PARLIAMENT Opposition members are unhappy that they were not informed or consulted about the amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) which will be tabled in Parliament today.

PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said that to her understanding, even the Bar Council had not been notified beforehand about the major amendments which will re-introduce preventive detention.

“I only got my information from a media person this morning,” said Nurul Izzah, who said that she was surprised to find the bill on her table this morning.

Another parliamentarian, PSM's Dr Michael Jeyakumar, said did not receive his copy of the amendment bills at his seat by the time the lower house called for a mid-day break today.

Nurul Izzah's fellow PKR vice-president N Surendran called Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak "a liar" for allowing the introduction of these amendments.

"He lied to the people when he said EO and ISA will be abolished. Did he not say on national television two years ago that there will be no more preventive detention?

"This is a return of ISA, make no mistake about that," Surendran claimed.

Surendran: Black day for Malaysia

In a later statement, Surendran, who is Padang Serai MP, deemed this act by the government as “fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional”.

“This is because the preamble to the old PCA has been amended to include the provision under Article 149 of the federal constitution that the country is ‘threatened by a substantial body of persons inside and outside’ of Parliament.

“This is the same provision under which the ISA 1960 was passed and justified,” he said.

He added that the inclusion of the clause restricting any challenge in court is also similar to the ISA in which the minister’s decision to detain was not questionable in court.

“This is a black day for Malaysia. The government is setting back the clock and dragging us back to the era of arbitrary arrest and detention,” he said, expressing fear that if passed, the amended Act would be used to threaten opposition and civil society.

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