Don't confuse me with facts
By Raja Petra Kamarudin

Interview on 10 April 2001:
Dato Seri, can you confirm that some Keadilan leaders, Reformasi supporters, and political activists have been arrested under the Internal Security Act?

No, not that I know of! If anyone has been arrested under the ISA I would know. In fact, I would be the first to know since I would have to sign the documents ordering their arrest. Maybe some people have been arrested. I don't know anything about this. But it is not under the ISA. That I know.
 
Interview on 15 April 2001:
Dato Seri, why were the Keadilan leaders, Reformasi supporters and political activists arrested under the Internal Security Act?

They were arrested under the ISA because we have evidence they are involved in a conspiracy to bring in guns, bombs, Molotov cocktails and grenade launchers. We also have witnesses who testified that they approached silat masters to arrange for a group of silat exponents to fight the police. They also approached exarmed forces personnel to try to persuade these people to join them in their demonstrations. 

The Reformasi supporters were planning a big demonstration on 14 April 2001 called "Black 14". In this demonstration, the silat exponents and ex-armed forces personnel were supposed to form a front line defence force that would resist the police if we attempted to break up the demonstration. They were also planning to let off  bombs and shoot people. They would then blame these killings on the police.

These are dangerous people who had attempted to create chaos and start bloodshed on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. They are terrorists. We had no choice but to arrest them in the interest of the security of the nation.
 
Interview on 15 May 2001:
Dato Seri, why were the ten Keadilan leaders, Reformasi supporters and political activists arrested under the ISA and not brought to trial instead?
 
How can we bring them to trial? There is not enough evidence to charge them in an open court. That is why we had to arrest them under the Internal Security Act - because we do not have enough evidence to charge them for anything. 

No doubt they have not committed any crime yet. But the ISA is used not to punish those who have committed a crime. If they have already committed a crime, then it is easy. We just bring them to court and charge them like we did with the Al-Maunah people. 

The ISA is a preventive law. It is used to prevent a crime from being committed. We have reason to believe that the ten opposition leaders and political activists were thinking about committing a crime. That's why we had to arrest them. 

It's no use arresting them after they have committed the crime. If we do that, the people will get angry. If we wait until someone is killed or the bombs are exploded, then the people will say we are not doing our job. In this way we arrest them before anything happens and the country is safe. So everyone should be happy that they can now sleep in their beds safely at night.

Interview on 25 July 2001:
Dato Seri, why were the ten PAS supporters arrested under the ISA?

These people are religious fanatics. They are extremists and terrorists. They are involved in murders and bombings. They had planned to start a holy war in Malaysia, a jihad. 

We have evidence that they are part of an international jihad group that has received training in Afghanistan. They went to Afghanistan to fight the Russians. After the Russians retreated, these people came home to start a new jihad in Malaysia.

We have been monitoring this group for some time. They call themselves the Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia - KMM. We know everything about them and we know there are more of them, not just the ten we arrested so far. 

We expect to arrest more of them soon. There are about fifty of these terrorists in the Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia. We have no choice but to take action fast as Malaysia has already become a centre for religious extremists and terrorists.
 
Interview on 11 September 2001:
Dato Seri, what are your comments on the New York World Trade Center tragedy?

What happened in America is a great tragedy. The people responsible for this must be hunted down and severely punished. No stone must be left unturned in pursuing the culprits. No mercy must be shown towards the perpetrators. And any country that is harbouring these terrorists must be severely dealt with. 

This sort of thing could never happen in Malaysia. This is because we have laws such as the ISA. If America had such a law like the ISA, they would not have suffered this great tragedy. 

The ISA is used to prevent such things from happening in Malaysia. It is a preventive law. That is why we took action against the Kumpulan Militant Malaysia - KMM. We did not want something like what happened in New York happening here. 

Malaysia has many religious extremists and terrorists. If we do not arrest them all under the ISA, we too would be just like America.

Interview on 20 September 2001:
Dato Seri, what is your response to President Bush's statement that Malaysia is one of those countries harbouring terrorists?

That is not true. Malaysia does not have any terrorists. In fact, we do not even have any religious extremists. 

And I do not agree that the US should attack Afghanistan.