NSC Bill not needed to fight terrorists, extremists, say analysts

Experts say Malaysia does not need the National Security Bill in order to tackle terrorism. – Reuters pic, January 5, 2016.

Malaysia already has enough laws to deal with terrorists and militants, said experts as Putrajaya insists on the need for the controversial National Security Council Bill which was recently passed into law by Parliament.

More importantly, they said, too much focus was being given to the NSC Bill, instead of reforming and upgrading security and spy agencies, which are crucial to stopping terror networks.

Likewise, little attention was being paid to the root causes of why Malay Muslims are vulnerable to being radicalised by terrorist groups, said Dr Maszlee Malik of the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs
(IDEAS).

Another analyst, Lam Choong Wah, added that too much manpower and money was spent spying on opposition politicians and civil society activists, when those resources should be spent on rooting out terrorists.

Lam, of the think tank Research for Social Advancement (Refsa), said the NSC Bill was primarily about giving extraordinary powers to the prime minister to control both the police and the military when what the country really needed was an over-arching national security policy.

Legal arsenal

Critics worry that if the NSC Bill, which was passed by the Dewan Negara on December 23, becomes law, it would give the prime minister "emergency-like powers", which they argue should only be in the hands of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

The bill will be gazetted into law by the home minister once the Agong gives his consent. But to date, Putrajaya has not set a time frame for its implementation.

The NSC Bill gives unfettered powers to the prime minister to declare security areas due to "national security" reasons whose definitions are wide enough to include even political protests.

The bill allows for arrests, searches and property seizures in that area without a warrant.

Putrajaya however argues that the bill is necessary to deal with terrorism, especially the prospect of radicalised Malaysians who plan to launch local attacks.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the bill was needed to prevent incidents such as the Lahad Datu invasion by Sulu militants in January 2013.

But Refsa’s Lam said Putrajaya already had an arsenal of laws to deal with terrorism, some of which had been successful in preventing individuals from carrying out terror attacks.

These include the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and the new Prevention of Crime (Amendment and Extension) Act 1959 (Poca).

Both allow police to detain suspects without trial for up to 28 days (Sosma) or two years (Poca).

According to Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, about 75 individuals with links to terror groups had been detained with these two laws.

This includes individuals believed to have been planning an attack on the Bukit Bintang tourist district in Kuala Lumpur in October, and 11 others in Hulu Langat in April who were on their way to test home-made bombs.

Reform 'SB'

Lam said the Lahad Datu incident was more a failure to act on intelligence rather than a lack of laws to deal with it.

"The security forces knew the existence of Sulu army prior to 2008, which was confirmed by a parliamentary reply," said Lam, who researches security and defence issues.

"But nothing was done to prosecute suspects who had been identified as
Sulu militants.

"The root causes of the Lahad Datu tragedy are also related to weak immigrant screening and weak sea patrol. If these weaknesses are not rectified, the NSC Bill will not help either."

Instead of the contentious bill, the public's money would be better spent reforming security agencies and beefing up their abilities to collect intelligence, said Lam.

One way to do that is to either disband the Special Branch or end political intelligence gathering, he said. The extra personnel and resources could then be re-deployed to spy on terrorists.

"The core businesses of the police force are well defined under the Police Act, which mainly focuses on preserving internal security.

"None of the laws require the Special Branch goes to monitor NGOs and opposition parties," said Lam.

Root causes

IDEAS's Maszlee meanwhile said a purely security and legal-driven strategy was not enough to stop Malay Muslims from joining terror groups.

"According to my interviews with Islamic State (Isis) detainees, most if not all of the detainees decided to show support or at least become sympathisers due to the war crimes committed by (Syrian President)
Bashar Al-Assad against his people.

"You may have scores of laws to curb and deal with terrorism, but the question is, are you really giving the right remedy to cure the right disease?"

Mixed in with this feeling of political injustice is the lack of a real understanding of Islamm said Maszlee. This pattern was also found in a 2009 study on British Muslim terrorists by British spy agency MI5.

This is made worse when prejudice towards non-Muslims is made acceptable by political parties, their race-based politics and the media, said Maszlee.

He said defeating terrorism required a holistic approach that includes properly educating Muslims in the first place and more civic education that exposes children to different cultures, races and religions.

"A collective effort in battling extremism across faiths and races should be inclusive, with academics, religious NGOs, youth organisations, netizens, artists, teachers and the media involved.

"We can’t leave the future and security of our beloved country only in the hands of politicians and security forces."

- TMI