KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s March deadline to abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) is a “cop out” given the likelihood that he will call snap polls soon after Budget 2012 is passed, say opposition lawmakers.
PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the prime minister’s decision to defer scrapping the law when elections could be called as early as January showed that he was insincere about the reforms he announced just over two weeks ago.
“I did harbour some hope at the beginning… but again, he hasn’t been forthcoming in the delivery of his promises,” she told The Malaysian Insider, saying that this amounted to a “cop out”.
The Lembah Pantai MP said there was no excuse for delaying the ISA repeal given that Najib himself made the decision, chiding the prime minister for not already having a draft to present to Parliament.
She urged the Najib to look up previous proposals — including the Emergency Revocation Bill that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) tried to table in April — to speed up the law reform process.
“If the Attorney-General cannot do the job, I would invite the prime minister to take whatever is there and just get the job done,” Nurul Izzah said.
DAP international secretary Liew Chin Tong said it would be “extremely unwise” of Najib to call a general election before he repeals the ISA as that would damage what remains of his credibility.
He stressed that the public was keen on actions, not words, and warned Najib he ran the risk of repeating former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s mistakes if he did not deliver quickly.
Abdullah, led Barisan Nasional (BN) to its worst-ever rout in Election 2008 — it was the first time since 1969 that the ruling coalition had failed to secure a two-thirds parliamentary majority — after the public turned on him for failing to deliver on promised reforms.
“If he wants to call elections, he’d better push through the ISA (repeal) in this Parliament session. Otherwise people are going to take a very cynical view,” Liew said.
Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee said he would like to see reforms take place before Najib seeks a fresh mandate but pointed out there was no need for any replacement to the ISA.
“Malaysia doesn’t need any detention-without-trial laws because it has already effectively strengthened its legislative provisions to take into account, and deal with, the threat of terrorism,” he said.
Lim said it was therefore disappointing that the government was contemplating two new laws to deal with terrorism and subversion but stressed that the Bar should be consulted on any replacement legislation.
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March ISA repeal a ‘cop out’, say Pakatan MPs
October 03, 2011 – MI
Posts Tagged ‘Abolish ISA
Seemingly dramatic changes may not be very dramatic but very political
The announcement Thursday of changes to Malaysian civil liberty laws appears to be a major coup for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, putting the opposition on the back foot by taking away long-standing demands for expanded civil freedoms that were potent campaign tools.
Much, however, depends on what replaces the laws. There is considerable scope for political theater and not much more in a campaign year, especially if, as expected, the replacements are modeled on US or UK laws, neither of which are particularly liberal despite the perception of liberal democracy in both countries.
National elections are expected in the first quarter of 2012, perhaps in March during school holidays when schools can be used as polling stations. The apparent changes need to be seen in the context of the elections, Najib’s rhetoric about freedom of expression to the contrary. There appears to be no move to abandon either the Sedition Act or the Official Secrets Act, for instance, which are routinely used against opposition figures and bloggers and journalists.
The reforms were announced by Najib on television Thursday night. They include abolition of the colonial-era Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention of suspects, as well as the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance allowing for detention without charge for two years. Another provision does away with the annual renewal of press and publication permits. Laws governing right of assembly are to be reviewed “to bring Malaysia into line with international standards” while ensuring that police retain power to prevent violence, he said.
“They will formulate other laws,” an UMNO source told Asia Sentinel. “Other countries have provisions for detention without trial. Since the ISA has been stigmatized as draconian, they can just get another law. The model they will take from America’s anti-terrorism law. The UK also has a new law for detention without trial.”
The US’s Patriot Act on which Najib may model his new laws was jammed through the US Congress amid hysteria surrounding the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York and the attack on the Pentagon in Washington, DC on September 11, 2001. The other possibility is that the security law would be modeled on the United Kingdom’s law, which allows for detention for 28 days without charge for terrorism suspects. In neither case are the laws particularly liberal, nor would they expand civil liberties by much.
