Ambiga: NSC Bill all about Najib’s ‘insecurities’

It can be extremely dangerous that too much power was being given to the Prime Minister under the NSC Bill.

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Security Council (NSC) Bill was not about national security but Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s “insecurities”, charged National Human Rights Society President, Ambiga Sreenevasan at a forum on Friday.

In illustrating her point, Ambiga referred to several provisions in the proposed legislation which, among others, make Najib and the National Security Council (NSC) the sole owner of all intelligence gathered by both police and the military.

“Can you imagine? This body has the power to get every single bit of intelligence from military, police, everyone, all concentrated into one body,” she said at a forum on the NSC Bill.

Ambiga also pointed to the lack of provisions requiring the Prime Minister to follow any advice provided by members of the NSC. “There may be those who believe he is the chosen one and ordained by God, but you should give no one this kind of power, however good or bad he may be.”

“It can be dangerous. One man in possession of all the intelligence in the country, who can make the final decision, who can ignore all the advice of the NSC?

Ambiga ventured that, in her view, “this is not about security, it’s about power. But more accurately, this is not about security, it’s about insecurity.”

Research for Social Advancement (REFSA) senior fellow Lam Choong Wah called during the forum for the Bill to be halted as it was greatly about providing more power to the head of government. “(In its present form), it was only to protect Najib’s regime. It has nothing to do with national security.”

He also drew attention to the absence of the Foreign Minister in the NSC despite the Ministry being in charge of external security. “The NSC Bill was designed to deal with internal security rather than external threats.”