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin and lawmaker Teresa Kok outside a police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has yet to accept Mr Zaid's resignation, which has added to growing pressure on Mr Abdullah to step down in favour of his deputy Najib Razak.

The forces against Mr Abdullah are formidable. Not least of them is Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has repeatedly maintained that he is 'on track' to topple the government through defections to his opposition coalition in events that could unfold as early as this week.

Increasing dismay at Mr Abdullah's seemingly ineffective leadership has also been increasingly felt within his ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno), whose Supreme Council previously accepted a plan brokered by him to hand over power to Mr Najib by June 2010.

Now all bets are off because of a series of missteps by the government that have cast Umno in a bad light. The first was a crushing victory by Mr Anwar in a by-election last month over an Umno candidate, despite big-name campaigning against the Opposition leader.

Mr Anwar won by a larger majority than his wife, who held the seat while he was unable to stand for Parliament, showing that Umno continued to haemorrhage support in a 70 per cent Malay-majority constituency.

Then Mr Abdullah vacillated in a dispute in Penang over allegedly racist remarks by an Umno leader who called Malaysia's Chinese citizens 'squatters'. Mr Abdullah first warned the leader, then accepted his explanation, then finally got the Supreme Council to suspend him for three years - all despite a pre-emptive apology to the Chinese by Mr Najib.

Finally, the arrests of three people, including a Chinese journalist who reported what the Penang Umno leader had said, generally went down badly with members of Mr Abdullah's National Front coalition.

According to government insiders, the arrests were part of a larger swoop that went awry after members of Mr Abdullah's own party said that it could not be justified.

Indeed, all the non-Malay parties vehemently protested the detentions and the reporter's release - just 18 hours after she was picked up - indicated that Mr Abdullah bowed to the wishes of his ruling coalition. Mr Zaid's resignation has now demonstrated the cracks within the Cabinet.

The whole situation has been further inflamed by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad who has maintained that if Mr Abdullah continues to lead the party, the National Front will lose the next general election - a message that has resonated among Umno's grassroots, according to party insiders.

When Umno's Supreme Council meets this Thursday, push could come to shove. Mr Najib has remained supportive of his boss but seems to have backed off slightly - he now says that the 'handover plan' should be decided by Umno delegates ahead of party polls in December.