Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) believes that the newly-proposed amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca) will make the law on detention without trial harsher than it already is.

The NGO was particularly concerned about the proposed amendments to the role of the “inquiry officer” as stated in the act.

“With the proposed amendments, the government is seeking to make a major change to the role of the inquiry officer, as there will be no longer a duty for the detainee to be brought before the inquiry officer,” LFL executive director Eric Paulsen said in a statement today.

He explained that under the amended procedure, the inquiry officer would "inquire" and report to the Prevention of Crime Board after receiving a detainee’s police investigation report.

“Serious concerns must surely be raised as to how the inquiry officer can ‘inquire’ and make a ‘finding’ if the detainee under the amended procedure is not required to be brought before the officer,” Paulsen said.

Paulsen explained that prior to these amendments, the detainee was given a chance to explain themselves to the inquiry officer and to make an application to the board for a review of the officer’s findings.

“These bare minimum ‘safeguards’ that were previously provided will now be completely lost under the new amendments.

“These amendments make clear that the government is not interested in upholding even the most basic principles of justice and fairness, that is to allow the detainee an opportunity to be heard,” he said.

The proposed amendments to Poca were tabled earlier this week on Monday, which was the first day of the current parliamentary sitting.

Paulsen urged all parliamentarians to oppose these amendments, as they would aggravate Malaysia’s already-poor human rights record.

He stressed that Poca itself was an “insidious” piece of legislation that had no place in a modern democratic state that cherishes basic principles of human rights, due process and rule of law.

Under Poca, a person can currently be detained without trial for two years, with a possible extension of up to two more years for an indefinite number of times.