
The ISA must go now: Fr Fabian Dicom strongly denounces the ISA

We shall overcome: They sang loudly while swaying candles held high

Datuks against ISA: Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon and Dato’ Seri Dr T Devaraj after Mass
Hot on the heels of the Perlis Mufti’s criticism of the use of the ISA, the Cathedral of the Holy Spirt in Penang, the seat of the Catholic Church in the northern region, has delivered a powerful indictment of the draconian law in a special Mass attended by some 600 800 concerned Malaysians.
“We are fed up,” said assistant parish priest Fr Fabian Dicom, in a searing denouncement of the ISA. “The ISA must go now. What we are saying here can be found in the verses of our scriptures.”
From Matthew Chapter 5:
5 Blessed are those who mourn: they shall be comforted.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for uprightness: they shall have their fill.
7 Blessed are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognised as children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
11 Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.
Dicom’s call was echoed in another stirring denunciation by parish priest Fr Francis Anthony at the end of the Mass.
The main celebrant wore purple vestments, “the colour of mourning,” explained Dicom, who concelebrated Mass with half a dozen priests from the Penang diocese including Anthony and Fr Marshall Fernandez, the parish priest of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Pulau Tikus.
“We should not rest until we sound the death knell for the ISA,” added Dicom, whereupon the congregation inside heard the faint tolling of a church bell.
The crowd broke out in loud and sustained applause each time the priests called for an immediate end to the ISA and for the release of all ISA detainees. Among those present were Penang-based civil society activists and bloggers as well as folks from the mainland.
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