DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has challenged Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to explain why former detainees under the now repealed Emergency Ordinance (EO) are still free if there is evidence against them, as he had claimed.

NONEHe was referring to Zahid’s promise yesterday to present the full findings of a recent study, which he said would justify the need to revive the EO or replace it with a similar law, during the next Parliament sitting in September.

The minister had claimed that the study had found that 90 percent of organised crimes in Selangor were masterminded by ex-EO detainees.

"If the study even exists, it actually doesn’t prove the need for the EO. On the contrary, it only proves the police force to be totally incompetent," Pua said in a statement today.

"The question that needs to be asked, that if the police are indeed so certain of who committed 90 percent of these crimes, then why can’t they be charged in court and put in jail?"

Pua urged Zahid and the police to heed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's advice that police would now have to find evidence against criminals, while announcing the government's decision to repeal the EO back in 2011.

'Release stats now'

Last week, Zahid announced plans to introduce a new bill allowing preventative measures to replace the abolished EO, claiming that its removal had led to a rise in crime rates.

NONEHowever, the announcement met with a storm of  criticism from both the opposition and the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), who claimed police are only using the lack of the EO as an excuse for rising crime.

In his statement today, Pua further challenged Zahid (above) to release the evidence immediately, stressing there was no need to wait until September to do so.

"Parliment is still in session next week, why wait another two months if he has the statistics now?" he asked.

"This so-called study is a complete figment of Zahid’s imagination.  This study does not exist.

"The home minister is taking advantage of the public fear of rising crime to bring back draconian laws for sinister purposes," Pua said.

Meanwhile, Pua’s DAP colleague Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo also said that Zahid’s claim “made no sense”.

Gobind said that one of the main objectives of the now-abolished EO was to rehabilitate those suspected of being involved in criminal activities.

As such, if ex-EO detainees are returning to the crime fold as claimed by Zahid, Gobind said that the EO has “clearly failed” in its objective.

“This would work against his argument in support of its revival. The reality of it is that the EO may have made the problem worse,” he said.

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