The US’s Patriot Act has been under fire from civil libertarians since it was passed, as it vastly expanded police powers, creating new crimes, new penalties and new procedures for use against suspected domestic and international terrorists. It authorized the indefinite detention of immigrants, allowed for searches of homes and businesses without the owner’s or occupant’s permission or knowledge, expanded FBI authority for warrantless wiretaps and expanded access to business records, even including the authority to see what books suspects checked out of public libraries. Although the law has been amended slightly, it has been allowed to stand largely in its original form.
There is probably one important change. The new laws will take powers away from the Home Ministry and its feared Special Branch police and vest them in the judiciary, as they are in the United States, the United Kingdom and many other countries. That means law enforcement officials presumably would now have to seek the permission of the judiciary before conducting arrests or surveillance. Malaysia has a notoriously compliant judiciary, which bends to the wishes of the government and which means that probably there will be little change for now. But should elections deliver up a future government that appoints an independent judiciary, the changes could be beneficial.
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Najib and Malaysia’s Civil Liberties
16 SEPTEMBER 2011 – Asia Sentinel
Najib Abdul Razak must take Malaysians for very dumb clucks indeed if he thinks that contemptuously throwing them a few crumbs of fake reform is going to keep him and his foul Umno/BN regime in control for much longer.
As chicken as a majority of Malaysians may have been in the past to rise up and throw this regime off its dunghill, fewer and fewer seem to quail at the thought these days. In fact millions are metaphorically dying for the chance to knock Umno/BN off its perch and wring its sorry neck.
In half a century of ruling the roost through a system of government ‘of the people, buy the people, pluck the people’, and simultaneously both feathering and fouling its own nest, Umno/BN seems to have finally cooked its goose.
Former cock-of-the-walk Dr Mohamad Mahathir seems to realise this, and is sticking his beak in as always, this time urging the government to delay the next general election.
And in the same breath, he flies in the face of the fact of his own ‘Ops Lalang’ atrocity to declare that the Internal Security Act (ISA) should not be used to stifle political dissent, but rather the hearts and minds of the people should be won with “logical arguments”.
But logical arguments are by no means this bird-brained regime’s strong point. In fact nothing these Umno/BN turkeys say makes the slightest sense or contains so much as a grain of reason, intelligence, integrity or truth.
For example, Najib is clearly intending to abolish the ISA in name only and replace it with not just one, but two similar Acts of bastardry. Or as an unidentified Umno operative reportedly told Asia Sentinel: “Other countries have provisions for detention without trial. Since the ISA has been stigmatised as draconian, (we) can just get another law.”
Even pro-ISA activists have dubbed Najib’s stated intention of abolishing the ISA as a fraud, with Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz (left), legal advisor to Gabungan NGO Pembela Negara, clucking that the “spirit” of the ISA remains intact, and that Najib’s apparently progressive move is nothing but a “rebranding process”.
As fake as his ISA ‘reform’ plans are – just like his royal commissions, electoral commission, ’1Malaysia’ slogan and every word he utters – Najib is determined to deprive democracy activists and the opposition of any credit for egging him into action.
Speaking at an event called ‘Sirih Pulang ke Gagang’ (literally ‘a return to the fold’, which I must admit smacks more of an audience of sheep than of chickens), he declared: “Don’t anyone try to claim credit, saying that my announcement is due to their efforts. It is not due to their struggle but a decision made by BN after listening to the desires of the rakyat.”
Going on to claim that his review of the ISA is in keeping with his plans when he took over the prime ministership two years ago, but omitting to explain why he left it so long, he then took off on one of his typical flights of fancy, claiming that “Malaysian society now is a knowledge society which demands renewal to assure the people’s future as well as civil liberties”.
And since then, he has raised the level of his rhetoric to even more ludicrous heights, telling the faithful who flocked to his Aidilfitri open house that his repeal of the ISA is part of “an effort to make Malaysia the best democracy in the world”.
