Having a provision which allows detention without trial does not make the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) an unjust law, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

Saying this while winding up debate of the Pota Bill in the Dewan Rakyat, he said the existing Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) is proof that there is still justice even without a trial.

 

The PCA bears many similarities with Pota including the provision for detentions without trial, and would be even more alike if proposed amendments to the PCA are passed.

The Pota Bill was passed without amendment in the wee hours of Tuesday, despite opposition MPs' multiple attempts to block it at every juncture during the 14-hour debate.

Quoting from the annual report tabled to Parliament, Zahid said 207 persons have been referred to the Prevention of Crime Board over the past year.

Of these, 170 were found to be "positive", while the remaining 37 were "negative" and were set free.

Of the persons detained, six were referred to the Advisory Board under the Prime Minister’s Department, of which five were set free.

"This means the law was meted out (with) justice, although formally, they were not brought to court," he said.

He went on to claim that of the 10,873 Internal Security Act detainees, 90 percent were successfully rehabilitated.

Zahid himself was briefly held under the ISA when he was Umno Youth chief, following now PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's sacking as deputy prime minister in 1998.

He returned to Umno mainstream when he was chosen to defend and handsomely won the Bagan Datoh seat in the 1999 general election.

Pakatan Rakyat MPs dubbed the proposed law "ISA 2.0" due to its detention without trial provision.

The ISA was repealed and replaced with the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act in 2012.

Pass now, review later

While conceding that the Pota bill has weaknesses that should be reviewed, Zahid insisted that it should be passed during the current sitting.

"I think it can be reviewed, but I ask that the law is pass to see its weaknesses on some later date.

"This problem (of terrorism) is a problem of yesterday, not just a problem of the future.

"This law really needs to be passed, not for it to be abused by the police or the Prevention of Terrorism Board but for what I have mentioned earlier," he told the lower house.

Zahid said the person who would chair the board would be a serving judge, but conceded that the wording of the law only specified that the chairperson should be a person with at least 15 years of legal experience.

However, he did not answer to questions by opposition parliamentarians on why Pota excludes the courts from scrutinizing the proceedings under the act except on procedural matters, despite several queries on the matter.

The Parliament clock was stopped just before midnight as opposition MPs tried to push for amendments through multiple bloc votes.

Despite this, it was passed at 2.25am with 79 votes in favour and 60 votes against the bill.

Bill with detention without trial passed