‘Better policing needed, not a new law’

PKR leader R Sivarasa says the authorities should not attribute the spike in crimes to the abolition of the EO.

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR leader and Subang MP R Sivarasa is against the government’s move to enact a new law to replace the abolished Emergency Ordinance, saying what the country needs is better policing.

He said PKR which once rallied behind the abolition of EO in 2011 would not allow any similar law that grants the power of detention without trial to the police.

“The police already have plenty of power, it is just that they themselves are not capable of executing the power,” he told reporters at Parliament today.

His comment came after Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s announcement today a new law to replace the EO is already with the Attorney-General’s Chamber.

Zahid said the abolition of EO has resulted in a lot of criminals to escape prosecution, thus contributing to a spike in crimes.

“These criminals who are backed by big crime organisations could hire good lawyers and get away from serving jail time,” he was quoted of saying.

‘Charge them in court’

In response, Sivarasa said the police should not blame the spike in crimes to the abolition of the EO because they had been given 18 months to prepare for such abolition.

“The question is, you are able to arrest so many people last time, if you have evidence to show they are involved in crime, why don’t you charge them in court?

“But you released everybody at the last minute (after the EO was repealed) and now blame the rise in crime to the repeal of EO.

“If these guys were truly involved in crime, you can charge them, you can deny them bail. But that was never done,” he said.

The Subang MP claimed that when the EO was still in effect, the police had frequently cited the law to detain people, and did nothing thereafter.

“There is a lot of corruption involved, people get locked up, they pay money, and they were released. And nobody knows anything because there is no case in court,” he said.

Last week, the Bar Council has also raised objection against a EO-like law, saying the current crime situation had nothing to do with the abolition of the EO.

“The EO was used to detain syndicated criminals,” said the Bar’s president Christopher Leong.

“What we have now is an increase in snatch thefts, house burglaries, stabbings, and robberies at ATM machines and restaurants. These crimes are not as a result of the repealing of EO,” he said