Malaysian Protesters Clash With Riot Police

WSJ ^ | 02 Aug 2009 | JAMES HOOKWAY and CELINE FERNANDEZ

[BGHater]

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian riot police fired tear gas and water cannons in clashes with several thousand antigovernment demonstrators who gathered in Kuala Lumpur Saturday to protest a long-standing law allowing detention without trial, raising the stakes in a long-running struggle for political power in the resource-rich but divided country.

The law, known as the Internal Security Act, enables Malaysian authorities to detain indefinitely persons they consider to be security risks. In the past, al Qaeda-linked terrorists have been held under the provision. But opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and human rights activists say the law is also being used to stifle dissent in Malaysia, where the National Front coalition has ruled the country without interruption since independence from Britain in 1957.

Last year, the law was used to detain a blogger, a journalist and members of a Hindu rights activist group. In a telephone interview on Sunday, Mr. Anwar said the law represents a "powerful threat to anybody criticizing the government."

As many as 10,000 protesters converged in the center of Malaysia's main city just after 2 pm on Saturday, and prepared to march toward the national palace, where they intended to hand in a petition to the country's constitutional monarch to appeal the security law. Chants of "Reformasi" -- the Malaysian term for political reform -- echoed around the narrow streets in downtown Kuala Lumpur as police fired tear gas and chemical-laced water to break up the protesters before the march could begin.

Police used batons to charge into groups of demonstrators, scuffling with many of them, before they could deliver the petition. Analysts said the showdown could buoy Mr. Anwar's opposition alliance in its continuing effort to win enough support to form a new government.