PCA: PM must hold to his word, that his government will not reintroduce preventive detention
Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Razak is feeling the heat over the proposed amendments to the PCA.
He has today said that the proposed PCA amendments were different from the ISA in that "if the police were to arrest anyone, they have to convince a Judge that the particular individual should be detained".
With respect, there is no court, no Judge and no trial under the said proposed amendments.
The Prime Minister sidesteps the issue at hand by failing to respond to criticisms that the proposed amendments to the PCA include provisions for detention without trial clearly in contradiction to his promise that his government will not reintroduce laws which restrict human rights and liberties nor reintroduce powers to detain individuals without trial.
The Prime Minister cannot run away from the fact that the amendments allow for detention without trial and this is something which both he and his Attorney-General have said they do not support.
Has the Prime Minister lost out to the Home Minister in this fight?
The Prime Minister took credit for abolishing the EO and ISA saying that the repeal was made to "accommodate a mature, modern and functioning democracy." The Attorney-General went further to attack detention without trial saying that such laws created a weaker police force which became "addicted to it", thereafter declaring he would not support such laws.
Despite this, we see defiance. We see the Home Minister proposing and tabling in Parliament a bill which flies in the face of the assurances given to the people by the Prime Minister and warnings of the AG.
Are the Prime Minister and AG are now subservient to the Home Minister, who wants to push his way?
The Prime Minister is looking weak and unable to stop him resulting in a somewhat embarrassing situation for himself whilst the AG looks as if he is silenced into accepting something which he doesn't support.
I call upon both the PM and AG to speak up and demonstrate courage, to follow through with to their opposition to laws which provide for detention without trial.
The Prime Minister should want to be remembered for his efforts to abolish detention without trial in keeping with his pledge to make Malaysia the worlds best democracy.
Trying to justify the PCA on the grounds he has advanced just doesn't help him. Instead, it makes him look like he is desperate to find ways to remain relevant under challenge by none other than his own Home Minister.
