KUALA LUMPUR: The government has set up a special committee and a technical committee to study in detail the legal provisions in the Security Offences Special Measures Act (SOSMA), Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and Prevention of Crime Act (POCA).
Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the committees are in the midst of finalising all the proposals and suggestions, following meetings held with the stakeholders.
”It is almost finalised and will be submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers and then the Cabinet for approval before tabling in Parliament,” he said during the Question-and-Answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said among the issues being deliberated by the committees included the duration of the detention periods which were deemed too long, the police’s power of arrest that were seen to be vast and open to abuse, and judicial intervention on the power of the court to conduct judicial review.
Muhyiddin said, once approved by the Cabinet, the ministry would table the security offences law in March next year.
He was replying to a question from Maria Chin Abdullah (PH-Petaling Jaya) who wanted to know why the government was still relying on these preventive detention laws while the Criminal Procedure Code was sufficient.
He added that these three acts were drafted under Article 149 of the Federal Constitution to enable authorities to bring criminals and terrorists to justice without having to go through the usual legal process.
For cases involving security offenses, the evidence obtained from witnesses is usually from intelligence gathering and unsuitable to be disclosed in open courts for safety reasons.
”There are also situations where witnesses refuse to appear in court to testify even if their protection and identity are not disclosed,” he said.
However, Muyhiddin said the government was aware that the implementation of these laws have led to various allegations of human rights violations.
To a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) on the effectiveness of the security laws, Muhyiddin replied, ”I am of the view all the acts are important."
Without them, he added that he could not assure that Malaysia would be a safe nation it is today.
On reviewing the laws, Muhyiddin said the study was needed to ensure that there were no elements that could be deemed as oppressive or violating human rights.