ISA relevant and crucial to national security: MHA

We may have similar tools, but the situation in Malaysia is different from Singapore, said analysts.

Singapore Management University's Assistant Professor Eugene Tan, a constitutional law specialist and political observer, said: "In Malaysia, the ISA is widely perceived to be used as a political tool on political opponents of the government. The ISA has lost legitimacy in the view of many Malaysians.

"The Singapore situation is different. Some people may view it with concern, but I don't think it suffers from the sort of disrepute that the Malaysian version has."

Still, the announcements have generated significant interest online, with netizens asking whether Singapore should go the same way.

Some drew attention to then-deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong's comments in a 1991 newspaper article that Singapore would seriously consider abolishing the Internal Security Act if Malaysia were to do so.

Dr Lee Hock Guan, a senior fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies, felt that the statement needs to be taken into context.

He said: "That statement was made 20 years ago. You have to look at it contextually - when that speech was given compared to now. Are things still the same?

"Compare the use of ISA in Singapore and Malaysia since 1991. In the case of Malaysia, ISA was used to jail opposition leaders and also to detain immigration officers who sell illegal passports to foreigners.

"Whereas in Singapore, the state has not used it for that kind of purpose. There aren't the same criticisms of the ISA. In Singapore, can you think of an example where the ISA is used to jail members of a legitimate political party, not the Jemaah Islamiah, since 1991?"

Despite the differences between the two countries, Singapore will not be immune to developments in Malaysia with regards to the ISA, said Prof Tan.

The Singapore Government will have to continue to explain the relevance of the ISA as a security tool and the safeguards that are in place to prevent abuse, he said.

This was something the Government has to do constantly with "a very draconian legislation like the ISA", even if Malaysia did not announce its decision to repeal the Act, said Prof Tan.

And Singaporeans would need to remain vigilant and ensure the Government does not abuse their trust on the use of the ISA.

Another point to note is that the ISA may not disappear completely from Malaysia, so the impact on Singapore may be moot.

Analysts said there are strong political motivations behind Mr Najib's announcement to repeal and relook some significant legislations.