DETAINEES

1. The first thing I did when I became Prime Minister was to order the release of 21 political prisoners under Internal Security Act.

2. I did that because I did not like detention without trial ever since Aziz Ishak was detained.

3. I had hoped that during my tenure as Prime Minister I would not have to detain anyone.

4. I had asked the police whether we could do without the ISA. They did not agree, not even to reduce detention to one year.

5. I am now told that detainees were tortured. I regret that the detainees in Ops Lalang were tortured. This is against the law.

6. People have been detained under the ISA during the time of all three PMs before me. They had never been released on orders by the PMs.

7. I accept the blame even though the detention was not my decision.

* In February 2011, Tun Hanif Omar, explains Ops Lalang.

* Dr Chandra Muzaffar’s version of Ops Lalang