Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

“Such detention will be same as in the US, like the Anti-Terrorism Act in UK and Australia – which are all the champions of human rights,” he said when asked if detention without trial will continue after the ISA is repealed.

“They realise that when you are dealing with militancy and terrorism, they have (to have) acts of such nature. In fact there are several Malaysians who are held at Guantanamo (Bay) without trial for many, many years. . .they have been detained by the US. 

“So please do not have double standards and we do not  want hypocrisy in this matter. We are going to abolish the ISA but on specific cases of terrorism, do not tell me what I cannot do when you yourself have done it,” he said, referring to the countries  with preventive detention laws.

Among the changes in the new laws will be the duration of detention, notifications to the families of detainees and avenues to appeal against their detention, he said after his ministry’s monthly assembly where the 2011 Innovation Day Celebration was also held.

He said as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak announced in his Malaysia Day message, the government will fulfil its promise to repeal the ISA. “It will be done. We have already done away with other laws such as the Banishment Act and Restricted Residence Act.”

He said until the replacement laws took effect, the ISA will continue to be used, such as the detention of 13 Malaysian and foreigners in Tawau last week. He said when Malaysia was no longer a transit but a  target country of militants, invoking the ISA was justified, citing the latest case.

“Our utmost concern is national security and we have to take all that is necessary to uphold it. Except for certain groups, most Malaysians understand and support this,” he said, adding that the Peaceful Assembly Bill which will replace Section 27 of the Police Act and allow the right to assemble was in its drafting stage and will be tabled in Parliament soon.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz also said detention without trial would be  necessary in “extreme cases of  militancy” to fight terrorism. “This is a fight against terrorism and terrorist activities, so you have to take quick action. The first detention period can be done, but if you want to extend into the second detention period, you have to go to court,” he said after distributing brochures to raise awareness on violence against women and children at KL Sentral. 

PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said Hishammuddin’s announcement did not mirror the promises made by the prime minister on Sept 15. 

On the minister’s reference to the Patriot Act in the United States as well as similar preventive laws in Britain and Australia, she said the Patriot Act did not allow citizens to be detained without trial. 

“We are extremely concerned, and it brings us to the possibility of rejecting such a proposal because it contradicts Najib’s earlier statement,” the Lembah Pantai MP said, adding that such provisions would leave the definition of freedom for the rakyat in the hands of the ruling party rather than what is acceptable by the world and Malaysians at large. 

Batu MP Tian Chua, who is also PKR vice-president, said it was hypocritical to say that the ISA would be abolished and then implement detention without trial again.

Malaysian Bar Council president Lim Chee  Wee said detention without trial laws were offensive to universal human rights norms.

“In particular are Articles 7 and 9 to 12 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which include provisions that no person should be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile (Article 9), that everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing (Article 10), and that anyone charged with a penal offence is presumed innocent until proven guilty (Article 11). 

“Observance of these basic rights is even more essential in view of Malaysia’s recent election to the United Nations Human Rights Council,” he said.

Lim agreed that any anti-terrorism law should have a limited period of detention with extensions within the limited period subject to judicial scrutiny, but said the limited detention period should not exceed two weeks.