Malaysia PM orders 125 freed in reform drive

KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Wednesday the government would immediately release 125 people held under a tough security law he has targeted for repeal.

Najib, who is widely tipped to call snap polls within months, last month unexpectedly announced plans to scrap a range of decades-old draconian laws long criticized as oppressive and outdated.

The moves come as Najib, who faces a formidable political opposition, tries to boost his uncertain re-election hopes three months after police used tear gas and water cannon to crush a street rally calling for electoral reforms.

Najib told parliament’s lower house that curbs imposed by the Restricted Residence Act – which allows police to restrict where people live and is exempt from court review – would be lifted at once.

“I hereby announce that the Home Ministry will free all 125 individuals being held under the Restricted Residence Act with immediate effect,” he said.

Najib had introduced a parliamentary motion on Monday to repeal the law along with another that allows the government to banish non-Malaysians from the country.

They marked the first moves in Najib’s promised push to repeal or soften authoritarian laws headlined by the notorious Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows detention without trial and has been used in the past against government opponents.

Government officials have said repeal of the ISA would not get under way until next year.

Najib also said Wednesday the government would revoke more than 200 warrants issued under the residence act but which were unserved.

He called the residence law and the banishment act “obsolete and irrelevant.”

Government officials have said most of those targeted by the residence act were criminals involved in gambling and other vice and were not serious security threats.

Malaysia has been ruled by a coalition dominated by Najib’s United Malays National Organization (UMNO) since independence, but a fractured yet potent opposition alliance achieved historic gains in 2008 parliamentary polls.

Najib is required to call new polls by March 2013 but is widely expected to call them sooner.