Excuse me while I have a cackle at this.
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Crumbs for the chickens
Dean Johns
Sep 21, 2011 – Malaysiakini
Barely a week has passed, but already there are signs that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s sudden and surprise proposal to repeal the Internal Security Act and Emergency Laws has hit a snag.
Unless Umno, the boss in the ruling BN coalition, gets its act together, the repeals will not happen at the next Parliament sitting due to begin in early October. What more the replacement new laws for the repealed Acts, which need drafting and scrutiny before Parliaments passes them.
According to de-facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz, the paper for the new legislation can only be tabled when the Parliament convenes in March 2012. But Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has refuted Nazri, claiming that the two new Acts replacing the ISA and its sister Emergency laws can be be tabled before year end. As for Malay rights champion Ibrahim Ali, he has ominously announced that unless the new law had the “spirit of the ISA” in them, he and his Perkasa group will stage protests.
Contradictory statements from these men are an ominous sign for Najib’s reforms. Nazri is Najib’s spokesman, while Muhyiddin is positioning himself to wrest the Umno presidency from Najib. Ibrahim Ali is aligned to former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who supports Muhyiddin.
Only keen on 1st leg of repeals plan
Najib is keen to grab the glory for repealing the ISA, which will go down as his legacy in the event that he is booted out soon. It is also a mark of his lack of confidence to be able to stave off his party mates, who have already begun fighting for his seat.
But Najib is only interested in the first leg of his own ‘reform plan’. Until the general election is safely over, he wants nothing to do with the second leg, which involves introducing new laws, which could end up even tougher than the ISA and further erode his popularity and weak image.
If Najib is still in power after GE-13, then he will naturally take on the task, but if he has been booted out by Muhyddin – then why should he bother? This is his line of thinking. So, it looks like Thursday grand announcement will prove to be another empty shell. For the hapless Najib and his bumbling team of advisers, led by media and oil operative Omar Mustapa, it was another glitzy announcement made without any clear implementation mechanism in place. All show but no go.
As pundits have pointed out, it is prudent to be sceptical given Najib’s past record of caving in to Umno at the sign of any fightback by his colleagues. His lack of political will was responsible for the shelving of his New Economic Model. Brave in making his announcement but destined to fizzle out.
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Just days old, Najib’s ISA repeals plan has hit a snag
19 September 2011 – Malaysia Chronicle
Prime Minister Najib Razak’s surprise repeal of the ISA and Emergency laws has stirred unease within his UMNO party, especially in the camps supporting his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, who is touted to succeed him as the Umno president soon – the earliest by the end of this year, and the latest, within 12 months after the next general election.
The 64-year-old Muhyiddin would have to contend with the backlash after Najib rushed to secure a final glory for himself. Initially, even his supporters and other BN parties were shell-shocked at the sudden move to dismantle the mechanism used by Umno to suppress political rivals for decades.Then they realised, Najib had actually retained an exit route in the form of new replacement laws to get them out of troube.
Confirmed, Umno-BN will never change their ways
Heaving a collective sigh of relief, Umno and BN leaders are now starting to come out to cheer the repeals plan despite a deafening silence from the public. And this is the sign that Malaysians have been waiting for – the confirmation of Umno and BN’s lack of morality and sincerity. Sad to say, Malaysians found themselves proven right for suspecting that Umno-BN could try to trick their countrymen into beliieving that they had done something good, when in actual fact, things could actually become worse because of the repeal.
The new replacement laws, which are to kick in only after the 13th general election may empower the BN – if they win – with even greater discretionary powers. And this is why there has been little or no celebration. Groups and activists who have long fought the ISA, taking severe physical and mental beatings, even jail time, for protesting the law are now demanding compensation. And to thwart them, Najib is claiming he and BN made the decision on their own – with no thanks at all to the tens of thousands of anti-ISA activists or even the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Those who watched Najib’s grand announcement on TV, and were disgusted at his overkill of self-glorification, aren’t surprised at his uncharitable response to the anti-ISA activists. And they will be glad to see the back of him. Malaysians are no fools. Pundits say the people intuitively suspect something amiss in this rash of repeals and have no wish to be used by Najib and his advisers led by media and oil operative Omar Mustapha, in their game against their Umno rivals for political survival.
