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Chua Jui Meng given 48 hours to withdraw his "national security" threat against me or I will lodge a report with Suhakam on Tuesday for his quadruple violation of human rights - the right to life, information, personal liberty and freedom of expression Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Penang,  Sunday): I want to clarify the Malaysiakini report yesterday under the headline "Sars: Kit Siang challenges Pak Lah to use ISA", with the following introduction: "DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang today challenged Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to detain him under the Internal Security Act for his criticism over the manner in which the Health Ministry was handling the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars)." A check with the relevant media statement which I issued will show that I had never issued such a challenge to Abdullah to detain me under the Internal Security Act (ISA). The Malaysiakini headline and introduction were not correct reporting of my media conference statement in Penang yesterday, which is available on the following websites: http://www.dapmalaysia.org/english/lks/apr03/lks2236.htm http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3939/lks2236.html   At the DAP Bruas new village dinner in Perak last night, I said I was not sure yesterday whether I could keep my dinner appointment with the people of Bruas or whether I would have been taken into police custody a third time under the ISA as threatened by the Health Minister, Datuk Chua Jui Meng on Friday when he virtually accused me of sabotaging national security in pressing for full accountability and transparency from him on the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) situation in the country. Chua's warning of dire action against me after he chaired the first meeting of the National Committee on SARS and declared that SARS was now "a national security matter" was most ominous. When associating me with "rumour-mongering", "irresponsible statement", "global health scare", and warnings about "plunging tourism" and "economic slowdown", and tying them with "national security" together with the statement that the Home Ministry and the police have "taken cognizance" of my statements, the implications are clear - that I will be the subject of a police crackdown. There are two ways for the police to take action - one is by the ordinary process of the law arresting and prosecuting a person for criminal offences and the other is by extra-judicial actions like invoking the ISA with detention-without-trial powers. As Chua has not lodged any police report against me for the police to initiate investigations of his specific complaint that I had violated a crime chargeable in a court of law, the only police action that could be contemplated is the ISA which has often been sued to arrest opposition leaders on trumped-up charges. As I said in my speech at the DAP Bruas New Village Dinner last night, I do not wish to be an ISA detainee for a third time, but just like the first two occasions in 1969 and 1987, I will not run away from the country to avoid arrest, as is the wont of MCA leaders nor will I stop demanding that the Health Minister must be fully open and tolerant in his handling of the SARS outbreak - as the right to life is mother of all human rights. I have no doubt that if Chua has the powers to use ISA, he would have put me behind lock-and-key by now, not because I am a threat to national security but a threat to his personal political security and future by exposing his Ministerial irresponsibility and ineptitude! I never challenged Abdullah to detain me under the ISA, but I did challenge Abdullah to repudiate Chua's threat of dire action, including ISA, for my criticism of the Health Minister's handling of SARS outbreak. I take Chua's threat seriously, because there are more than ample examples of the Barisan Nasional abuse of the ISA for its own political purposes completely unrelated to national interests or national security. For this reason, I am giving Chua 48 hours to withdraw his "national security" threat against me or I will lodge a report with Suhakam on Tuesday for his quadruple violation of human rights - the right to life, information, personal liberty and freedom of expression. As a lawyer by profession, Chua should know that a threat to violate human rights is a human right violation by itself. (6/4/2003) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman