A lawyer’s group has blasted the government for taking “shortcuts” in attempting to reintroduce oppressive laws such as the Emergency Ordinance (EO) rather than focus on improving the police force.

In a statement today, Lawyers for Liberty co-founder and adviser Eric Paulsen said the solution to the nation’s crime problem “will not be found in the reintroduction of oppressive and antiquated preventive laws like the EO or other similar laws that provide them with wide and arbitrary powers to detain suspects at their leisure for long periods of time without recourse to due process and a fair trial”.

NONE He said the focus should be on improving and upgrading the police force.

“Instead of providing short cuts, the government should strengthen the police force properly and provide them with adequate resources, support and training to be a modern and civilised first world police force that rely on effective, innovative and modern investigation methods rather than the bad old days of torture, abuse of power and preventive laws,” said Paulsen in a statement today.

Paulsen ( right ) said focus should also be on allocating resources to “real crime fighting” and not wasting valuable resources on “the redundant Special Branch and bloated Federal Reserve Unit, Light Strike Force, Rela” and other apparatus that he said were often misused to target dissent instead of crime.

'EO easy way out'

He said the recent call to replace the EO with a similar law was worrying and makes rubbish of the prime minister’s claims of reforms.

“This is a real about-face from Prime Minister Najib Razak who has now shredded any last remaining ‘reformist’ or ‘democrat’ credential after going back to almost all of his human rights reform."

perak eo sit in protest 100811 03 He cited how the government abolished the Internal Security Act (ISA) but enacted the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 in its place.

The government, he said, also increased the use of the Sedition Act after promising to abolish it, and still cracked down on peaceful assemblies after repealing section 27 of the Police Act.

Paulsen added that a fair trial and due process were basic human rights that had to be observed regardless of the excuse of tackling crime.

In this respect, he pointed out that there was no proof the alleged link between a rise in crime and the abolition of the EO.

“To blame the absence of the EO as the reason for the spike in crime is shockingly irresponsible and points to a deep and systemic failure in law and order and crime prevention.

“There is no cogent evidence to link the rise of crime to the EO's repeal and such an excuse looks like an easy way out for those responsible, namely the home minister and PDRM.” he said.

Meanwhile, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has also commented on the blaming of the EO on the crime spike, pointing out that it contradicts the government’s claims elsewhere that crime had decreased.