Although Australians were also jolted by the Sept 11 terror attacks like the rest of the world, its civil society is opposing a proposed preventive detention law similar to that of Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA), which could be directed against legitimate political dissidents.

To get a better idea of the ISA and how it had affected Malaysians, two Australian human rights activists, Damien Lawson and Tim Anderson, are currently on a three-day fact-finding mission to Malaysia. The duo said they represent about 20 non-governmental organisations involved in human rights causes in their country.

"One of our concerns is how preventive detention affects the democratic movement or the movement for greater democratic reforms in Malaysia. We are concerned that the proposed law in Australia would be used in a similar way like the ISA," Lawson told malaysiakini .

"We are here to learn the Malaysian experience so that we can warn our people about the ugly side of this legislation," he added.

He said that following Sept 11, Australia has proposed preventive laws to curb terrorism but its implementation has been delayed as the public fear they may violate human rights and deviate from normal criminal procedures.

Lawson explained that the bill for the proposed legislation was blocked by the opposition-dominated Australian senate and referred to a parliamentary committee for further deliberation.

His colleague, Tim, who is a political economics lecturer in the University of Sydney noted that Australians are generally ignorant about the effects of the proposed preventive detention law.

He explained that although the Australian model has an element of judicial review, it is still very much similar to the ISA.

Law reviewed

According to him, the initial proposal called for an indefinite period of detention but the Australian government had responded to public criticisms and reviewed the law to limit the detention period up to seven days.

Lawson also said one big concern is that the proposed legislation will allow the Australian Secret Intelligence Service to detain people suspected to have information needed to deal with terrorism.

"The people detained need not be criminal suspects and even children as young as 10 can be detained under the proposed law," he explained.

The activists also voiced their disappointment that some Australian ministers had suggested that Malaysia's divergence from international human rights principles in its use of preventive detention was "appropriate" in some ways.

During a visit to Kuala Lumpur on May 30, Australian Defence Minister Senator Robert Hill was reported by the Malaysian media as saying he approved the government's use of the ISA, which allows for indefinite detention without trial, if the law is not used to curb civil liberties.

However, during an exclusive interview with malaysiakini later, Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Peter Varghese clarified Hill's remarks on the Internal Security Act (ISA) was "not quite as some headlines had reported".

Strong opposition

According to him, the headlines were "simplistic" adding that they did not tally with the full transcript.

"What Senator Hill said was since the Sept 11 attacks, a lot of countries have to grapple with the issue of how to introduce effective legislation to combat terrorism and at the same time uphold fundamental principles of rule of law and natural justice in due process," the diplomat said.

According to Lawson, the proposed bill may not be passed by the Australian parliament at all.

"What is clear in Australia is that there is a significant opposition against this law. The fact that the Senate has delayed it, is quite likely that it will be rejected," he said.

According to him, the Australian government would need the support of the opposition-controlled Senate to push through the law.

Lawson added that major Australian trade unions, professional bodies and community organisations are also against prevention detention.