By Razak Ahmad PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, May 8 (Reuters) - Malaysia will release three leaders of a banned ethnic Indian protest group along with 10 others who had been held without trial, just a day after over 60 people were arrested in anti-government protests. The move allows Malaysia to say it no longer has any political prisoners held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows imprisonment without trial, although political analysts said there was a raft of other laws such as sedition which have been used to clamp down on dissent. "ISA and the review of other statutes is in the works so it is not business as usual," Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference in the country's administrative capital Putrajaya. Other non-political prisoners such as drugs smugglers are still held under the ISA. The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) is fighting for an end to racial discrimination and made headlines with a massive street demonstration in November 2007, and has since been banned by the government and its leaders were arrested. Its top leader still lives in exile in London and one of the detainees released on Friday holds a state assembly seat. Ethnic Chinese and Indians, who make up 33 percent of the country's population, deserted the ruling coalition in droves in last year's general elections, complaining of discriminatory policies in favour of majority Malays. Political analysts said the releases were window-dressing following dozens of arrests on Thursday in a tussle for the control of peninula Malaysia's second largest state, Perak, where the government ousted the opposition-run administration [ID:nKLR431444] "Najib Razak had to do some PR after the Perak fiasco," said James Chin, professor of politics at the Monash University campus in Kuala Lumpur. "I don't think it really changes anything in terms of ISA or the sedition charges because the Hindraf leaders will still be constrained anyway." Heightened political risks have hit Malaysian assets and concerns over the Perak tensions spreading prompted investment bank HSBC to warn that both economic and political factors would weigh on the ringgit currency. "This highlights that despite the smooth handover of power to PM Najib Razak, who has announced some surprisingly progressive policies, the underlying political rift dividing the nation remains," the bank said in a report published on Friday. Hishammuddin said that of the other 10, three were Malaysians, two were Indonesians and five were from the Philippines and he said the foreigners would be repatriated. He declined to say if they were from Jemaah Islamiyah, a pan-Asian radical Islamic group linked to al Qaeda and which was responsible for a number of attacks across Southeast Asia, including the 2002 Bali bombings. (Writing by David Chance; Editing by Dean Yates)
A group photo of ASEAN + 3 Health Ministers (L to R) Indonesia's Minister of Health Supari Siti Fadilah, Lao's Minister of Health Ponmek Dalaloy, Malaysia's Minister of Health Dato Sri ...
