May 26, 08 6:54pm
The Selangor government will provide financial and welfare assistance to families of those held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows detention without trial. Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said these measures would be taken up by the state government to help the wives and children of these detainees to ease their burden during the difficult period.
He added that his government will look into bearing the travelling costs for families to visit the detention camp every week.
At the same time, he said that children of the detainees may apply for state government scholarships to further their studies.
The wives too will be encouraged to look into various ways to become involved in businesses to help them earn a living, he said.
"Life can be difficult for them but they must continue to fight," he said after receiving a memorandum from the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) today.
Protest by Indian group
Earlier Khalid also said that the state government shared GMI's views on the abolition of the ISA as well as the Official Secrets Act.
GMI chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said some of the detainees were being held since 2002."Six years is not a short period - these sole breadwinners have lost their jobs and their children are suffering the consequences.
"There are also two detainees whose wives have sought divorce because of the long detention," he added.
Meanwhile, a group of Indian protested at the Selangor state secretariat in Shah Alam to express their disappointment with the failures of the state government in fulfilling election pledges.
The group, numbering about 80 and calling themselves Selangor Indian Community, handed a memorandum covering 13 issues to the office of Khalid.
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