The minister said he had received a draft of the bill and regretted that the opposition chose to stage an anti-ISA demonstration in the capital Saturday.

The government had promised to amend the ISA and any demand should be made through negotiations and not by street protests or riots, he added.

ISA is a sensitive issue between the government, the opposition and the civil society.

The government has used the law to curb Islamist militancy, detaining key members of the fundamentalist Jemmah Islamiah.

In 2007, it detained five top leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) that claims to articulate the long-standing grievances of Malaysia's two million ethnic Indian population.

Charged with sedition, the five -- S. Kengadharan, P. Uthaikumar, Vasanthkumar, Ganabatirau and legislator M. Manoharan -- were released earlier this year by the prime minister as 'a conciliatory gesture'.