Custer’s last stand
Indeed, it is prudent to be really sceptical about Najib’s announcements given his lack of political will to carry through all other plans that he promised in April 2009, when he took over the hot-seat from a fumbling Abdullah Badawi. What then is Najib’s real motive in making these proposals?
Apart from skullduggery aimed to undermine Umno rivals including Muhyiddin, it is also Najib’s bid – a Custer’s last stand – to leave a legacy before he is dumped by the top Umno leadership just like Badawi had been ousted by a group led by Najib himself. In fact, Najib alluded to it in his Malaysia Day speech, pointing out that he had promised to abolish the ISA when he first took office in 2009, promising greater democracy.
Yet during his term in office, Malaysia received the greatest condemnation worldwide. Over the July 9 Bersih rally for free and fair elections, Malaysia became the object of world ridicule when Najib jailed anyone and everyone for wearing yellow T-shirts. Malaysian diaspora too confirmed the view that the Umno-led government persecuted its people and cheated at elections, when they carried out sister rallies in solidarity with Bersih at more than 30 cities worldwide.
The repeal of the oppressive Internal Security Act as well as several Emergency laws have been played up to the hilt by the mainstream media, all of whom have rushed to portray Prime Minister Najib Razak as a hero to the people.
Many also say the reforms were aimed at boosting Najib’s position ahead of snap general elections, a view which is not unreasonable. Burt it is still hard to imagine that Najib could summon enough courage to call for polls before the end of this year, especially after former premier Mahathir Mohamad openly advised that there was “no harm” in waiting a bit longer!
The prerogative to set the GE-13 date is in the hands of the Prime Minister and one can be sure this date will always be set to be at the most advantageous to himself and to hs Umno party. So no matter how hard the people, his rivals in Umno or Pakatan Rakyat may clamor for early polls, the whole of Malaysia will just have to wait until Najib Razak makes an official announcement.
In the past, his predecessors always made the decision with full confidence that the BN would be return to power. This time round things are different and Najib himself is in trouble – unpopular with the people and facing an ouster from within Umno itself. As such, it is more likely than not that Najib will delay GE-13 as long as he can. Firstly, he knows his days are numbered, so he might as well enjoy the perks of office for as long as he can. Secondly, he may feel his luck is still able to change and the people could once again think well of him.
Indeed, Najib Razak is caught in between a rock and a hard place. He can ignore the people and Pakatan. But it is much trickier to keep ignoring the wishes of the warlords in his own Umno party.
Warlords making noise
There are two main things Najib has to consider now in deciding the date of GE13.
Firstly, his already plummeting approval rating. As much as BN wants to dismiss the Merdeka Polls; the numbers speak for themselves. Najib’s popularity stands at 59 per cent; a leap away from his highest rating of 79 per cent in May 2010. And although the initial knee-jerk reaction of denial from those around him was laughable, the slip in popularity was taken seriously by some of the Umno elite. This sort of response from the likes of seasoned veterans like former premier Mahathir Mohamad cannot be dismissed and further strengthens the notion that any call for election within the immediate time-frame would prove disastrous for both Najib and BN.
For Najib to remain as Prime Minister, he needs to win GE13 and win big. He needs to win the mandate of the people to stay as Prime Minister of Malaysia. Bear in mind, Najib Razak was not voted in by the people through a general election. He was picked by Umno to replace Abdullah Badawi, who was blamed for the BN’s disastrous electoral showing in 2008. Needless to say, this system of choosing the prime minister was panned as it does not reflect the will of the people. This is confirmed by lower 59 per cent approval rating that he received recently.
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Reforms or not, Najib likely to delay GE-13 till 2012
16 September 2011 – Malaysia Chronicle
SEPT 18 — Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s sudden announcement on Thursday night that he would very soon be repealing several unpopular laws, including the Internal Security Act (ISA) of 1960, should have won him praise from most quarters.
But it did not. Instead, a general wait-and-see sense of disbelief was the common reaction, be it from the opposition or the right wing of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno).
Why? Is he not allowed to get anything right? The struggle to get rid of the ISA has after all been an issue that engages wide segments of Malaysian society.
Furthermore, he promised to have three emergency declarations lifted. These are nationwide May 15, 1969 Emergency, the Sarawak Emergency from September 14, 1969 and Kelantan Emergency from November 8, 1977. The first will mean that the Emergency Ordinance that, like the ISA, also allows for detention without trial will disappear. This ordinance was recently used against six members of Parti Sosialis Malaysia in the run-up to the Bersih 2.0 march for electoral reforms.
The Restricted Residence Act of 1993 and the Printing Presses and Publication Act of 1984 will also be reviewed. This will mean that the much-hated requirement for annual applications for renewal by the mass media will be dropped.
No doubt, Najib’s personal popularity has been dropping badly. This should worry the ruling coalition. After all, since he took office in April 2009, he has consistently been more popular than his party or his coalition has been. A bad dip for him just when a snap election is being planned must be a big worry for his government.
But for the rest of Malaysia, the announcement surely bodes well. Who cares if Najib is being a populist here and is doing the right thing for the wrong reason?
The grounds for scepticism from the savvy pundits in Malaysia are two: One is, “we’ll believe it when we see it”, and second, two new Bills whose structure are as yet unknown will be passed to replace the old laws.
Well, for one thing, his own Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, the man who must bear the responsibility for any use of the ISA, was reported two days earlier to have replied thus to a request for clarification on rumours of a repeal of the ISA: “There is no talk about abolishing ISA. Who has been saying that?”
Taken at face value, this suggests that no serious discussion on the immediate repeal of the laws had taken place between the major players in the Cabinet. Such a grave matter surely warranted the Home Minister’s participation.
If no such discussion took place, then the question is: Is the repeal seriously meant? Will it really take place? This wait-and-see attitude among Malaysians is rational enough, given how serious reforms are such a rare thing in Malaysia.
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ISA repeal: Najib should push ahead — Ooi Kee Beng
September 18, 2011
Peanuts, not sweeping reforms
PEANUTS. That’s what Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s so-called “sweeping reforms” are. They hardly amount to a political transformation.
While it’s cheering to note that the Internal Security Act (ISA) will be repealed – finally, after our many years of waiting – and that the Emergency proclamations are to be lifted – a decision that is decades overdue – it’s disturbing to be told that they will be replaced by two new laws aimed at preventing subversion and safeguarding public order.
And even though the detention period under these new laws may be shorter, with further extensions to be made by court order, the Home Minister is still the one to decide who gets detained for suspicion of being a terrorist.
This means, theoretically speaking, that although Najib has given the commitment that “no individual will be detained purely based on political ideology”, there is no stopping the government from branding a political opponent a suspected terrorist, whether or not he is one. Just to lock him away.
Another so-called “reform” is scrapping the requirement for publications to renew their printing licences annually.
This, also, is nothing to crow about. It still means that publications have to obtain a licence that the Home Minister may or may not grant. It still means the Home Minister has the absolute power to suspend or revoke a licence at any time. And his decision cannot be challenged in court. He does not even have to give a reason.
It also means the Home Ministry can still call up newspaper editors and cow them into submission for publishing something the ministry finds objectionable. Like what happened recently to The Star when it ran the heading ‘Ramadhan delights’ for an eating-out supplement that was not totally devoted to halal food.
The ministry can still practise the double standards it has been practising – turn a blind eye to the race-baiting and rabble-rousing of Utusan Malaysia but come down hard on the minor transgressions of other publications. So where’s the change?
If the government were truly sincere and had the political will, it should repeal the Publications and Printing Presses Act (PPPA) and no longer require publications to obtain a printing licence. That would be in keeping with the spirit of what Najib talked about instituting in Malaysia when he announced the “reforms” on Sept 15 – a “democratic system based on the universal philosophy of ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’”.
Vague reforms
None of the newly announced “reforms” fully cohere with this spirit.
On Section 27 of the Police Act, Najib said there would be a review to take into consideration the provisions under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees Malaysians the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.
But in the same breath, he said police permits would still be required for street demonstrations, subject to certain criteria.
If freedom of assembly, which should be a right of all citizens, is still curtailed in this fashion, what is that rubbish talk of Najib’s about forging a democratic system “of the people, by the people and for the people”?
He did say, however, that “permission to assemble will be given in accordance with procedures to be fixed later that will take into account international norms”. But this sounds vague. What international norms did he mean? And when is “later” going to be?
And speaking of Article 10, why doesn’t the government address the other impediments to freedom of speech, such as the Official Secrets Act (OSA), the Sedition Act, the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), the Multimedia and Communications Act, the Public Order (Preservation) Ordinance?
No wonder Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was smirking and applauding when Najib made his announcements. His absolute powers remain intact.
Let’s not be fooled, people. The changes Najib announced are merely cosmetic. And of course they will have to be passed in Parliament first before they become effective.
Meanwhile, Articles 149 and 150 are still there to provide Parliament with the power to pass laws that do not have to be consistent with the freedoms guaranteed in Articles 5, 9, 10 and 13, and to allow the Cabinet to declare an emergency. The Emergency proclamations may go, but Article 150 is still around. We the people are still vulnerable.
ome of us may say that we cannot expect the government to make such truly sweeping reforms in one go, and that we should be thankful for the small mercies we are now getting. Some may say this could be just the beginning, and more reforms could come.
That’s well and good. But at the same time, we should give credit where it’s due for this beginning. It’s not Najib we should thank. What we are getting is what has been due us for a long time, what any concerned government should have given us even without our having to pressure them to do so.
We should instead acknowledge that the March 8 effect lives on, and therefore the credit for these changes should go to us the rakyat for voting as we did on March 8, 2008. We voted in a stronger opposition, we denied the ruling party the two-thirds majority that it had abused to increasingly curb our democratic rights over the decades. We sent them the message that enough was enough.
hese “reforms” have now come about because Barisan Nasional (BN) wants to stay in power, and it has realised that we have the power to decide whether that will happen. The “reforms” are meant to win back our votes. Ever since Najib took over as prime minister, he has been doing things merely to ensure that BN’s goal is fulfilled, not because he is altruistic or benevolent in spirit. We have seen his meanness in numerous other ways.
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Peanuts, not sweeping reforms
By Kee Thuan Chye
September 16, 2011 – FMT
The limited reforms announced by the Prime Minister tonight is a testament to the dogged, determined and noble struggle of countless dedicated activists, NGOs and opposition political parties over the past five decades, against the wide array of oppressive legislation maimtained by the BN.
To bring about tonight’s limited gains, many of these brave Malaysians suffered grievously (including long periods of detention) at the hands of the Alliance/BN government and its merciless security apparatus.
It is noteworthy that the Prime Minister offered no recognition whatsoever to the historic struggle of civil society and the political opposition in their struggle for a free Malaysia. That the government has finally given in and agreed to these reforms proves the justice and validity of the opposition’s long hard struggle against these harsh laws. In tonight’s speech, there was no admission or even recognition of wrongdoing in the usage of these laws against the rakyat for five long decades.
Two new laws but are they necessary
These reforms manifestly fall short and leave substantial undemocratic and oppressive powers in the hands of the government. The ISA is to be abolished; however two new laws are to be enacted providing for preventive detention. The ambit and wording of these two new laws are unknown. Further, these two laws are to be enacted under Article 149 of the Federal Constitution which provides for preventive laws to be enacted where ‘action has been taken or threatened by any substantial body of persons’ inside or outside the Federation.
Is there a real threat or just to customize laws to BN’s convenience
Where is there such a threat against the country at this time? What business has the PM to enact two more preventive laws when there is no such threat existing? While pretending to enter into a new era of reform, the PM is playing the old BN game of twisting the Constitution to pass every kind of oppressive law deemed suitable for the BN’s needs.
Why not cancel the need for a permit for peaceful assemblies if sincere
The PM also makes a vague promise to amend the Police Act 1967 to allow for greater freedom of assembly. But he gives no details at all of the drift and purport of the amendments. Indeed he accompanies this promise of reform with menaces against ” street demonstrations”. He should have declared the abolition of the requirement of a permit for such assemblies.
It is proposed that the current requirement of annual newspaper licence be replaced with a licence which will be valid until cancelled. This is not reassuring in the least. Why impose a necessity of a newspaper licence? This presupposes the right of the Minister or other issuing authority NOT to issue a licence or to cancel the licence at will. All that should be required of newspaper companies is a business licence.
I would not celebrate. Not just yet. Prime Minister NajibAbdul Razak’s announcement to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA) is welcomed. But I would have been happier if it came with no catch.
Whichever way I look at the announcement, it is clearly a victory for the people – the thousands who took to the streets demanding that ISA be repealed, the detainees who fought for the archaic law to be abolished as it strips people off dignity and the human rights activists who worked tirelessly, denouncing the Act.
But Najib is replacing the ISA with two new laws. We are unsure of the ambit of these laws and it’s unclear if it would still make provisions for arbitrary arrests.
Whatever little we know now is enough to make me look at Najib’s “greater democracy” speech with suspicion. And especially as the government is tinkering with the idea of bringing in an Anti-Terrorism Act which would mirror the US Patriot Act.
In the US, this Act dramatically reduced restrictions on law enforcement agencies to search financial, business, medical and telephone records, expanded the powers of these agencies, gave the immigration wide discretion to detain and deport immigrants suspected of terrorism-related activities and conduct surveillance on individuals suspected of terrorist-related activities even though they are not linked to terrorist groups.
In short, anyone and everyone suspected to be linked to terrorist organisations could be nabbed, humiliated, subjected to long-hours of interrogation and charged at the prerogative of the government.
And all because terrorism is a sexy word and one that is used to bulldoze through a person’s life.
Under the ISA, the Home Minister had the power to do just that. So where is the change, I am wondering?
And what media freedom exactly? As I look at it, the media organisations would still be under the watchful eye of Umno and the Barisan Nasional government. Replacing a licence which needs yearly renewal to a one-off permit that could be revoked if the media organisations did not dance to the tune of the government does not amount to further freedom for the media workers.
No way to challenge Home Minister’s decisionIn fact, Najib made it even more difficult for the media organisations as there is no way to challenge the Home Minister’s decision to revoke a publishing licence. In essence, it means that papers and TV channels would have to shut down if they wrote or reported on issues which the government is not happy about.
The premier, to make my suspicion worse, did not raise crucial provisions under the Sedition Act or Official Secrets Act. Both these laws limit the freedom of media workers.
Najib has promised amendments to the Police Act to grant greater freedom of assembly but warned against street demonstrations. And we still need to write in for permits for peaceful rallies.
However hard I try, it’s incredibly difficult to give credit to Najib’s so-called slew of reforms for a better Malaysia. These policy changes are his boldest announcement since he came to power. In his speech Najib also said that heading towards a bolder democracy was risky but crucial for his government to survive.
Therefore, it’s obvious that Najib is making hasty decisions to bolster support for himself and Umno ahead of the general election, which are widely expected to be held within the next six months.
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Najib does a Houdini on democracy
Charles Santiago
Sep 16, 2011 – Malaysiakini
