The government is willing to consider appointing Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga to the three-member panel to decide the fate of suspected criminals. But Ambiga is not interested.

NONESpeaking to Malaysiakini, the former Bar Council president dismissed the amended Prevention of Crime Act as a "repugnant mechanism" that violates the basic principles of human rights.

"Thank you for the confidence, but no thanks," Ambiga said.

The Bersih leader was responding to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Paul Low, who said the government might consider putting personalities that people trust on the panel.

"If you talk about the personalities involved in the board… if you want Ambiga to be there, maybe the government can consider.

"I don't know. Will you be happy? Whatever it is, I don't have a problem if Ambiga is there, I just want to see the criminals arrested," Low said in an interview with TV channel Astro Awani yesterday.

Elaborating, Ambiga said that she would decline the offer on principle.

"If I accept such an appointment, it would be akin to endorsing the amendments to the PCA," she explained.

Furthermore, she said, the panel would be ineffective, functioning as mere window dressing and she called on Low to look into this.

NONEIn his interview, Low said the five-member panel to decide whether a person could be detained was an improvement from the era of the Emergency Ordinance or the Internal Security Act, where the home minister was given that power.

However, the former Transparency International Malaysia president conceded that the problem stemmed from a deep mistrust of the government.

"The circumstances are different. Now there is a supervisory board… but people still argue with me, 'what if the panel is corrupt?' but I say to them: anyone can be corrupt," he added.

What about the audit report?

Meanwhile, Ambiga quizzed Low, who is the minister in charge of integrity, on his next move regarding the revelations of leakages and corruption in the Auditor-General Report 2012.

NONE"And while Low and I are 'talking', what is his plan in respect of the revelations in the audit report?" she asked.

"I hope that Low will give this priority and ensure that heads will roll over the gross abuses disclosed by the auditor-general.

"I think the minister will have his work cut out for him to ensure that every single item is addressed and the law is enforced.

"In fact, I believe he ought to work backwards to see that all the audit reports before this have resulted in action against those involved," Ambiga added.

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