Zahid brushes off rights concerns over terror Bill
Ram AnandPublished: Mar 9, 2015 4:51 AM | Updated: Mar 9, 2015 11:24 AM
Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has brushed off concerns that the new Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) Bill will violate human rights, saying the government needed to do "what it does" to protect the people.
The bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament during the current sitting and will provides for detention without trial, with no time limit set.
Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has brushed off concerns that the new Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) Bill will violate human rights, saying the government needed to do "what it does" to protect the people.
The bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament during the current sitting and will provides for detention without trial, with no time limit set.
Asked about criticism of the new bill from human rights groups, Zahid brushed them off.
"They can say whatever they want. The government needs to do what it does in order to protect the people," he said.
The bill was mooted by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak late last year, when he tabled a White Paper on the threat of terrorism to the country.
Terror threat 'controllable'
Zahid said despite the existence of the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) - which marked the return of detention without trial in 2013 - a "preventive" law was needed.
"What we have right now are punitive laws. We need a preventive law," he said.
He also described the threat of terrorism to Malaysia as "controllable".
Detention without trial was first abolished in Malaysia by Najib in 2011 when he had the Internal Security Act (ISA) repealed in Parliament.
However, after the 13th general election, the government backtracked on its promise to abolish the Sedition Act and instead introduced the PCA.
It is also inserting a detention without trial clause in the new terrorism bill.
Pota will have provisions to detain a person without trial for up to two years and on top of that, the detention period can be extended for an indefinite period of time.
The bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament during the current sitting and will provides for detention without trial, with no time limit set.
Asked about criticism of the new bill from human rights groups, Zahid brushed them off."They can say whatever they want. The government needs to do what it does in order to protect the people," he said.
The bill was mooted by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak late last year, when he tabled a White Paper on the threat of terrorism to the country.
Terror threat 'controllable'
Zahid said despite the existence of the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) - which marked the return of detention without trial in 2013 - a "preventive" law was needed."What we have right now are punitive laws. We need a preventive law," he said.
He also described the threat of terrorism to Malaysia as "controllable".
Detention without trial was first abolished in Malaysia by Najib in 2011 when he had the Internal Security Act (ISA) repealed in Parliament.
However, after the 13th general election, the government backtracked on its promise to abolish the Sedition Act and instead introduced the PCA.
It is also inserting a detention without trial clause in the new terrorism bill.
Pota will have provisions to detain a person without trial for up to two years and on top of that, the detention period can be extended for an indefinite period of time.
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