'House fooled into adopting flawed PCA amendment bill'

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's wavering position on the amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act (1959) (PCA) Bill is a mockery of the parliamentary process, an opposition parliamentarian said today.

The move is alarming as it means that the BN government purposely through its parliamentary majority had forced the bill into law despite knowing that it was flawed, DAP MP Gobind Singh Deo said.

On Thursday, Zahid (left) said that he was prepared to make the necessary amendments to the PCA after taking into consideration views of NGO's and the Bar Council.

That piece of legislation has already passed through both houses of Parliament.

"Zahid has made a mockery of Parliament having tabled the amendments to the PCA and pushed them through the Dewan Rakyat under these circumstances.

"What is worse is the fact that the prime minister sat quietly in the Dewan Rakyat through this all and did absolutely nothing to stop it," Gobind said in a press statement.

Zahid was reported recently in The Star as saying that "the door was not shut" on the bill, following new instructions from Najib Abdul Razak.

Civil society' s rising strength

Before the passage of the amendment, it had already kicked off a huge storm of protest from civil society, opposition MPs and lawyers warning about its "draconian" nature, as it provides up to two years of detention without trial for criminals.

BN MPs had then argued that the bill needed to be urgently rushed through to arrest the alarming rise in serious crime in the country.

"Zahid should have informed the Dewan Rakyat that the then proposed amendments were not yet finalized and subject to further amendments pending discussions," Gobind, who is the MP for Puchong, said.

"So what will Zahid do now in the meanwhile? Is he going to put everything on hold pending finalisation? Then why push it through in the first place? Was it a really all a drama to enhance his popularity for the Umno VP contest?"

Proposed amendments to 10 other laws, including the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) were also tabled for first reading, but pulled back at the last minute before the second reading at the last sitting.