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Blog Statement by Loke Siew Fook in Rasah on Wednesday, 13rd August 2008: 

Clarification on "ISA statement"

I received a call from MP for PJ Utara Sdr Tony Pua last night informing me that there are a lot of attacks on the DAP by many bloggers over the "statement" by DAP NS Deputy Chairman, Sdr P Gunasekaren which was reported by The Star online (reports attached below). The report quoted Sdr Guna as calling on the police to invoke ISA against the demonstrators.

I have immediately called up Sdr Guna to clarify the matter and he denied making the statement and said he was misquoted. Guna and I went to the The Star's office in Seremban this afternoon and spoke to the reporter who covered the event yesterday. The reporter admitted that he misinterpreted the statement and a correction over the confusion will be reported in The Star tomorrow. In actual fact, a group of DAP NS leaders went to lodge a police report yesterday over the threat by Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to use ISA against the forum organizers. The report also called on the police to act against the demonstrators who disrupted the forum.

I would like to reiterate that the DAP's position on ISA has always been consistent that we call for the total abolishment of the Act. We never agreed to use ISA against anyone, not even to our political opponents or extreme views that we disagreed with such as those who disrupted the Bar Council forum. We believe that there are adequate laws to deal with them. As such, the so-called "statement" by DAP NS Deputy Chairman to call for the use of ISA is inaccurate and was misquoted.

I hope this clarification will clear the confusion over the statement and I hope those who criticized the "statement" will publish my clarifications too.

Thank you.


* Loke Siew Fook, DAP NS Chairman & MP for Rasah