Criticisms

Dr Lee, who sees the announcements as election campaign promises, said the tendency is for the Najib administration to roll back from its initial announcements when faced with criticisms from various interest groups.

Interested parties, such as the police, have not commented publicly on the issue. "So far, the police have been quite resistant to removing the ISA. This is one roadblock for Najib to remove the ISA," he said.

So there is some way to go before these announcements become reality.

For such constitutional amendments to take place, they have to be passed by two-thirds of Parliament, said Dr Lee.

Besides, Malaysia may not completely do away with the ISA. In its place, Malaysia will draft two new laws to deal with subversion and terrorism.

It remains to be seen if it could be a case of "old wines in new bottles", said Prof Tan. He added: "We may see some of these powers resurrected in these legislations."

This article was first published in The New Paper.