The I.S.A. - You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It Too.

It's not really surprising that right wing Nazis like Perkasa evoke the spectre of the Internal Security Act the moment anybody says anything contrary to their narrow world-view.

The latest example of Ibrahim Ali and co's warm and cuddly approach to making friends and building bridges is Perkasa's call to detain Wangsa Maju MP Wee Ka Siong under the ISA for daring to suggest that Mara scholarships should be reduced in tandem with Public Service Department scholarships.

And of course, everybody's favourite political scion, S. Vell Paari (who is proud of the fact that he is more Italian - or was it Australian - than he is Indian), is demanding that Ibrahim Ali himself be detained under the ISA for being racist. (Read the story here.)

I, along with many others, relish the thought of that troll of an MP being thrown into a cold, dark hole to commune with his fellow cockroaches for the rest of his natural life.

However, it is saddening that influential politicians (well, to influential to a certain degree-lah) are still using the ISA as a bludgeon with which to inflict blunt force trauma on those with alternate views.

The ISA was, is and always will be a "BAD" law. It is a classic example of how the Rule OF Law is subverted to become the Rule BY Law. The introduction of other such draconic laws, like the Patriot Act in America for example, by no means makes it "better" or less of an abuse of the legal process.

Everybody - terrorist, thug or tycoon - is entitled to a fair and impartial hearing in a court of law. I, for one, truly believe that if there is a lack of compelling evidence to indicate a person's guilt, that person should be released and allowed to live his or her life as freely.

The ISA is a slippery slope and Malaysia has slid down its precipice more than once. Ops Lalang, in the 80s, proved that the law was just as applicable against political opposition and hard-hitting media practitioners as it is against genuine threats to the nation. Some would argue that it is used far more often as a political tool by the Barisan Nasional overlords than it is to really protect the safety and security of the country.

It's especially galling to see it endorsed by the likes of Vell Paari when it was his father who not so long ago lobbied for the release of ISA-detained Hindraf leaders to gain brownie points from the Indian community. You can't have it both ways. You either use it or you lose it.

Many a regular Malaysian would say - lose it.