Ex-IGP: AG wrong, we need preventive detention

Preventive detention should be included in the mooted replacement law Emergency Ordinance 1969 (EO) that was repealed last year, said former inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor.

"We can see gangsterism-related violent crimes thriving after the EO was repealed. Unfortunately, all the police can do is look on because their hands are now tied.

"The NGOs that fight for human rights and the Attorney-General Chambers does not understand these realities because they do not need to manage crime prevention like the police do," he said in an interview in Mingguan Malaysia today.

The EO allows for detention without trial but more than 2,000 detainees were released when the law was repealed as part of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's democratic reforms.

Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail (right) had ruled out the introduction of preventive detention in the planned replacement law and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had also echoed this.

"The AGC does not know fully about the twist and turns and modus operandi of criminals especially those involved in gangsterism.

"The information gathering and tracking is done by the police. They know more deeply about the crime world," said Abdul Rahim.

He argued that without preventive detention, intelligence on gangsterism could merely be documented as the police's wings are clipped to act against them.

"The police do their duties as usual, but only for surveillance and filing - but they cannot act. No prevention can be done to stop the gangster groups from moving in society.

"They are free to extort businessmen and rob businesses. Gang fights also keep happening around Klang Valley and Malacca where they kill each other," he said.

He queried if the only prevention powers police should get is to give talks to the community to discourage crime.