The National Security Council (NSC) Act 2016 was gazetted on Tuesday under Article 66(4A) of the Federal Constitution which states that a Bill will automatically become law and will be considered to have received assent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, even if he does not expressly give his approval within 30 days after it has been presented to him. The law is not yet in force.

The NSC Act proposes to allow the National Security Council - which would be chaired by the prime minister - to take command of the country’s security forces and impose strict policing of areas deemed to face security risks. According to the Act, the jurisdiction of the NSC takes effect once the prime minister designates a location as a “security area” - a status that is valid for six months at a time, subject to renewal by the prime minister.

Once the NSC takes control of a security area, security forces will have the right to search or arrest without warrant any individual “found committing, alleged to have committed, or reasonably suspected of having committed any offense under written laws in the security area”.

This mean to say the prime minister now possesses at his disposal, a concentration of power which has no historical precedence in Malaysia. Are we in uncharted waters which require further consultation and reflection? As we don’t have any precedents, how it will affect the Malaysian public as whole in terms of expression of human rights and rule of law? Are we in any way contradicting the existing laws or harmonising with them?

As there is no express royal assent and making into law, it should clearly be communicated to the Malaysian public at large and the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara that there are concerns and issues. Ignoring the rulers who have played pivotal role in building this nation since independence is tantamount to relegating them to be mere figureheads of insignificance.

Rulers are like “kings and rulers of the earth, the mirrors of the gracious and almighty name of God” according to the writings of the Bahai faith. They are the regulators and moderators of intense situations when other institutions have failed or impotent in their duty to perform. They were considered in the past as representative of God, however the present ideologies have allegedly demonised them.

Though the world has changed tremendously, with security threats from terrorists and other like-minded groups, which need to be confronted by ‘taking the bull by the horns’, it does not necessarily be taken to the extreme by laws which make individuals, community and institution uneasy and uncomfortable. How will our present generation or the future going to view our rulers, as mere rubberstamps?

Please reinstate the respect and grandeur of our rulers, which is a non-partisan institution, to the unique democratic system of Malaysia.