[#PCA] Human Rights Watch Guy Says Malaysia Taking Step Backward
Malaysian lawmakers have passed changes made to the Prevention of Crime Act 1959, approving detention without trial.
By Melody Oei — 27 Sep 2013, 04:18 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
Lawmakers approve detention without trial
The bill was passed after minor changes were made, including adding two more members to the initial three-man Prevention of Crime Board, to whom reports on detainees will be submitted.
themalaysianinsider.com
Opponents fear law passed could be abused by authorities to hold people without trial for years and negate the prime minister's pledge to protect human rights
Opposition leaders and international rights activists have criticized Prime Minister Najib Razak's administration for introducing the changes less than two years after abolishing laws that had occasionally been used in past decades to hold political dissenters without charge.
myrtlebeachonline.comLim Kit Siang, a top opposition member of Parliament who has previously been held for months on separate occasions under the Internal Security Act, said the approval of the amendments marked "a black day for Malaysia."
eveningsun.comNajib Razak assured Malaysians that "no one will be victimised"
Najib has defended the amendments as necessary to combat organized crime. He assured Malaysians that "no one will be victimized" and that authorities would follow a clear procedure and not use the law for political purposes.
townhall.com
Najib earlier this week said the changes were crucial to tackle an increase in organised crime, insisting that crime "has frightened the public and if the government doesn't act, more people will become victims."
Deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, "Malaysia is taking a huge step (backward) on rights."
"Malaysia is taking a huge step (backward) on rights by returning to administrative detention practices much like the draconian Internal Security Act," Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Thurs, 3 Oct 2013.
eveningsun.com"By doing so, Prime Minister Najib is backing methods that do little to curtail crime but threaten everyone's liberty."
mercedsunstar.com“Responses to crime require a rights-sensitive approach entirely absent from this legislation."
themalaysianinsider.com
Government wants to reintroduce detention without trial under Prevention of Crime Act 1959
These amendments re-introduce preventive detention just two years after Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had announced the repeal of ISA (Internal Security Act) and Emergency Ordinance.
New sections will allow for a 2 year detention period which may be further extended if "deemed necessary"
Other new sections that have been inserted in the bill include Section 7A, which bars a judicial review for any of the board's actions or decisions, except on compliance with any procedural requirement in the Act.
A person found guilty of registrable offences will have limited access to legal representation, if the proposed amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 are passed.
Image via imgur.comIt will empower the board under Section 19A to impose detention orders for a period not exceeding 2 years. This may be renewed for further periods not exceeding 2 years at a time, if necessary, in the interest of public order, public security or prevention of crime.
The detention cannot be challenged in any court of justice
This was just one of the repressive laws stated in the amendments. Among other salient points were the electronic monitoring device.
Other new sections that have been inserted in the bill include Section 7A, which bars a judicial review for any of the board's actions or decisions, except on compliance with any procedural requirement in the Act.
Officers involved in investigations do not have to reveal the proof to convict someone if he or she was a threat to national unity
Other amendments include allowing evidence or reports given by an expert on activities...hand signs, insignias, characteristics or any other matters relating to an organised criminal group to be deemed as conclusive proof that the accused is a member of an organised criminal group.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi tabled the bill at Dewan Rakyat on 25 September 2013
Photo for illustration purposes only, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Image via nst.com.myHishamuddin Rais comments on Najib Razak's absence in parliament
Hishamuddin Rais said that Najib Razak’s absence in parliament showed how slick he is in resolving national issues, “He is not in parliament when the law was presented thus opposition party members could not pose questions to him."
Hishamuddin stressed that the new law will receive negative backlash from the rakyat as they had called for a more transparent system prior to GE13.
State rep for Teja, "The PCA amendments are going to deprive the rakyat’s fundamental right to fair trial, which is exactly opposite of what Najib had promised."
"The argument of curbing rising crime rate with preventive detention is pale and archaic...Malaysia has sufficient laws and sophisticated criminal justice system to deal with criminals."
"It is a sheer violation of Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that guarantees one’s right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty."
DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, "The amendments are against the promise of liberalisation."
Lim said the fact that the decisions of the three-man Crime Prevention Board, which will deliberate and determine on arrests and detentions, cannot be scrutinised through a judicial review made the amendments "even more obnoxious."
"Detention without trial in the amended PCA, if passed, is the same as the ISA or Emergency Ordinance (EO), but clothed in a different form," said a netizen
"What is worse is that there is no judicial review. Politicians, especially, were locked up under ISA. This PCA, just like the ISA, could be misused or rather abused by the powers-that-be."
malaysiakini.com
Comparing the Emergency Ordinance 1969 (EO), ISA (Internal Security Act) and PCA (Prevention of Crime Act) (click to enlarge)
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