The home minister has said that NGOs and lawyers should not question the government’s good intentions and gave an assurance that the revised Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) will only be directed at criminals.

The amendments to the PCA seek preventive detention as a provision to give the crime-beating intent of the amendment significant teeth. Despite various and significant arguments against these amendments as regressive moves by large sections of the rakyat, the government looks set to proceed with the tabling of these amendments.

Verbal assurances are fine to argue the government’s position in the media, but for the man on the street, true security from abuse can only derive from clear provisions in the law against arbitrary applications of the law.

In this context, Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia urges the government to further review the amendments to incorporate the ‘habeas corpus’ provision in the PCA. Habeas corpus is a fundamental human right and the power rests on a High Court judge to decide whether a person is lawfully detained under the provisions of law.  

The government really should have no problems including the ‘habeas corpus’ provision  to allow the courts to review a detention as this will ensure that the fundamental rights of citizens against unlawful detention or of arbitrary interpretation of the law are not violated. If the government will not include this ‘habeas corpus’ provision, it may be a subtle admission either of a hidden intent or of a lack of confidence in the judiciary of the country.

Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia maintains it is not against detention to prevent crime, but the powers vested in the executive should not be arbitrary and should follow the international standards of human rights.

Malaysia sits on the Human Rights Council of the United Nations - a seat in this UN body is a badge of “contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights”. Being a prominent member of the Human Rights Community, it now behoves the government to stand up to those very international norms it is supposed to promote and protect. We obtained this international recognition after we moved away from the dark era under Mahathir Mohamad.

In having obtained the status, the government must show the world that it is worthy of it. The government must recognise that the world community is looking on and has serious expectations that it will walk its talk.

Besides there is now an attempt by Malaysia to gain a seat as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Will the government allow regressive this re-introduction of draconian provision of detention without recourse to due process of the law to come in the way of Malaysia’s ambitions?

N GANESAN is national adviser to Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia.