Harsh powers in new anti-terror law?

More power to take preventative measures under proposed law, says Najib.

KUALA LUMPUR: An anti-terrorism law will be tabled in March possibly bringing new harsh powers for preventative measures and bringing back portions of the now-repealed Internal Security Act, Emergency Ordinance and Prevention of Crime Act.

Prime minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying today that the new law would be brought to Parliament in March.

Existing laws would also be streamlined, while the new legislation would allow authorities to avert terrorism threats and militant activities, Bernama quotes him as saying in Pekan, on a constituency visit.

He gave no details but earlier today the Umno-owned New Straits Times had reported that the new law would be an amalgamation of several preventive laws such as the (now-repealed) Emergency Ordinance and Internal Security Act, and the Prevention of Crime Act.

Bernama quoted Najib as pointing to the murder of 10 people at the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday and saying that terrorism was no longer an issue that any one country could deal with on its own.

“It is crucial for us to strengthen cooperation with like-minded countries including sharing of intelligence. If we know someone to be a potential terrorist, then the enforcement agencies greatly need the information in order to take preventive measures before any incident could happen,” he said.

Earlier today, the head of the Malaysian Bar had called on the government to avoid the use of preventive detention without trial, or introducing further repressive measures through amendements to existing laws.

Christopher Leong had also warned against re-introducing the Internal Security Act (which has been repealed), saying that preventative detention would be counter-productive in the war on terrorism.

However, the NST had reported that the law, to be called the Prevention of Terrorism Act, would provide for closed-door trials of suspects in order to allow police intelligence to be tendered in evidence.

The new Prevention of Terrorism Act will allow the police to take “preemptive strikes” against suspected terrorists, according to a front-page report in the New Straits Times today, quoting anonymous high-ranking police officers.

Police sources quoted by the NST said a debate was still continuing about the use of preventative detention.

The NST report also said that there would be provision for an oversight committee to prevent abuse of the act, that no one would be prosecuted for holding different beliefs or opinions. “There will be safeguards to prevent abuse,” an anonymous police officer is quoted as saying, without giving any details.

Justifying a proposal for closed-door trials, the report extensively quoted police officer stating their difficulties in bringing terrorism suspects to court and their difficulty in presenting evidence.

Another proposal was for 60-day remand periods for terrorism suspects, instead of the current 28 days.