MALAYSIA TO INTRODUCE NEW BILL TO REPLACE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT
KUALA LUMPUR: The Security Offences (Special Measures) Bill to repeal and replace the Internal Security Act(ISA) 1960 is to be tabled for its first reading today. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said he would comment further on the Bill after it was tabled.Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak(right photo) announced his intention to abolish the ISA and make major changes to several security laws in his Malaysia Day address on Sept 15 last year.
Najib also announced the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance and the removal of the requirement for annual renewal of printing presses and publication permits.- It is learnt that the Bill will drastically cut the period a suspect can be held and will allow for detailed judicial review of any arrest or detention under the new law.
Sources said the new law would focus on dealing with terrorism, espionage and threats to national security with police being given less than a month to hold a suspect without trial.- At the end of the period, the suspect must be charged in court or released.
- They said the new law would also state specifically that no one is to be detained for his or her political beliefs as was promised by Najib in his Sept 15 speech.
- Malaysia also looked at the security laws of several other countries including Britain's Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 and the Patriot Act of the United States, both of which were drawn up after the Sept 11 attacks in New York and Washington DC.
- The ISA, introduced in 1960 in the wake of an armed insurgency by the Communist Party of Malaya, gives police wide-ranging powers to detain suspects indefinitely.
- Under the ISA, police can detain a suspect for up to two years after obtaining the consent of the Home Minister. Keeping to his promise, Najib got Parliament to approve a motion last November to lift three emergency proclamations, two of which had been in place for over 40 years.
- With that, the powers granted to police under the Emergency Ordinance are withdrawn.
The motion sought to lift the emergency proclamation that was issued by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on May 15, 1969 following the May 13 racial riots.It was also to lift the emergency proclamations issued by the King on Sept 14, 1966 and Nov 8, 1977 aimed at resolving political disputes in Sarawak and Kelantan respectively.
The Government also pushed through the Peaceful Assembly Bill, which allows the people to gather and prohibits the police from stopping a peaceful assembly without proper cause.
MALAYSIAN PM ANNOUNCES THE REPEAL OF INTERNAL SECURITY ACT
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced tonight the repeal of the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) and the three Emergency Declarations when both the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat have their next sitting.The prime minister said that new laws will be enacted to protect the peace, harmony and security of the country.
- He also announced that the government will do away with annual printing and publishing permits with permits that can be cancelled if regulations are flouted.
- Najib acknowledged in his address to the nation on the eve of Malaysia Day that the move to increase civil liberties was “risky, but we are doing this for our survival.”
“No individual will ever be detained simply due to political ideology,” he said in his speech that was broadcast live on all local television stations.- The move to scrap the law has been hailed by ex-ISA detainee and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng as “an epochal move.”
- The Barisan Nasional (BN) chief said that two new security laws would be introduced for preventive
detention which would be limited only to cases of terrorism and “ensure that basic human rights are protected.” - Najib said that under the new laws, detentions could only be extended by the court and therefore “the power of detention will be shifted from the executive to the judiciary, unless it concerns terrorism.”
Before a studio audience of 800 including his entire Cabinet, he also announced that the Banishment Act would be repealed while he will do away with the need for annual publishing permits under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).Najib also said that the Police Act would be amended to allow for freedom of assembly according to international norms, although street protests would still be outlawed.
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