In the fight against terror, the government last week pushed through two new anti-terror laws while beefing up existing laws to combat terrorism.

The new bills passed by the Dewan Rakyat are the Prevention of Terrorism Bill (Pota) and Special Measures Against Terrorism in Foreign Countries Bill.

The Lower House also passed amendments to strengthen the Security Offences and Special Measures Act (Sosma) 2012 while a counter-terrorism clause was inserted in the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) 2013.

Why the need to introduce new laws if there already is Sosma? And, do these laws overlap?

Lawyer New Sin Yew opined that the laws are not redundant but are instead different from one another.

“People tend to ask why, since we already have Sosma, why do we need Pota? It is quite different because Sosma deals mainly with the procedure during trial.

“But Pota doesn’t deal with that. Pota has nothing to do with trials. You are never going to go to trial under Pota,” New told Malaysiakini when contacted.

Pota empowers a Prevention of Terrorism Board to issue detention or restriction orders against any person believed to be “engaged in the commission or support of terrorist acts involving listed terrorist organisations in a foreign country”.

The detentions can last up to two years and can be renewed indefinitely, and the board’s decisions cannot be scrutinised by the court, except on matters of procedural compliance.

Preventive law

New said while the terrorism-related offences under the Penal Code appear to be comprehensive, Pota can also be applied to matters that do not amount to an offence under the Penal Code.

In other words, Pota can be used against someone even before he or she commits an offence.

"I don’t think there is duplicity... it goes back to the fundamental question: did he (the suspect) commit an offence or not?

"If he committed an offence under the laws of Malaysia - any laws of Malaysia under the Penal Code - then he should be arrested and brought to trial as soon as possible.

"But if he is arrested and detained without trial and is suspected of having committed an offence within Malaysia, then it is clearly in violation of his human rights," New added.

Opposition lawmakers fought tooth and nail to stop the Pota bill, forcing up to nine bloc votes before the bill, which allows detention without trial, was passed by the Lower House by 79 votes to 60 against, at 2.25am on April 7.

Later that day, Parliament passed the Special Measures Against Terrorism in Foreign Countries Bill 2015, which among others bars those suspected of involvement in terrorism abroad from travelling.

Higher burden of proof

Pakatan Rakyat MPs also put up a fight against the Sosma amendment, which allows spouses to testify against each other - something barred by the Evidence Act.

 

Last week, in tabling the second reading of Pota in Parliament, Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Wan Jaafar complained that Sosma requires a high burden of proof to secure a conviction.

“However in certain cases, strong and clear-cut evidence is hard to obtain because the information is in the form of intelligence reports...

“In relation to that, the government has decided to create a new law to prevent untoward incidents before these happen. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure,” the Hansard recorded Wan Junaidi as saying.