Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians are proposing changes to the proposed Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) bill including removing provisions for detention without trial.

 

Instead, a terrorism suspect would be brought to the high court where a judge would decide whether or not to remand the suspect for up to 14 days after which the person must be either charged or released.

 

This is akin to pre-trial detention laws in the United Kingdom and Australia, said Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen ( right ).

 

“This is the standard. We think that Malaysia should also follow this Commonwealth standard.

 

“It will be the right balance between fighting terrorism and protecting human rights and democratic principles of rule of law,” he told a press conference today.

 

He warned that terrorism cannot be fought by sacrificing democracy and that such measures could backfire by radicalising “misguided” citizens.

Excessive action counter-productive

 

Meanwhile, Kuala Terengganu MP Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad quoted the scholar Mark Juegensmeyer saying that that normal law enforcement and due process needs to continue in efforts to tackle terrorism, and that excessive action would be counter-productive.

“When the American government declared war (on terrorism after the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks), it actually attracted more sympathisers and more people to joint (the militants),” he said.

A notice for the proposed amendments has already been filed with the Dewan Rakyat Speaker’s office and has already been accepted, he said. The matter should be raised when the parliamentary debates on Pota enter their third stage.

 

Pota was read for the second time in parliament at about noon today, with Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar ( left ) defending the law from accusations that it is a revival of the draconian and now-abolished Internal Security Act.

Pakatan Rakyat’s proposed amendment also calls for a police officer making an arrest under Pota to be at least a superintendent in rank.

It also does away with the Prevention of Terrorism Board that is supposed to determine whether a person should be detained for up to two years, which can then be renewed indefinitely for two years at a time.

Under Pota proposed by the government, the arrest can be made by any police officer without warrant, and would be brought to a magistrate within 24 hours.

However the magistrate has no discretion on whether a person can be remanded or for how long, as long as the police or the public prosecutor claim that there is reason to bring the person to face proceedings before the Prevention of Terrorism Board.

Pakatan firmly opposed to Pota

Meanwhile, Sepang MP Mohamed Hanipa Maidin clarified that despite proposing its own amendments, Pakatan Rakyat remains firmly opposed to Pota as a whole, and these are tabled only as an alternative if the government refuses to back down.

Wong Chen added that he would prefer the government to withdraw the bill and form a parliamentary select committee instead, in a bipartisan effort to formulate anti-terrorism laws.

Pre-empting accusations that Pakatan is supporting terrorism by opposing Pota, Kapar MP S Manikavasagam told the press conference that the coalition is against terrorism.

“We are fighting terrorism, but the spirit of how they drafted the bill is not up to the extent that supports democratic principles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Former UN special rapporteur on the Independence of Lawyers and Judges Param Cumaraswamy told Malaysiakini that detention without trial offends the first principle of having rule of law.

"With no access to the writ of habeas corpus and judicial review how does one prove that his or her arrest and detention is for his or her political beliefs or political activities.

No transparency in proceedings

"As there will be no transparency in the proceedings before the Board and obviously there will be no right to counsel, Malaysia will be seen as moving towards the gestapo system of governance," Param said in a statement.

He agreed with the Bar Council which states that POTA is worse than the repealed Internal Security Act.

"I urge the Dewan Rakyat to defer the Bill for further public debate or at least refer it to a select committee of the Dewan for further public feedback," said Param, a former Bar Council chairman.