M'sia law minister resigns

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S government, under fierce pressure from the opposition, saw its first ministerial resignation on Monday as the law minister quit over the arrest of three people under its Internal Security Act.'Yes, he has resigned. Zaid Ibrahim sent his letter of resignation to the prime minister's office at 2pm today,' an official said.

'He has resigned over the ISA issue,' the official added, referring to the Internal Security Act which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

The aide said it was not yet clear whether Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had accepted the resignation.

Mr Zaid has led criticism from within the government of the weekend arrests of an opposition politician, a blogger and a reporter under the ISA legislation.

'The ISA is open to abuse. If we cannot be fair in implementing it, then we should confine its use to terrorists,' Mr Zaid said, according to the New Straits Times.

'If we have to use the ISA to detain people, it shows that we have no confidence in our enforcement agencies,' he said, adding he was ready to resign over his stance if he was asked to.

Mr Zaid, a maverick member of the ruling party, was brought into the cabinet in a March reshuffle despite his frequent criticisms on social and human rights issues.

He was given the task of reforming Malaysia's much-criticised judiciary, a decision seen as evidence of Mr Abdullah's willingness to accept reforms after a general election drubbing.

However, since then the government has been accused of returning to its old ways as it tries to head off a challenge by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who says he will soon seize power.

'I joined the government because I believed there would be transformation. The government must change but reform cannot take place if it continues with the old thinking and old philosophies,' Mr Zaid told the New Straits Times.

The Barisan Nasional government that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years has come under severe pressure since the opposition won over a third of parliamentary seats in elections in March and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has said he is set to win power.

Anwar said in an interview published on Monday that although his plans to win over 30 government MPs so as to become prime minister on Sept 16 had been delayed, he would press ahead.

His opposition alliance has 82 MPs in the 222-strong parliament.

'My personal target is within September,' Anwar told the Asian Wall Street Journal in a interview published on Monday.

Anwar's aides will hand a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday seeking a meeting with him for a 'peaceful power transition' to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat alliance, one of his party officials said.

The prime minister met with Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday, his press office said, but there was no decision on whether a statement would be issued.

Mr Abdullah had agreed to hand over power in 2010 to Najib, but has come under pressure from top leaders in his United Malays National Organisation (Umno) to do so earlier.

Umno is the main party in the Barisan Nasional coalition.